Elijah Brooks will coach running backs;
Mike Sollenne to coach offensive line and serve as run game coordinator;
Myles White to coach wide receivers
TAMPA, FLA., DEC. 30, 2025 – South Florida Football Head Coach Brian Hartline has announced the additions of Elijah Brooks, Mike Sollenne and Myles White to the Bulls primary offensive coaching staff.
Brooks will coach the Bulls’ running backs and comes to USF after three seasons coaching running backs at Virgina Tech.
A former standout running back at William & Mary, Brooks brings 19 years of coaching experience to Tampa, including eight seasons serving as the head coach at national prep powerhouse DeMatha Catholic High School (Md.). During his tenure at DeMatha, Brooks led the program to four consecutive state championships and three top-20 national finishes before transitioning to the collegiate ranks at Maryland, where he coached for four seasons prior to joining Virginia Tech.
Under Brooks’ guidance, Hokies running back Bhayshul Tuten produced a breakout 2024 campaign, rushing for more than 100 yards in six of 11 games—four against Power Four opponents—and setting the Virginia Tech single-game rushing record with 266 yards against Boston College. Tuten finished the season with 1,159 rushing yards, ranking fourth in the ACC, while his 105.4 yards per game ranked second. He earned All-ACC Second Team honors.
Sollenne (sol-N-ee), a former standout offensive tackle at LIU Post, will coach the Bulls’ offensive line and serve as run game coordinator. He comes to USF after a successful 2025 season at UNLV, where the Rebels went 10-4 and fielded an offense that ranked among the nation’s top 25 in scoring, total offense, and rushing. UNLV running back Jai’Den Thomas led the nation with a 7.00 yards-per-carry average while totaling 1,036 rushing yards and 12 touchdowns en route to All-Mountain West First Team honors.
Sollenne previously spent time in Florida as a member of Dan Mullen’s staff at the University of Florida and served three seasons as a graduate assistant at Ohio State. During his tenure with the Buckeyes, Ohio State reached the College Football Playoff semifinals in 2022 and captured the CFP National Championship in 2024. He brings 10 years of coaching experience to South Florida.
White, a former NFL wide receiver, will coach the Bulls’ wide receivers. A rising star in the coaching ranks with experience at both the NFL and collegiate levels, White arrives in Tampa after serving as Syracuse’s passing game coordinator and wide receivers coach in 2025, following a season on the Green Bay Packers’ staff.
White’s collegiate coaching experience includes stops at Miami (Ohio), Stephen F. Austin, and SMU, following a six-year professional playing career. He has coached NFL wide receivers James Proche and two Super Bowl champions—Kansas City Chiefs standout Rashee Rice and Philadelphia Eagles receiver Danny Gray. At Stephen F. Austin, White guided Xavier Gipson to Associated Press First Team FCS All-America honors in 2021 after Gipson recorded 74 receptions for 1,367 yards and 14 touchdowns.
As a player, White spent two seasons with the Green Bay Packers (2013–14) to begin his NFL career, followed by the 2015 season with the New York Giants. He later signed contracts with the New York Jets and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
2026 SOUTH FLORIDA COACHING STAFF
Brian Hartline Head Coach 1st at USF
Josh Aldridge Defensive Coordinator/Inside LBs Coach 1st at USF
Tim Beck Offensive Coordinator 1st at USF
Terry Bradden Defensive Line Coach 1st at USF
Elijah Brooks Running Backs Coach 1st at USF
Chad Creamer Special Teams Coord./Outside LBs Coach 4th at USF
Mike Hartline Quarterbacks Coach 1st at USF
James Rowe Cornerbacks Coach 4th at USF
Mike Sollenne Run Game Coord./Offensive Line Coach 1st at USF
Danny Verpaele Safeties Coach 1st at USF
Myles White Wide Receivers Coach 1st at USF
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ABOUT USF FOOTBALL
The USF football program first took the field in 1997 and completed its 29th season in 2025. In 2025, Bulls went 9-4, earned a third straight bowl appearance, made the program’s first College Football Playoff ranking appearance, and were ranked four times in the weekly AP Top 25 poll. USF completed construction on a new $22-million Indoor Performance Facility in 2023 and a $349-million on-campus stadium and football operations center broke ground in the fall of 2024 and is slated for completion by 2027. The Bulls have posted 18 winning seasons, earned 16 All-America selections (including two consensus selections, the last coming in 2021), as well as 35 first-team all-conference honorees. USF has had 30 players selected in the NFL Draft while the Bulls have made 13 bowl game appearances (going 8-5), which is tied for the third-most in the first 25 seasons of a program’s bowl eligibility. USF 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 campaigns and reached as high as No. 2 in the Associated Press rankings during the 2007 season.
– #GoBulls –
