The uniforms will be greener, but the grass might not be in Tampa, Florida, for first-year USF Bulls head coach Brian Hartline during his first season away from the Ohio State Buckeyes in his nine-year coaching career.
ESPN's Bill Connelly put Hartline in his "Teams with first-year head coaches: Most likely to regress" category for the 2026 College Football season, along with the North Texas Mean Green's Neal Brown, the Tulane Green Wave's Will Hall, the UConn Huskies' Jason Candle, and the Ole Miss Rebels' Pete Golding.
To be fair, Connelly didn't put a potential regression from the Bulls on Hartline himself, but more so on the program's historical volatility. Of course, the American is the strongest Group of 6 conference and could be again in 2026, even with regression from USF, North Texas, and Tulane expected.
"Over the past 14 seasons, USF has won at least nine games three times and lost at least nine games four times. This is a volatile program, and every coaching change has the potential to create a huge shift," Connelly wrote.
Hiring Brian Hartline was somewhat of a concession in 2026 for USF
Hartline was a long-term thinking hire for the Bulls. Unlike many head coaching candidates USF could've chosen, Hartline didn't bring over many significant recruits from Columbus. Chris Henry Jr. was never going to follow Hartline to the Bulls had he de-committed in that brief period where it seemed TTUN, the USC Trojans, or the Oregon Ducks had a chance to flip him on national signing day. Nobody was.
Because of the Ohio State University's brand power, Hartline was always going to be a clean slate upon arriving in Tampa. OSU was the only place Hartline had ever worked as a coach, and it was his alma mater.
2026 was punted in that regard. USF didn't hire Hartline with all eyes on 2026, though. Hartline was a long-term play to keep top Sunshine State skill-position recruits, particularly at receiver, within Florida's state lines.