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South Florida\u2019s Brian Hodgson ran the gamut of emotions in making his NCAA Tournament<\/a><\/span> head coaching debut not far from where he grew up, and following an 83-79 first-round loss to Louisville<\/a><\/span> on Thursday.<\/p>\n The Bulls\u2019 first-year coach\u2019s eyes began to well when senior forward Izaiyah Nelson referred to Hodgson as a father figure. <\/p>\n \u201cReally right now I\u2019m just honestly struggling to picture myself coaching this game without him,\u201d Hodgson said of Nelson, who followed the coach to South Florida this year after spending two seasons together at Arkansas State. \u201cJust to hear what he said about me, I feel the same way about him times a million.\u201d<\/p>\n Hodgson also paid tribute to his parents, Rebecca and Larry Hodgson, who adopted and raised him in Jamestown, New York<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n The game marked the first time Hodgson\u2019s parents got to see him in person in three seasons as a head coach. His father has dementia, making it difficult for him to travel to Florida and Arkansas. Buffalo, meantime, is only a 60-mile drive from Jamestown.<\/p>\n \u201cSomeone sent me a picture of my mom and dad with a big smile on their face,\u201d Hodgson said, before crediting his players for clinching the program\u2019s fourth tournament berth, and first since 2012.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ll never be able to repay these young men, because I didn\u2019t know if or when that would happen for my dad to be able to be here and see me in person and how excited he was,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Hodgson was abused as a child and placed in foster care at the age of 2 before being adopted. He wasn\u2019t the only one taken in by his parents, who also fostered more than 100 children.<\/p>\n \u201cThey never did that to get recognition, but they deserved it because they\u2019re phenomenal human beings,\u201d Hodgson said. \u201cI\u2019m very fortunate to have them as my parents.\u201d<\/p>\n As for the anger, Hodgson\u2019s ire was raised upon hearing Louisville coach Pat Kelsey question South Florida players for apparently disrespecting the Cardinals.<\/p>\n \u201cOur guys heard what they said,\u201d Kelsey said, following the win. \u201cIt was definitely something we heard. We internalized. We don\u2019t have a bunch of guys that are like, but I could tell it was simmering in them and it bothered them. But I do have a lot of respect for (South Florida).\u201d<\/p>\n Kelsey didn\u2019t specify what was said or when, except refer to a Bulls player saying: \u201cWe\u2019re going to pop them and something, something.\u201d<\/p>\n Hodgson was in the interview waiting area and didn\u2019t like what he overheard.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve heard all the nonsense about how our young men spoke heading into the game. What are we even talking about? Do you want these young men to not talk confidently about how they\u2019re going to play against their opponent?\u201d Hodgson said.<\/p>\n He then defended guard Wes Enis, who caused a stir among Louisville fans by saying he believed South Florida \u2014 the East Region\u2019s No. 11 seed \u2014 was the better team after the matchup was announced on Sunday.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t really care,\u201d Enis said, referring to the seedings. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t really call it an upset.\u201d<\/p>\n Hodgson didn\u2019t consider his player\u2019s comment as a swipe.<\/p>\n \u201cDid we want Wes Enis to sit in that press conference and say, \u2018No, we can\u2019t beat Louisville?\u2019 No,\u201d Hodgson said. <\/p>\n \u201cWe instill that in these young men to carry themselves with confidence every day,\u201d he added. \u201cWe could have won this game. Louisville won the game today. I wouldn\u2019t mind playing Louisville again.\u201d<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n AP March Madness bracket: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/ncaa-mens-bracket and coverage: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/march-madness\n <\/p><\/div>\n window.fbAsyncInit = function() { };<\/p>\n (function(d, s, id){ BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) \u2014 From tears, to praise, to a touch of anger. South Florida\u2019s Brian Hodgson ran the gamut of emotions in making his NCAA Tournament head coaching debut not far from where he grew up, and following an 83-79 first-round loss to Louisville on Thursday. The Bulls\u2019 first-year coach\u2019s eyes began to well … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24679,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24678","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/From-tears-to-a-touch-of-anger-South-Florida-coach.com2Fa62F5d2F8a40ca9b3b4e4e51286d6ad9d33d2Fdec61b8567e44a6ca56d.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24678","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24678"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24678\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24680,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24678\/revisions\/24680"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/24679"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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