The college football coaching carousel took a significant and unexpected turn on Wednesday. South Florida, which just lost Alex Golesh to Auburn, was able to pivot by landing Ohio State offensive coordinator Brian Hartline as its new head coach. Hartline will coach the Buckeyes in the College Football Playoff.

USF makes one of the best hires of the coaching carousel

USF lost a talented, up-and-coming head coach, Alex Golesh, to Auburn. Programs in South Florida's position -- knowing they are stepping-stone programs for the bigger schools -- constantly have to find replacements for good coaches who climb the ladder. USF CEO Rob Higgins was prepared. Hartline recruited Jeremiah Smith from the state of Florida and knows how to recruit the talent-rich hotbeds in the Sunshine State. He should be able to attract elite skill-position talent and make USF highly formidable in the American Conference.

Ryan Day has to find a new home-run hitter

Ryan Day has been fortunate that Brian Hartline has stayed on his staff as long as he has. The pipeline of elite receivers Hartline has recruited and cultivated is long and impressive. It has sustained Ohio State's offense for several years. Now Day finally has to find someone who can match this level of recruiting and player development.

USF strikes first in American Conference replacement derby

South Florida made a big hire before Tulane and Memphis -- USF's foremost competitors in the American Conference -- replaced their coaches. North Texas hired Neal Brown, the former Troy and West Virginia coach, earlier in the week. Hartline rates as a bigger splash hire than Brown at UNT. It will be fascinating to see if Tulane and/or Memphis can come up with hires as good as what Higgins and USF have done. South Florida has positioned itself to be the premier American Conference program with this move. It's up to the competition to change the conversation, but it will be difficult.

Group of Five favorite for 2026

If you had to pick the 2026 Group of Five champion right this second, would you bet against South Florida now that Brian Hartline is aboard? That's a question worth considering. Remember: The Mountain West is realigning next year and the new Pac-12 is emerging in a diminished configuration. Also, James Madison is losing Bob Chesney to UCLA. It's highly likely the American Conference will have the Group of Five champion in 2026. USF figures to be the school which will assemble the best roster in the transfer portal.

Unfolding Penn State disaster

Brian Hartline to South Florida means Penn State loses out on another high-profile candidate. The Nittany Lions whiffed on Kalani Sitake. They went all-in on that move but were turned down. They could have started their search with either Matt Campbell or Bob Chesney but didn't prioritize them. Now they appear to be stuck and in desperation mode. We are getting closer to the possibility that Penn State might have to hire Terry Smith (the interim) as 2026 head coach and basically punt on the 2026 season, which would be an epic failure if it happens.

Hot seat watch -- but not for a coach

This Hartline failure means a lot of things, but one is that Penn State Athletic Director Pat Kraft has to be on the hot seat. An athletic director at Penn State cannot remain employed if he completely bungles a head coach hiring months after firing a successful coach early in the season precisely so that an elite hire could be lined up. This is malpractice on a large and consequential scale. Pat Kraft has to pull a rabbit out of the hat. If he winds up naming Terry Smith the permanent head coach, he could be fired immediately afterward. Smith would coach the team in 2026, but a replacement AD would be brought in to hire a big-hitting head coach for 2027.

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This article originally appeared on College Sports Wire: Ohio State's Brian Hartline becomes USF head coach as Penn State fails

Reporting by Matt Zemek, College Sports Wire / College Sports Wire

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