South Florida Bulls football

Jim Leavitt era (1997–2009)

In 1997, Jim Leavitt, previously the Defensive Coordinator at Kansas State, was hired as the team's first head coach. Their first team meeting was held under a shade tree, as the school had no proper football facilities on campus

In 2001, after competing for four years as a Division I-AA (now Division I FCS) independent, the Bulls moved to Division I-A (now Division I FBS), where they remained independent. They joined Conference USA in 2003, but only stayed until 2005, when they became a member of the Big East Conference (now the American Athletic Conference).

On December 31, 2005, USF lost to NC State in the Bulls' first-ever bowl appearance, the Meineke Car Care Bowl. On December 23, 2006, USF won its first bowl game, the inaugural Papajohns.com Bowl, with a victory over former Conference USA rival, East Carolina. Leavitt would lead the Bulls to 5 straight bowl games, earning a 3–2 record.

South Florida received increased press coverage for their upsets of Top 25 ranked teams such as Louisville (2005), West Virginia (2006, 2007, 2009), Auburn (2007), Kansas (2008) and Florida State (2009). During Leavitt's tenure, the Bulls were 7–12 against opponents ranked in the Top 25.

The 2007 football season marked the first ascent into both the AP Poll and BCS standings for the Bulls.

Week 3 – #23 after defeating #17 Auburn 26–23

Week 4 – #18 after defeating North Carolina 37–10

Week 5 – #6 after defeating #5 West Virginia 21–13

Week 6 – #5 after defeating FAU 35–23

Week 7 – #2 after defeating UCF 64–12

The Bulls' high ranking was short lived, as South Florida lost its next 3 games, and tumbled out of the rankings. The Bulls would rebound and win three straight games to close out the regular season ranked #21 in the BCS standings and #23 in the AP Poll. After a 9-3 season, the Bulls earned a bid to their third straight bowl game, the Brut Sun Bowl against Oregon. The Bulls entered the game as favorites, but surrendered 56 points (a Sun Bowl record) in a blowout loss. Following the loss, USF dropped from the national rankings in both the AP Poll and the USA Today Poll.

Leavitt was fired on January 8, 2010 after an investigation revealed that, during halftime of a game against Louisville, he grabbed a player by the shoulder pads and struck him twice across the face. The investigation also claimed that Leavitt interfered with the investigation by telling several coaches and players to change their stories. Leavitt maintains he never struck the player, but was merely trying to console him, and after a wrongful termination suit against USF, the school eventually settled with Leavitt for $2.75 million. Leavitt went on to serve as LB Coach for the San Francisco 49ers, who, in his first season (2011), reached the NFC Championship game for the first time since 1997, and the Defensive Coordinator at the University of Colorado. He is now the Defensive Coordinator at the University of Oregon under former USF coach Willie Taggart.

Skip Holtz era (2010–2012)

On January 14, 2010, Skip Holtz was hired away from East Carolina and named the team's second head coach. The Bulls did well in Holtz's first season, defeating #16 ranked Notre Dame in Week 1, and Clemson in the Meineke Car Care Bowl, to finish with an 8-5 record. However, USF steadily declined during Holtz's time with the team, going 5–7 and 3–9 in his last two seasons, respectively. During Holtz's tenure, the Bulls were 1–5 against teams ranked in the Top 25. His firing was announced by Doug Woolard on December 2, 2012. Holtz was subsequently hired by Louisiana Tech as its new head coach.

Willie Taggart era (2013–2016)

On December 8, 2012, USF announced that Willie Taggart, who previously coached at Western Kentucky, would be the third head coach in USF football history. Despite having the top rated recruiting class in the American Conference heading into the 2013 season, the Bulls struggled in Taggart's first year, posting a 2–10 record.

USF once again had the top recruiting class in the American Conference heading into the 2014 season, and the Bulls showed improvement in Taggart's second year, finishing with a 4–8 record.

In Taggart's third season, after having the second best recruiting class in the American Conference, the Bulls finished with an 8–5 record. After a 1–3 start, with losses to FSU, Maryland, and Memphis, USF won seven of their next eight games, including a 44–23 upset of #22 Temple, a 65–27 victory over Cincinnati, and a 44–3 victory over rival UCF. The Bulls earned a bid to the Miami Beach Bowl against Taggart's former team, Western Kentucky. On December 21, 2015, the same day as the team's bowl game, Coach Taggart received a three-year contract extension. The Bulls would go on lose their bowl game by a score of 45–35, however, during the game, multiple school records would be set, including single season rushing yards (1,381), and 100-yard rushing games (9), by Marlon Mack, and single season receiving yards (822) by Rodney Adams.

Heading into the 2016 season, Bulls players were named on 12 national award watch lists, and the team received two votes in both the AP Poll and the Coaches Poll. Many media outlets predicted the Bulls would win the East division of the American and play Houston in the American Athletic Conference Football Championship Game on December 3, 2016. The Bulls ended the season tied with Temple for 1st place in the East division, but because of a Week 8 loss to the Owls, USF would not play in the Championship Game. In a Week 5 game against Cincinnati, Marlon Mack passed Andre Hall to become the leading rusher in program history. Two weeks later, in a Week 7 game against Connecticut, Mack passed B.J. Daniels to become the program leader in rushing touchdowns. After that game, Coach Taggart was included on the watch list for the Paul "Bear" Bryant Award, which is presented annually to the best coach in college football. During their Week 9 game against #22 Navy, the Bulls set a school record for rushing yards in a game, racking up 412 yards in a 52-45 victory. The Bulls would break that record two weeks later in their Week 11 game against Memphis, rushing for 416 yards in a 49-42 victory. Also in that game, the Bulls broke the school record for offensive touchdowns in a season (58). In a Week 12 game against SMU, Quinton Flowers passed Matt Grothe to become the school leader in single-season total offense.

The Bulls secured their first 10-win season after a 48-31 victory over UCF in Week 13. During that game, Quinton Flowers set the school record for single season rushing yards (1,425), passing the mark Marlon Mack set in 2015. On November 30, 2016, QB Quniton Flowers was named the American Athletic Conference Offensive Player of the Year, which is the first such award in school history. On December 7, 2016, Oregon announced that Coach Taggart would become the school's new head coach, a position that was vacant after the firing of Mark Helfrich on November 29, 2016. The Bulls ended their season with a 46-39 victory over South Carolina in the Birmingham Bowl on December 29, 2016. On January 12, 2017 Quinton Flowers was named the 2017 College Football Performance Awards National Performer of the Year.

Charlie Strong era (2017–present)

On December 11, 2016, USF announced that former Texas head coach Charlie Strong would become the Bulls' new head coach, the fourth in school history. Strong's deal is for five years, which will keep him in Tampa through the 2021 season.

Bowl games

* Interim coach after Willie Taggart accepted the head coaching position at Oregon.

Stadium

The Bulls played at Houlihan's Stadium in 1997. Raymond James Stadium is a $168.5 million facility, which opened on September 20, 1998 with a Tampa Bay Buccaneers game against the Chicago Bears. Two weeks later, the Bulls debuted in their new home with a 45–6 win over The Citadel in front of 32,598 fans. From 1998 to 2007, only the lower half of the stadium has been typically opened for USF games, allowing for a capacity of 41,441, although the upper deck has been opened numerous times to accommodate crowds in excess of what the lower bowl can handle. However, as of 2008, USF has opened the upper deck for every home game and is selling season tickets in the upper deck as well.

On September 28, 2007, the #18 ranked Bulls played the #5 ranked West Virginia Mountaineers in front of 67,012 fans. This remained the largest USF Bulls home game crowd in the stadium's history until September 29, 2012, when the USF Bulls played the FSU Seminoles in front of 69,383 fans.

The Bulls have enjoyed a winning edge in Raymond James, building an 86–42 (.672) record since 1998, including one streak of 21 straight victories (11/6/1999 – 10/10/2003). The Bulls are 14–1 in Week 1 games played at Raymond James, with their only loss coming in 2013 at the hands of McNeese State.

Current professional players

Current as of March 12, 2017.

Media

USF football games currently air on the radio on Sports Radio 98.7 The Fan WBRN-FM. Play-by-play man Jim Louk is teamed with color analyst, and former Tampa Bay Buccaneer, Mark Robinson for the broadcasts. Due to USF's affiliation in the American Athletic Conference, many of the televised games air locally on ESPN3/WatchESPN, while some replays can be seen on Spectrum Sports.

Rivals

As a young program that has grown rapidly and shifted conferences several times, USF has developed few lasting rivalries. The most noteworthy has been the South Florida-UCF football rivalry against in-state opponent, the University of Central Florida. The matchup had been the subject of much discussion and fan enthusiasm since the 1990s, but it was not until 2005 that games were scheduled. The two schools met in a four-year, home-and-away series through 2008. USF won all four games, which drew substantial crowds, but declined to schedule any further games. However, the series resumed as an annual conference game when UCF joined the American in 2013.

Before major conference realignment in the early 2010s, USF had many competitive games with Louisville (5–6 overall record), West Virginia (3–4 overall record; 3–3 when opponent ranked in Top 25), and Cincinnati (0–3 when USF ranked in Top 25). USF also began a 6-year Thanksgiving weekend series in 2008 with Miami, with the last four games (2010–2013) being televised by one of the ESPN networks. West Virginia left the Big East conference before the 2012 season to join the Big 12, while Louisville left the American Athletic Conference after the 2013 season for the ACC.

Ranked opponents

USF has played many ranked opponents in their short history, earning several marquee victories.

Statistics & rankings

Future out of conference opponents

Announced schedules as of December 2, 2016