USF reportedly has a new football coach. Here’s who the Bulls are hiring
Roughly one week after USF fired Charlie Strong, the Bulls have hired their next head football coach.
And it isn’t tapping the past by bringing Willie Taggart, who guided USF from 2013 to 2016, back into the fold, despite reports he was interested in returning to the Tampa Bay area.
Taggart was most recently the head coach at Florida State, where he was fired less than two years into the job and replaced by Mike Norvell over the weekend.
Instead, USF went after a different coach from the ACC. The Bulls are hiring Clemson co-offensive coordinator Jeff Scott, according to multiple reports.
News of USF locking down Scott surfaced Sunday, according to The Clemson Insider.
Scott previously wanted the USF job dating back to December 2016 when Taggart exited for Oregon, according to the Tampa Bay Times.
Scott first joined Clemson’s staff in 2008 and was promoted to co-offensive coordingaro with Tony Elliott in 2015, The Athletic reported.
There was a scheduled 10 a.m. team meeting at USF on Monday, according to reports, though the Tampa Bay Times indicated that may not have been the case.
The Clemson Insider, however, reported Tigers head coach Dabo Swinney told his team Sunday that Scott was heading to USF.
Scott is the son of former FSU and Clemson assistant and South Carolina head coach Brad Scott.
Brad Scott is a USF graduate and from the rural Florida town of Arcadia. With Jeff Scott as a co-offensive coordinator, Clemson’s offense has ranked third in the country the past two seasons in total offense.
The Tigers are the defending national champions, where they blew out Alabama 44-16 last January.
Clemson is also averaging 45.2 points per game on offense in reaching the College Football Playoff for a fifth consecutive year. The Tigers have two national titles and three championship game appearances during Scott’s time as a co-offensive coordinator under Swinney.
This story was originally published December 9, 2019 at 10:50 AM.
