This browser does not support the Video element.
HC Brian Hartline wrapping up his first spring at USF
There's just one more spring practice left for the USF football team. The annual spring game is this Sunday. Our Mark Skol Jr checks in with new head coach Brian Hartline as he wraps up his first spring at South Florida.
TAMPA, Fla. - The first spring under new USF head football coach Brian Hartline is almost in the books.
What they're saying:
"Where has it gone," Hartline said. "Holy smokes."
It's gone by quickly for the Bulls' new leader, and he is excited about the progress the team has made in this short amount of time.
"Really proud of where we are right now," Hartline said. "Long way to go but where we are now compared to where we started spring is night and day."
Hartline believes the improvement is evident because the team tries their best to maximize their time.
Learning every day
"We can't run enough plays," Hartline said. "We can't get in enough situations. Any time you are on the practice field, there is something to learn for sure."
The 39-year-old says he has already learned a lot about himself in his first go as a head coach.
"I think I got some good advice," Hartline said. "Just recklessly be yourself."
He's being himself, and the passion is coming out.
"I take a lot of pride, at least in myself, that any time I am in front of the guys, I want to be the best experience they have ever had," Hartline said. "That is really in my head and what I try to accomplish."
While he says accomplishing that every single day is never realistic, he does plan on giving it his all every time.
"I just want to make sure these guys are armed with the right mentality to be successful in both sports and life," Hartline said.
The backstory:
In order for them to be successful, Hartline is preaching the mantra that landed him in the NFL for seven seasons — "Be different." That phrase is plastered all over the practice fields at USF. Hartline knows how much being different worked for him, and he believes it will help the Bulls this season.
"Culturally, you are trying to separate yourself," Hartline said. "Now how you do that, ultimately, dictates who you are. Do you have different colored hair or do you just outwork people? Being different is ultimately what we try to do day to day, week to week, in all facets of life."
Being different is, in Hartline's eyes, the key to success on the football field.
"I think that ultimately, in order to be different as a team, you must be different as an individual, and you have to have a lot of those guys," Hartline said.
And he believes there are a lot of those guys ready to take that step between Fletcher and Fowler Avenue.
"I am excited for the track we are on," Hartline said.
What's next:
The track for spring ends on Sunday for the Bulls and Hartline with the annual spring game.
The Source: The information in this story was gathered by FOX 13's Mark Skol, Jr. during a press conference at USF.