In Thursday’s Birmingham Bowl (2 p.m. ET, ESPN), South Florida’s in a bit of a transitional phase. The Bulls lost head coach Willie Taggart to Oregon after their regular season ended, and they hired recently fired Texas coach Charlie Strong to replace him. Neither man’s coaching the bowl game, as Taggart left immediately to start work in Eugene and Strong isn’t hitting the sidelines until next year.
Willie Taggart’s gone, so USF-South Carolina is Will Muschamp vs. Charlie Strong’s future team
The Birmingham Bowl is a coaching circle story.
Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
So USF’s got an interim boss for this game: USF co-offensive coordinator T.J. Weist, a former Alabama receiver who says he’ll bring some Bama with him to this game:
The matchup is kind of interesting, mainly because USF is interesting. The Bulls have one of the best offenses in the country, and you wouldn’t think that’d all go away in just a couple of weeks without Taggart. They’re fun to watch.
Taggart had a big hand in making them fun to watch before getting the job at Oregon. Relentless offense has been a part of the USF package.
From a recent feature by SB Nation’s Steven Godfrey:
“We’re fighting to be recognized,” Taggart said after the game. “We’re fighting to be ranked. We’re fighting for the attention these players deserve. Our motto is, if you try to score on us, we’ll score on you. If you punt, we’ll take a knee.”
USF scored 44 points per game this year, seventh-most in the country.
Subtext: This is Will Muschamp against Strong’s future team.
In that way, maybe Florida fans will be interested, even though Strong will presumably be watching from the press box or sidelines and not actually being involved.
In various stints throughout the 1980s, ‘90s, and 2000’s, Strong was a defensive assistant for the Gators. He left Gainesville after 2009 to embark on a four-year run coaching Louisville. Strong’s only previous head coaching experience was leading the Gators in the 2004 season’s Peach Bowl after Ron Zook’s firing.
A year after Strong left for Louisville, the Gators hired Texas defensive coordinator Muschamp to be Urban Meyer’s replacement. Muschamp lost his job after four seasons, and then he landed a year later at South Carolina.
Strong also has South Carolina history. He was the Gamecocks’ defensive coordinator from 1999 to 2002, when Lou Holtz was the head coach.
Because life is sometimes one grand circle story, Strong and Muschamp’s new programs have both now found their way to Birmingham.
I’d say that’s a weird and fun coincidence, except there’s nothing coincidental about Will Muschamp bringing a team to Birmingham.
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