ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – As impressed as Chad Palmer was with the athleticism of the young man under his tutelage, it was the attention to detail that touched the track and field coach.
“Working with him was symbiotic because I was able to learn more about myself because of him,” he recalled. “He was an amazing athlete, but what I loved most about him is he wanted to know every single thing. He was phenomenal.”
Palmer spoke glowingly of Brian Hartline during a phone call with the Tampa Free Press. Not only was USF’s first-year football coach outstanding on the gridiron at GlenOak High in Canton, Ohio, but he was crowned state champ in the 110 and 300 hurdles as a senior in 2005.
“He won state titles as a senior thanks to tactics and techniques,” said Palmer.
It was Palmer’s ability to break down the details that allowed a conscientious Hartline to better understand the tactics and techniques that enhanced his athletic prowess.
“The intricacies of hurdling and running track, finding edges, finding inches, finding quarter inches and watching film,” said the coach, during American Conference media days at the Hilton St. Petersburg Bayfront, in praising Palmer. “The details and the passion for all of that carried into football and my thought process.”
Before Hartline got into coaching at Ohio State, his alma mater, he was quite a receiver in the NFL for seven seasons (344 receptions) and with the Buckeyes, for whom he caught 90 passes and played in two national championship games under Jim Tressel. Much of that success traces back to GlenOak, where he was a quarterback before trading positions with his brother, Mike. The latter spent the 2025 season as an analyst at Kentucky, his alma mater and where he was a quarterback, before joining his older brother – Brian is 40 and Mike 38 — at USF to coach quarterbacks.
“I think the reason why he became the receiver he did is because of his acumen,” said Palmer. “As a receiver, it is about blocking and route running and how he studied both.”
Palmer has no doubt that the level of care and dedication Hartline exhibited in making himself a better athlete serves as the bedrock of his leadership doctrine at USF.
“I think USF is so lucky to have him,” said Palmer. “Brian is transformational and not transactional. He really cares about people and with his mindset, the athletes at USF will have plenty to carry with them the rest of their lives.”
Quoting a legend
Palmer and Jack Rose, Hartline’s football coach at GlenOak, were among those who took the time to disseminate life lessons upon a young Brian Hartline, who in a sponge-like manner absorbed whatever he could to make himself better that day, the next day every day after that.
“Jack had a huge impact on me,” he said. “I didn’t always have a ride to practice because my parents were working. So, I would run to his house and he would drive me to practice. One of his sons, Chris, has Down Syndrome. I was around them a lot and I think Jack, just talking to him on the rides to practice, had a big impact. The impact my coaches had on me ultimately is why I became a coach.”
Hartline said his father, Dale, “loved Vince Lombardi.” Dale, for the benefit of his sons, would recite some of the many quotes attributed to the great Green Bay Packers coach. Among them was, “There is only one place, and that is first place.” It is a quote that resonates loud and clear.
“That was always a quote that has echoed with me,” he said. “That definitely impacted my mentality as a young person.”
Though Dale was an admirer of Lombardi, his rooting interests were elsewhere.
“My dad was a big Cowboys fan, so naturally, I became a Cowboys fan,” said Hartline, who did not watch college football as a youth, only the NFL.
Father and son were treated to Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith, Ken Norton, Jr., Russell Maryland and a host of other Cowboys who helped lead Dallas to three Super Bowl victories in four years during the front half of the 1990s.
“Luckily, I hit it with the sweet spot,” Hartline said of his timing on this planet. “I was born in ‘86, and the Cowboys took off in the early nineties and won those Super Bowls.”
While father and son bonded over the ‘Boys, there was a special place far removed from the gridiron that Hartline enjoyed. The family took many trips to Seneca Lake Park, about an 80-mile drive due north of the family home in Canton. It was a time to load up the camper, settle into a spot in the campground, and enjoy days of boating, tubing, and water skiing.
“That was what we did for 20 years of my life,” he said. “In my third or fourth year in the NFL, we bought a house at the lake. We are big lake people. I forged a lot of really good bonds in those campgrounds. Some of those people are my best friends today.”
“Blown away” by USF
After nine seasons as an assistant at Ohio State, including the last three as Ryan Day’s offensive coordinator, Hartline was ready to make the move in running his own program. Not that he was anxious to leave his alma mater for the sake of it. Rather, the situation needed to feel right.
After going about his “analysis” to find out if he “wanted to make the leap” and move with his wife, Kara, and three young children (sons Brayden and Cameron and daughter Brooklyn) to Tampa, the decision ultimately proved easy.
“I think that in the end, the mentality, the drive, the goals, all these things that are done to get the right people here as far as coaching, the players and retention, I would say have exceeded expectations,” he said.
Of course, that would include those in the upper echelon of the leadership ranks within the walls of the Lee Roy Selmon Athletics Center.
“I love the quality of the people, and I don’t mean that in the wrong way toward anywhere else,” he said. “Rob and Derrick have blown me away. The players have blown me away.”
Hartline referred to the man in charge of the athletic department, USF alum Rob Higgins, and the gentleman who has an adjacent office, CFO Derrick Brooks.
“We hit it off the moment we had a chance to connect,” said Higgins at American media days. “A phone call turned into a Zoom, which turned into us being on the ground in Columbus 48 hours later. It was a quick courtship and we felt, in that moment in time, we got it right. Every day since, in getting to know Brian as a person, as a father, as a leader, as a head coach, he has blown us away every expectation.”
Hartline feels the alignment of leadership off Fowler Avenue as well as and those within the program, including strength and conditioning coach Antonio Turner, who he specifically cited, and the coaching staff as whole add up to a team that seemingly can achieve almost anything it desires. After all, it starts with the people.
“I think we have a lot of the right guys and the maximization, at least physically, mentally and emotionally, is happening,” he said of his program’s heartbeat. “It’s exciting. We have no proof (of what we can do) so far, so I am also cautiously optimistic about everything. But it’s been very positive.”
Hartline’s Bulls begin preseason camp August 5 and his debut on the sideline is September 5 against FIU at Raymond James Stadium.
READ: Former USF QB Byrum Brown Returns To Tampa For SEC Media Days; Jadan Baugh Among UF Attendees
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