USF Football: Bulls hoping to take small step forward in Jeff Scott’s first year

USF football looks to build a championship hungry program with new head coach Jeff Scott. The Bulls have potential but it’ll take time.

Out of all the bottom-of-the-barrel teams in the American Athletic Conference, the South Florida Bulls have the biggest potential to a steady climb towards the top.

After going through their second head coach since 2016, the Bulls decide to hire a long-term contributor at a national championship program in Clemson’s co-offensive coordinator Jeff Scott.

The Bulls wanted a head coach that would be able to create a strong culture with the team as well as develop the hunger for wins and championships. This was a program that experienced many successful seasons and great moments in just the 20 years of playing in the Division 1 level. Their first real taste of success came in 2007 when the Bulls were ranked as high as No. 2 in the AP Top 25.

In the 2016 and 2017 seasons, the Bulls combined for a 21-4 record as they finished ranked in the AP poll in both years. The following season, the Bulls finished with a 7-6 record with a 3-5 mark in conference play.

It was the previous season where the Bulls continued their descent deeper into a losing record. This was for head coach Charlie Strong as he could not continue that high-volume of success that he originally started at South Florida in 2017. Consistency was an issue for the program under Strong.

The Bulls knew to bring a coach that knows well about handling consistency and winning in coach Scott. The following season showed there was potential for these players to win multiple games. They were not brought into a proper gameplan to finish strong.

This 2020 season will not be easy for the first-time head coach as the Bulls have a brutal schedule and a roster of untapped potential. The Bulls were not able to use the spring training to build some form of chemistry with their team on both sides of the ball.

Scott will get his first insight into the process of being a head coach that involves the development of the team on offense, defense and special teams. He will be in the complete of the Bulls’ recruiting process. He was there when Dabo Swinney did a complete process work for the Clemson Tigers.

Now it’s time for Scott’s process to be tested in the upcoming season.