Kelly Shares His Vision for USF Football's New Direction

About USF Athletics

About USF Football

– #GoBulls –

– Continuing his consistent commitment to transparency, on Monday USF Vice President of Athleticsmade sure to share his vision for the future of USF football with Bulls Nation and beyond.Kelly met with the media just one day after informing Charlie Strong of his decision to relieve the third-year USF coach of his duties and immediately begin a national search for the new leader of the Bulls' football program."I'm very energized about the future of this program. As we all know, we have a young and exciting program. We've only played the sport for 23 years, yet we won 150 games faster than any program in this state," Kelly said. "We live in a city, frankly I've lived in a lot of them, and I think it's one of the best in our country and one of the best in the world. Our institution is a preeminent university. By U.S. News and World Report, it's the fastest-rising university."Foregoing the use of a national search firm, Kelly will be spearhead the effort to identify a new head coach who can lead the football program to more levels of excellence. After meeting with the current football staff and student-athletes Sunday afternoon, Kelly was quick to officially begin his important mission ahead of the early signing period, which commences on Dec. 18."We will move forward with the necessary urgency that we need to, but a favorite quote of mine from John Wooden is, "Be quick, but don't hurry,'" Kelly said. "We're gonna work with the speed we need to, but we're gonna do whatever it takes to find the best fit for the next chapter of USF football."The new head coach of the Bulls will join a proud program that's filled its history book with success. Prior to the 2019 season, USF football was on a run of four straight postseason appearances (10 overall). The Bulls defeated two Power 5 opponents in bowl games during the winningest four-year stretch in school history (36-15 from 2015-18) that started just eight years after USF skyrocketed to a No. 2 national ranking."Despite all these accomplishments and all these assets that we have, I truly believe that the best is yet to come and this next process is going to lead us into that stage," Kelly said.With past accolades and lots of program potential, the open job has been very appealing to many interested parties that promptly reached out to Kelly following his announcement. Kelly noted USF is "safely planted in the top half of The American," as far as contract capabilities, and will be "prepared to go to the marketplace with a competitive salary offer.""There are many people interested in the future of USF football," Kelly said. "I'm excited to embark on that next chapter."One thing Kelly asked of Bulls Nation is to be open-minded about the next head coach because he certainly is about the possibilities."What I am most committed to is someone that embraces the USF football opportunity – who wants to make their mark here, who can best align with my vision for the future of USF football – to have those standards," Kelly said. "There's so many great coaches at different levels and different levels of experience that I know could be great fits here for USF."Kelly said he is willing to speak with former USF players, many of whom have been active during the transition on social media, and constituents eager to provide their thoughts on the new direction."I'm open to hearing feedback. If people have feedback, I'm interested in opinions and thoughts, but obviously everyone has to understand that there can only ultimately be one coach," Kelly said. "Input is one thing. The ultimate decision has to rest here and I'll have to own that."In the meantime, Kelly kindly reminded media members that no public comments will be given until the hiring process has been completed."The next time you'll hear from me on this topic will be when we announce our next head coach," he said.Until and after the coaching decision has been made, Kelly encouraged Bulls Nation to keep supporting a program that really appreciates it."We have a passionate and growing fan base that frankly needs to unite behind a unified vision to become what we want to be, in terms of the standard of excellence that we want, so I look forward to moving together with them," Kelly said. "All of us have a role to play in terms of making USF football what we want it to be."USF Athletics sponsors 19 varsity men's and women's teams that compete in 11 different sports, 18 at the NCAA Division I level in the American Athletic Conference. The Bulls' athletic program began in 1965 and is in its 54th season in 2019-20. Nearly 500 student-athletes train and compete in the athletic district located on the east end of the campus in Tampa, Fla. The Bulls have claimed 19 American Athletic Conference team titles since joining the conference in 2013, and own 120 conference titles overall. Eleven USF programs reached national postseason competition in the 2018-19 season and six were ranked in the Top 25 nationally. The Bulls posted a combined annual grade-point average over 3.0 for the fourth straight year in 2018-19 and have posted a program record nine straight semesters with a combined GPA over 3.0. USF has had more than 250 student-athletes earn their degree in the last three years.The USF football program first took the field in 1997 and completed its 23season (20at the FBS level) in 2019. The Bulls have posted 15 winning seasons, earned 14 All-America selections and 29 first-team all-conference selections and has seen 30 players selected in the NFL Draft. USF has made 10 bowl games appearances (going 6-4 in those games) and posted a program record six straight appearances from 2005-2010. The Bulls most recently made four straight bowl appearances from 2015-18 and posted back-to-back 10-win seasons in 2016 and 2017, logging a program-record 11-2 mark in 2016 while finishing both seasons ranked in the Top 25. USF spent a program record 20 straight weeks ranked in the Top 25 during the 2016 and 2017 seasons and reached as high as No. 2 in the national rankings during the 2007 season. In 2018, USF reached the program's 150win faster than any FBS program in state of Florida history.Follow USF Athletics on Twitter ( @USFAthletics ) and Facebook for all the latest information concerning the USF Athletic program.