Brian Hartline Q&A: USF Bulls Coach Talks Recruiting, Transfer Portal, New Stadium

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Brian Hartline is widely known as one of the best recruiters in college football.

The new University of South Florida coach helped recruit and develop a bevy of talent during nine years as an assistant under Ryan Day and Urban Meyer at his alma mater, Ohio State. He made five trips to the College Playoff with the Buckeyes, including their run to the national championship in the 2024 season.

Now, he’s taking on the challenge of being a head coach for the first time.

Hartline brought in 41 players from the transfer portal this year to a program that went 9-4 last season. The Bulls’ 2026 schedule is manageable, but it’s difficult to project a win total with a new coaching staff and so much roster turnover. On a more certain topic, Hartline and USF are looking forward to the opening of a 35,000-seat on-campus stadium in 2027.

The 39-year-old Hartline, who played seven seasons as an NFL wide receiver, spoke earlier this week with Athlon Sports during a caravan event at the USF Sarasota-Manatee campus. Here’s what transpired:

[Editor’s note: The following transcript has been lightly edited for readability.]

Athlon Sports: How does the task of recruiting change from being an assistant at Ohio State to the HC at USF?

Brian Hartline: I don’t think there’s any change. I think that if you’re any good at recruiting, they leave better than they showed up, and I think that’s really what it’s all about. So my main goal is to maximize people. My main goal is to get the right guys in the building and help them chase their dreams. … That game plan and that path hasn’t changed.

Athlon: You brought in 41 players from the transfer portal. In an era when the portal is so important, how much does that marginalize the traditional recruiting of high school athletes?

Hartline: Good question. I don’t think it’s marginalized it. It just puts more of a [premium] on it. We’ve been even more intentional on roles and purpose, and you know, placing a bet on a successful athlete to be more targeted than you ever have been. Because although some guys can develop quickly, you’re also compensating right off the bat, too. So you know, we’re trying to figure out who are potential players that next year, and who maybe will take a couple years to develop. So it’s like you’d be very much more intentional on high school recruiting than probably ever before.

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Athlon: You famously helped develop six first-round NFL Draft receivers [Chris Olave, Garrett Wilson, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Marvin Harrison Jr., Emeka Egbuka and Carnell Tate]. In your mind, what are the non-negotiable traits in recruiting and developing wide receivers?

Hartline: It’s the person over the player. You’ve got to be able to do a lot of things athletically, don’t get me wrong. You’ve got to check a lot of boxes, but a lot of guys can do a lot of similar things. I think it’s how they’re wired, how coachable they are, how competitive they are. I think it’s their mental makeup, if you will, and best trying to identify that. That is the non-negotiable in my mind — that and movement skills. You have to be able to move as a receiver. It’s really hard to be a successful receiver when you’re covered all the time. So, but I would say more than that, it’s the mental makeup of the athlete.

Athlon: Bryson Rogers and CJ Hicks followed you from Columbus. How do you envision their roles on this team?

Hartline: Whatever roles they get, they’ll be earned. That’s to be determined.

Athlon: Your Bulls face Bowling Green on the road this season. Eddie George is the coach up there. That’s going to be a chess match between two Buckeye greats. How do you envision that shaking out?

Hartline: Probably two physical teams that have a lot of high effort. You know, the one that’s more disciplined will probably win that game.

Athlon: Your younger brother, Mike, joins the staff as quarterbacks coach. Tell us about his credentials, and how significant is it to coach alongside your brother?

Hartline: Yeah, I mean, it just happened to work out that way. It wasn’t a special thing that was happening. It was a piece of [Bulls offensive coordinator] Tim Beck, them working together at Ohio State that allowed that to happen [while] going through the process of identifying coordinators. If that was not the way it worked out, it probably wouldn’t have happened. More of a chance it wouldn’t have happened than hiring a two-pack.

But I do think it’s very important to have former athletes in position rooms as best you can, receivers, quarterbacks. That’s really, really important to me. Him being a high-level quarterback at Kentucky when he played was important, and the work he put in last year at Kentucky [as an offensive assistant] with their freshman quarterback was a big reason why I felt like it was a good fit to complement Coach Beck in that room. So yeah, plenty of credentials, but the opportunity was at hand because of the coaching staff structure.

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Athlon: How significant will the on-campus stadium be for your program and recruiting?

Hartline: I think it’s a huge opportunity to just have some ownership of your home, right? I mean, there’s something to that that’s different about college football. There’s a lot of pride that goes into that. But I think it just shows the willingness of the resources from the university, the alignment with the CEO of athletics, Rob Higgins, and the board, and understanding that if we want to be a top-tier program, some necessities are a part of that of that caliber. And so whether it be the facility, whether it be at your on-campus stadium, and just the resemblance of being a top program in the country, getting the importance of it, I think it resembles that more than anything else.

Athlon: Not many coaches have a full sleeve of ink on their arm. What is your favorite tattoo and the meaning behind it?

Hartline: They all have meanings, and they all have a purpose to them.

Your predecessor [current Auburn coach Alex Golesh href=”https://athlonsports.com/college/auburn-tigers”] ruffled some feathers when he said you can’t win a national championship at USF. How true or untrue was that statement?

Hartline: I’m going to focus on where we are and where we’re going and let the past be the past.

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This story was originally published by Athlon Sports on May 15, 2026, where it first appeared in the College Football section. Add Athlon Sports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

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