As the 2025 College Football season heads into its playoff leg, a lot of teams continue to remain without a head coach, with the college football carousel coming with a new update every single day.
Days after USF’s Alex Golesh signed a six-year contract with the Auburn Tigers, the South Florida-based program has been making moves to poach one of the country’s top offensive coordinators.
ESPN’s Pete Thamel has reported that Ohio State’s OC Brian Hartline is touted to be next in line, replacing Golesh at the South Florida Bulls. While an official confirmation is yet to be announced, Hartline is expected to join USF.
Sources: Ohio State offensive coordinator Brian Hartline is expected to become the next coach at South Florida. He’s OSU’s play caller and built a reputation as the country’s top developer of wide receivers. pic.twitter.com/U0227G4LDo
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) December 3, 2025
The 39-year-old offensive coordinator has had a seven-year-long NFL stint with the likes of the Browns and the Dolphins and has been with the Buckeyes since 2017.
The OSU playcaller, in the words of Thamel, has built a reputation as the country’s top developer of wide receivers.
Will Brian Hartline Continue Coaching OSU Through Playoffs?
Despite reports suggesting that Hartline will remain with the Buckeyes throughout their playoff run, nothing is set in stone as of yet.
If these links pertaining to Hartline come to fruition, it will be interesting to see if the Ohio State OC continues to coach the Buckeyes’ offense into the playoffs or leaves the program before their Big Ten championship game against the Indiana Hoosiers.
Brian Hartline has agreed to a six-year deal with South Florida but will remain with Ohio State through its playoff run,
Per source. @mzenitz first reported the hire.— Pat Forde (@ByPatForde) December 3, 2025
This college football season has seen a lot of coaches in a similar predicament. The biggest of them all was Lane Kiffin’s departure from Ole Miss to LSU, a relatively abrupt end to Kiffin’s 11-1 campaign with the Rebels, as he reportedly wanted to coach Ole Miss into the playoffs and then switch bases to Louisiana, also threatening and issuing an ultimatum to the Oxford-based program.
However, Ole Miss’ athletic director had other plans, as he negated Kiffin’s demands whilst promoting their defensive coordinator Pete Golding to become Ole Miss’ 40th head coach.
However, some programs have also shown leniency in coaching transitions, like in the case of JMU’s Bob Chesney, who’s signed a contract ranging between $6 million and $7 million with UCLA to replace Deshaun Foster. However, unlike the case with Kiffin, he will continue to coach the Dukes into the playoffs provided they qualify for the same.
Read More:
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- College Football Transfer Portal Tracker: All Power 4 Conference Moves Amid Thrilling 2025 Season Ft. Nick Marsh, Braylon Conley, Scooter Jackson
- Controversy Surrounds CFP Rankings as Fans Protest Big 12 Team’s Position
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