Charlie Strong Fired as Head Football Coach at South Florida

The Tampa Bay Times reports that Charlie Strong has been fired as the head football coach at South Florida. The Bulls were 21-16 during Strong's tenure.  Here is a look at the South Florida Bulls football team since 2008; under four different head coaches - Leavitt (partial), Holtz, Taggart and Strong.  As you will notice, South Florida had above average seasons in 2015 and 2016, but have slipped Taggart resigned.

Below is the South Florida Bulls production rank (total, offense, defense, and the average and worst teams) since 2008 using the Complex Invasion College Football Production Model from the data provided from www.cfbstats.com, as well as lines for head coaching firing/retiring.  More details about the program under Strong is provided below; including a link to his original contract.

Charlie Strong [2017-2019]

2017
The Bulls finished the regular season at 9-2 (the game against Connecticut was postponed) and were bowl eligible, where they defeated #53 ranked Texas Tech by a score of (38-34) to finish 10-2 overall.  The Bulls played against a “much easier” strength of schedule, meaning that South Florida's SOS was higher than two standard deviations of the "league" average SOS.  South Florida's best regular season victory against #78 ranked Tulane by a score of (34-28) and South Florida's worst loss was to #57 ranked Houston by a score of (24-28).  The Bulls finished the season as the #25 ranked team overall, with the #32 ranked offense and the #40 ranked defense using the Complex Invasion College Football Production Model from the data provided from www.cfbstats.com.

2018
South Florida finished the regular season at 7-5, while playing against an “average” strength of schedule and were bowl eligible where they were defeated by #28 ranked Marshall by a score of (20-38).  South Florida's best regular season victory against #59 ranked Georgia Tech by a score of (49-38) and their worst loss was to #73 ranked Tulane by a score of (15-41).  South Florida finished the season as the #82 ranked team overall, with the #34 ranked offense and the #114 ranked defense using the Complex Invasion College Football Production Model from the data provided from www.cfbstats.com.

2019*
At the conclusion of the regular season, South Florida fired head football coach Charlie Strong after going 4-8.  South Florida played against a “tougher” strength of schedule, meaning that USF's SOS was between one and two standard deviations below the "league" average SOS.  South Florida's best victory was against currently ranked #62 BYU by a score of (27-23) and their worst loss was to currently ranked #112 Georgia Tech by a score of (10-14).  South Florida's current production rankings are:  #95 team overall, with the #100 offense and the #76 defense using the Complex Invasion College Football Production Model from the data provided from www.cfbstats.com.

Previous FBS Head Coaching Changes in 2019
Rutgers and Chris Ash
Florida State and Willie Taggart
Arkansas and Chad Morris
UNLV and Tony Sanchez
New Mexico and Bob Davie
Missouri and Barry Odom
UTSA and Frank Wilson