TAMPA, FL - Jeff Scott is the new head coach of USF Football. 

The following is a conversation between Scott and Spectrum Sports 360's Chris Torello.

Chris Torello: Coach, we finally get to see you here to stay in the Green and Gold. What was that whole process like going back to Clemson and also dealing with the staff here while trying to win a championship?

Jeff Scott: Well, I thought it was really helpful that I could be down here once I accepted the job and had the press conference I had a good eight days to get a lot done. I was able to get a lot of things done with the coaching staff. I really wanted to have a lot of that done and completed. And then going back to Clemson I wanted to be fair to Clemson once I got back and give my full attention to the team and the coaches, obviously getting ready to play in the Playoffs. It was definitely a challenge – not a lot of sleep. I was a Clemson coach by day and at night, and even early morning, I was the USF head coach setting up calls and sending emails.

Chris Torello: Signing Day is coming, February 5^th, a big day everyone points to: who do you, Coach Scott, sell the brand of USF Football?

Jeff Scott: The first thing I found out was so many of these high school coaches went to USF because it’s great education department. So, a lot of them were telling me more about USF than I currently know. But so far it has been a really easy sell. I think the potential is incredible and I think the coaches see that, I think they also understand the type of environment and the type of culture we are going to have in our program because many of these coaches have sent us guys to Clemson.

Chris Torello: You said at your press conference ‘I am going to build this thing from the inside out. I want to get the Bay Area kids. But I have spoken with a lot of coaches and they think USF’s past few days didn’t take advantage of the Bay Area. So how have you gone about maybe looking into these coaches and programs?

Jeff Scott: That is definitely a priority for us. At the end of the day our job is to bring in the type of young men that are going to represent our program and our university in a first class manner. Second of all, guys who are going to help us win a championship. I want to look for those guys; those players are here in the Bay Area. All of those players that qualify for that in the Bay Area are the guys we want to go after.

Chris Torello: You look at the grad transfers, the transfer portal and all those options – that vision you have for the program; how fast can USF be turned around? You even said it yourself this is not a broken program.

Jeff Scott: That’s a great question. My goal is to get there as quickly as we possibly can. Right now I am in the fact finding position. I have a very clear vision of where we are going and what it is going to look like when we get there. But in order to get there I need to know where we are.

Chris Torello: You know what it’s like when Ray Jay is rockin’ you got to be there for the National Championship. But you were also in that empty stadium catching a football from Michael Kelly. Unfortunately, USF fans will tell you that its more towards the empty version. What is that vision that you share with fans?

Jeff Scott: I think the biggest thing is that fans want to be part of something special. And they want to come to the stadium and that want to see an exciting product, an exciting brand of football. Part of that is on us, as coaches, and on the players. The other part is bringing in good, top competition. And you have that when you look at Florida and Alabama coming in here. And I think that will get fans excited. I have been to some Lightning games and seen the passion of Bucs fans. There are plenty of passionate sports fans in our area and I am very confident that they will definitely see USF as their hometown college football team.