Sources: South Florida to hire Ohio State offensive coordinator Brian Hartline as head coach

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Brian Hartline has called plays for the undefeated Ohio State Buckeyes this season. (Ben Jackson/Getty Images)
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South Florida’s hiring another power conference offensive coordinator as head coach.

Sources told Yahoo Sports' Ross Dellenger that the Bulls will hire Ohio State offensive coordinator Brian Hartline on a six-year deal. He succeeds Alex Golesh after Golesh took the Auburn job on Sunday.

Hartline will stay with Ohio State through the College Football Playoff.

Brian Hartline, USF’s top target all along, is set to sign a 6-year deal with USF and will coach Ohio State in the playoffs, sources tell @YahooSportshttps://t.co/oY142xUygc

— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) December 3, 2025

Hartline, 39, is a former Ohio State wide receiver and longtime assistant with the Buckeyes. After his NFL playing career was over, Hartline joined the Buckeyes in 2017 as a quality control coach and has worked his way up the offensive staff.

Hartline was promoted to wide receivers coach in 2018 and served in that capacity for five seasons before he was named the team’s offensive coordinator in 2023. With Chip Kelly’s arrival in 2024, Hartline was the co-offensive coordinator as the Buckeyes won the College Football Playoff. As Kelly departed for the NFL — he was recently fired by the Las Vegas Raiders — Hartline became the team’s offensive coordinator again in 2025.

This season as coordinator was different than the previous two, however. Before 2024, OSU head coach Ryan Day was the team’s primary play-caller. After Ohio State went 11-2 that season, Day conceded play-calling duties to Kelly when he hired the former UCLA and Oregon head coach.

With Kelly gone, Hartline took over as the team’s play-caller this season. Through 12 games, Ohio State is averaging 37 points per game and Buckeyes QB Julian Sayin is on track to set the single-season FBS record for completion percentage.


Though Hartline is an Ohio native whose only college football coaching experience comes from his home state, he’s familiar with the state of Florida. He was a fourth-round pick of the Miami Dolphins in the 2009 NFL Draft and played six seasons with the franchise before playing his final season with the Cleveland Browns. Over seven seasons, Hartline had 344 catches for 4,766 yards and 14 TDs. His best two seasons came in 2012 and 2013, when he topped the 1,000-yard mark in each season for the Dolphins.

Golesh spent three seasons with the Bulls after he was Tennessee’s offensive coordinator. USF went 7-6 in his first two seasons and went 9-3 in 2025. The Bulls scored 43 points per game this season and averaged over seven yards per play.

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