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Jeff Scott Is Ready For The Opportunity As South Florida’s Head Football Coach

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TAMPA — Forty years ago this month, Brad Scott received a degree from the University of South Florida.

On Wednesday morning, Jeff Scott was formally introduced as the fifth head coach of the USF Bulls.

“I am so proud,” said the elder Scott, who was an offensive coordinator at Florida State and Clemson with five seasons (1994-98) as the head coach at South Carolina in between. “He knew he wanted to be a coach since he was a young boy at Florida State. Every step along the way was built for this moment right here. This was a job that he always had circled. When the potential for the job came about, he was ready to jump at it.”

He was ready to jump at it because, well, it was time.

Scott, who as a youth joined his father at FSU’s practices and went along on recruiting trips, was one of Dabo Swinney’s first assistants when the latter was named Clemson’s head coach in 2008. He served as recruiting coordinator and receivers coach before being elevated, along with running backs coach Tony Elliott, who was present Wednesday, to co-offensive coordinator prior to the 2014 Russell Athletic Bowl.

Since then, Clemson placed in the top 12 nationally in total offense four of five seasons, won five ACC titles, been to three national championship games and won two of them with possibly another one to come.

A late-night call from Swinney got the ball rolling in earnest on the next phase of his coaching career.

“He called me and said, ‘You are not going to believe who just called me,’” said Scott, recalling the conversation of a little more than a week ago. “He said, ‘Michael Kelly at the University of South Florida just called me. This is one of those jobs you want. It’s a great university, great location, great conference, great recruiting base right in their backyard. You can win there and they have a great athletic director in Michael Kelly.’ To be honest, that was all I needed to hear. From that point on I was focused on trying to get the job.”

It is a job that Scott, who will remain with Clemson through the College Football Playoff — the Tigers play Ohio State in a semifinal on December 28, his 39th birthday — while also digging in at his new post, accepted when the USF athletic director and former CFP executive offered it.

“This is a job that I really had circled in my book for a long time,” said Scott, who was born in Arcadia, Fla., about 90 miles southeast from where he will be coaching.

He is the coach Kelly circled in on.

“There were certain characteristics I was looking for and in talking to people around the country it became more clear that Jeff met all those characteristics,” said Kelly. “I just feel in all my heart that he’s the right fit at the right time to lead the University of South Florida football program.”

Swinney also felt it was the right time.

“He’s been patient for the right opportunity, and I think this is the right opportunity,” he said in a statement released by Clemson. He’s got a great AD in Michael Kelly. It’s a great fit for Jeff and I know that he’s well-prepared to take this next step and has all the tools he needs to be a great head coach.”

Scott, whose deal is $12.5 million over five years, is certainly well-prepared from a recruiting standpoint. He is familiar with the Tampa Bay region having made several recruiting trips with Clemson. As such, he has plenty of connections in the Sunshine State.

“Recruiting, obviously, is one of the key parts to having a championship program,” said the former Clemson receiver. “I used to have long trips down to Florida to go recruiting. Now, I can get in the car and be (where I need to be) in 15 minutes. I am really excited about that. Our recruiting will go inside-out. It is going to start right here in Tampa. There are so many great football players and great coaches in this area.”

While Scott will be busy recruiting players as the window on the early signing period opens December 18, he took time during his introduction, which was open to supporters and fans as well as media, to recruit potential donors. 

Scott is taking over a program lacking much of the infrastructure that even other programs in the American Conference possess. USF announced plans for an indoor practice facility in November 2017 at a cost of $40 million, and has yet to break ground, let alone having the team shielded from frequent pop-up thunderstorms during preseason practice.

“This is not a broken program,” he said. “There is a very solid foundation here. We just need to bring all of our energies and efforts together. It reminds me so much of where we were at Clemson in 2008. Coach Swinney brought a vision, getting everybody on the same page with the mindset that the best is yet to come. Whatever your abilities to support, this is the time to do it.”

Scott counts former Florida State coach Bobby Bowden, Swinney and his father, who will serve at USF in a to-be-determined administrative capacity, among his mentors. Much of what he absorbed from them will be instilled among the Bulls. He wants a well-rounded team that represents the entire university community in top-notch fashion.

“What I want from our players is, number one, to graduate,” he said. “That’s the most important thing. Number two, I want them to leave USF with tools for life preparing them for after football. Number three, I want them to have a great college experience. I want them to have fun. If you noticed anything watching Clemson the last few years, we won at the highest level and we had fun doing it, and we are going to do that here. Number four, very important, we are going to win a championship.”

That last detail may take some time as the Bulls have certainly fallen behind in the American. They completed the 2019 season (4-8) under Charlie Strong, who was dismissed on December 1 after three seasons, having lost 14 of their last 18 games. This season they suffered five losses by at least 27 points and in at least a couple of their home games it would be stretch to say 15,000 fans came through the gates at Raymond James Stadium.

Alas, Wednesday was a day for looking ahead and not behind thanks to a coach who was clearly the choice for USF.

Scott was “unequivocally our first and only choice,” said university president Steven Currall.

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