Bryan Hodgson’s work with USF basketball is already attracting attention

College basketball insider Jeff Goodman, the co-founder of the Field of 68 site, sent out a tweet on Monday that is sure to make USF basketball fans moan.

The bottom part of Goodman's tweet says "If/when Syracuse makes a move on Red Autry, I'd expect Hodgson - who is from just outside of Buffalo - to be in the mix"

We just went through the saga of Alex Golesh being linked to multiple jobs, and now it's starting with Hodgson. We might as well get used to that because he is a rising star in the coaching world. That's why USF got Hodgson from Arkansas State.

Hodgson's reputation is justified. He has a team with 13 players who weren't here last year tied for first in the American Conference.

The Orange is 13-11 this season and the fans are turning up the heat on head coach Adrian Autrey.

On3.com noted, "After a 20-win season in his initial season as Syracuse’s head coach, the Orange regressed to 14-19 last season and currently sit at 4-7 in ACC play with a 13-11 overall record. The 14-win season a year ago was the program’s lowest win total since 1970. Syracuse is at risk of missing the NCAA tournament for the fifth consecutive season."

So, yeah ... it's logical to assume that regime change is coming to upstate New York. It's also logical for Hodgson's name to be attached.

However, Bulls fans, just take a deep breath.

I'm old enough to remember when USF basketball was more about firing coaches than other programs trying to take them away. Tampa is a big market, and when one of the major sports is doing well, it's going to attract attention. And with attention sometimes comes assumptions.

Syracuse has a storied history and was one of the college bluebloods for many years. If this were football, it's logical to assume a coach on the way up would leave a lesser program to take that gig. Life in the mid-major world of basketball is a little different, though.

Coaches judge jobs by the amount of resources at their disposal and how far they can go in the NCAA Tournament. The answer is: pretty far.

In 2023, Florida Atlantic went to the Final Four and was one point away from playing for the national championship. VCU, Marquette, Memphis, Gonzaga, and Butler are just a few of the mid-majors to play on the sport's biggest stage. Many others have been to the Elite Eight.

Heck, in 2012 under Stan Heath, USF won two games in March Madness and was five minutes away from a spot in the Sweet 16 with a fraction of the resources it has now.

USF has everything in place -- money, facillities, leadership --to compete at the power conference level. And, oh, it's in Tampa.

Tuesday afternoon in Syracuse, it was 33 degrees with freezing rain -- that;'s nasty stuff, nasty -- with snow expected. There's a winter weather advisory there until Thursday.

Oh, and there's this nugget.

When USF was in the final stages last March of hiring Hodgson, UNLV tried to jump the gun. It put the word out that a deal in Vegas was imminent.

It was not.

UNLV unquestionably has a better basketball history than USF.

But with someone like Bryan Hodgson coaching the Bulls, USF has a better future.