Charlie Strong has a great chance to turn things around right away with South Florida following his dismissal from Texas.
After the best season in school history, the Bulls now look to consistently maintain that level of success as a perennial Group of Five contender under new head coach, Charlie Strong. South Florida broke the double-digit win plateau for the first time ever in 2016, finishing with a record of 11-2 and a Birmingham Bowl victory against South Carolina. One of those defeats came against Orange Bowl champion Florida State, and only a late October loss to Temple kept South Florida from the AAC Championship Game and an outside chance at the New Year’s Six.
That fantastic season came at a cost, as countless other mid-majors have found out over the years. Head coach Willie Taggart left to take the vacant job at Oregon after improving his win total every season during his four-year tenure with the Bulls.
Taggart’s departure coupled with the graduation of productive running back Marlon Mack and leading receiver Rodney Adams makes it seem like South Florida could be in for a regression. However, the Bulls were fortunate enough to make the best replacement hire possible in Strong, who can help them contend for a New Year’s Six berth right away.
Strong was fired from Texas after compiling a 16-21 record over three seasons. It’s understandable why the Longhorns decided to move on so soon given the shaky defense during his tenure and horrific loss to Kansas last year, but Strong really never had a chance to complete the massive rebuilding job left by Mack Brown in the win-now environment of Texas.
That’s going to work to the benefit of South Florida, as Strong proved he can be a successful head coach if put in the right situation with a 37-15 career record at Louisville. South Florida has the pieces and favorable schedule to make a run at the New Year’s Six in 2017, which in turn could help Strong build the program into a perennial AAC powerhouse.
While losing Mack hurts somewhat, the Bulls’ offense is going to be just fine next season. Star quarterback Quentin Flowers is back after racking up 2,807 passing yards, 1,530 rushing yards and 42 touchdowns as a junior in 2016.
South Florida had one of the nation’s most explosive offenses last year behind Flowers and return a pair of big-play receivers in Tyree McCants and Marquez Valdes-Scantling. Seeing Flowers have a dominant Lamar Jackson-esque season would not be a surprise, and South Florida’s offense is going to be too much for many of the teams on its schedule to handle.
Helping matters is the fact that Strong was able to bring former Texas offensive coordinator Sterlin Gilbert with him to South Florida. After sputtering for years on offense, including the first two seasons of Strong’s tenure, Gilbert did terrific work in 2016 with freshman quarterback Shane Buechele and directed a unit that improved from 83rd to 46th nationally in points per game.
That leaves the defensive side of the ball as the huge question for South Florida in 2017, as the Bulls surrendered 31.4 points per game a year ago and were torched through the air to the tune of 7.6 yards per opposing pass attempt. New coaching and more experience could help the Bulls get closer to average defensively, which might be enough given their offense.
Strong built his reputation with a terrific stint as Florida’s defensive coordinator during a pair of national title seasons, and his final team at Louisville allowed just 12.1 points per game. If the Texas stint proves to be an aberration, Strong’s coaching acumen alone will help the Bulls get much better.
South Florida will have some veterans to work with, as it projects to have six senior starters on the defensive side of the ball including productive linebacker Auggie Sanchez. As long as the unit is even slightly improved from last year, which shouldn’t be a hard ask for Strong, the Bulls will be tough to beat.
The schedule lines up favorably for Strong to make an undefeated run to the New Year’s Six with the amount of talent he inherits. South Florida’s nonconference schedule is San Jose State, Stony Brook and Illinois, and the Bulls get tougher AAC teams like Temple, Houston and Tulsa at home while avoiding Navy altogether. Strong’s biggest challenge could be the season finale at rival UCF, as the Knights are quickly improving under Scott Frost.
An appearance in the New Year’s Six would generate momentum for the program and set it up to be among the AAC’s elite for years to come. Strong figures to boost recruiting right away anyway, as he consistently brought in top classes to Texas and has ties to Florida and a landmark first season would only help.
Strong managed to land seven new commits late in the recruiting process, with most coming on the defensive side. Safety Naytron Culpepper and wide receiver Kevaughn Dingle, both out of Miami Carol City High School, agreed to come to South Florida after Strong was hired and grade out as the best two prospects in the Bulls’ class per 247Sports.
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South Florida is positioned better both for 2017 and long-term than any team in the AAC, which could result in more than one appearance in the New Year’s Six. Strong has all the resources to prove his failed Texas’ tenure was a fluke after walking into nearly a perfect situation.