Brian Hartline is now having a busy offseason full of activities to kick off his head coaching debut with USF successfully. Before starting his coaching career, he was a standout receiver at Ohio State and later played for seven seasons in the NFL.
Brian Hartline Reflects on Turning Down Urban Meyer Before Joining Ohio State
After finishing his NFL career, Hartline returned to his alma mater when then-Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer hired him in 2017 as a quality control assistant. Hartline was promoted to wide receivers coach under Meyer a year later.
However, Hartline admitted this week during an appearance on Meyer’s “Triple Option podcast” that he initially declined Meyer’s first offer to join the staff in late 2016 while the team was preparing for its bowl game.
“That just shows how silly I was then,” Hartline said. “I was just getting done playing coach. Remember, there was a fad where guys would come back and practice with you, getting ready for the bowl game. And my brother talked to me about coming back to practice. And then there’s Terry McLaurin, and then there’s Parris Campbell and Austin Mack. And I was coaching them up as second-year players. I want to say my heart wasn’t there yet. I was like, hell no. I knew the obligation of being a coach, and I was still working through that. So I turned it down.
“I never got in contact. It got closer in February for spring ball. I remember looking at you as a coach, I was like, ‘if I’m going to do it, I want them to trust me. I’m going to be there every freaking day. So I’m going to be there for spring. Let’s see how it goes.” I was hooked. And so when we’re telling you, ‘Coach, I’m in for the year, let’s do this.’ You know, you went all about being super busy. I went back to the super room, (and) that changed my life.”
When Meyer stepped down, current Ohio State head coach Ryan Day retained Hartline in the same role, and he remained with the Buckeyes through the 2025 season. Over nearly a decade with the program, Hartline served in three different coaching roles while building a reputation for recruiting and developing some of the top wide receivers in college football, earning him Meyer’s constant praise.
“He gets credit as being one of the best recruiters, which I think he’s the best, but he’s also an elite football coach that teaches the fundamentals of receiver play,” Meyer said of Hartline in December.
In his last season with Ohio State in 2025, Hartline helped lead the Buckeyes’ offense to rank No. 14 nationally in scoring at 33.4 points per game and No. 15 in passing with 268.2 yards per game by the end of the regular season. The offense also finished No. 3 in the nation in the PFSN College Football Offense Metric. Hartline will now look to apply nearly a decade of offensive experience as he works to elevate USF moving forward.
