Charlie Strong isn’t the only person who’s moving from Austin to Tampa this offseason.
The school confirmed several reports on Thursday evening by announcing that former Texas offensive coordinator Sterlin Gilbert would be taking the same role with the Bulls in 2017.
“I’m excited to join Coach Strong at South Florida and to get to work building on the great season they just had,” Gilbert said in a statement. “We have some very talented players, led by a dynamic quarterback in Quinton Flowers, and I am really looking forward working with them and the great football talent in the state of Florida. Being a former high school coach, I look forward to meeting the high school coaches in the state and know they play great football here.”
Gilbert did inject plenty of life into the Longhorns offense this past season after coming down from Tulsa, but did not do quite enough to save Strong’s job on the 40 acres.
While USF ran what they called the “Gulf Coast” version of the spread offense under former head coach Willie Taggart (now at Oregon), Gilbert brings something a little different to the team as somebody who runs an offense similar to what Baylor has run the past several years under ex-coach Art Briles.
With a quarterback like Flowers behind center and a number of top-notch skill position players returning for the Bulls next season, Gilbert should have plenty to work with in his next stop as USF enters as one of the favorites in the AAC in 2017.