Brian Hartline makes his first major decision at South Florida as a head coach before Ohio State begins College Football Playoff prep
Brian Hartline has made his first hire as a head coach at South Florida.
The Ohio State Buckeyes lost the Big Ten Championship to the Indiana Hoosiers on Saturday and a few days before that offensive coordinator Brian Hartline decided to take his first head coaching job at South Florida.
Ohio State’s offense was not good when it mattered against Indiana and that was mainly in the red zone. The Buckeyes still have their big goal in front of them of repeating, and Hartline will be with the team through the finish of their run. The first few days of this week, Ohio State’s play caller is handling some head coaching duties at USF.
Brian Hartline has hired his first defensive coordinator at USF
On Monday, news broke that USF has its defensive coordinator. Hartline has made a move to bring on former East Carolina defensive coordinator Josh Aldridge as the new DC at South Florida. Aldridge was the defensive coordinator and linebackers coach in 2025 and spent the previous two seasons with the Auburn Tigers.
Aldridge’s defense was ranked 28th in the country with 20.3 points per game and East Carolina stood out on third down the most, where they allowed just 30.2 percent of offenses to convert against them, which was No. 11 in the country. Hartline hasn’t yet decided whether he will call plays, he said in a recent interview, but having his defensive play caller picked already is a good step in the right direction for him.
Hartline is starting to put his staff together and is handling that part of the USF job early this week. Later in the week, Hartline will return to Columbus to begin bowl preparation with the Buckeyes. Ohio State will play in the Cotton Bowl against the winner of Miami and Texas A&M. After a lackluster showing by the offense last time out against Indiana, a bound back game is what this group needs when they’re back in action on Dec. 31.
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