VALDOSTA — A familiar face will be leading Valdosta State next fall.

Former Blazer Gary Goff is set to be the next VSU head coach, a source told the Valdosta Daily Times on Thursday night. FootballScoop.com first reported the hire.

Goff played for the Blazers under Hal Mumme, serving as a team captain in 1996, when VSU won its first Gulf South Conference championship.

The past eight seasons, Goff has been the head coach at Tiffin (Ohio) University. With Goff at the helm, the Dragons went 38-50 in that time, becoming the winningest coach in school history. Taking over a program in 2011 that had won just two games in three seasons, Goff posted three straight winning campaigns to end his tenure at Tiffin, going 23-10 in that span.

Tiffin finished 9-2 in 2018, the school’s best season since 2007. The Dragons were ranked as high as No. 15 in the country following a 9-0 start. Tiffin averaged more than 425 yards per game offensively.

At VSU, Goff takes over a program coming off its fourth national championship since 2004 with a 14-0 campaign in Kerwin Bell’s third season. Bell was named the offensive coordinator at South Florida earlier this month.

In achieving the program’s first unbeaten season, the Blazers averaged 52 points per game with 728 points for the season, setting new school and Gulf South Conference records for both. VSU also set new school records for rushing yards (3,676 yards total and 262.6 yards per game) and total offense (7,334 yards total and 523.9 yards per game), while closing. The total offense yardage also set a new GSC record.

The Blazers are set to return plenty of weapons for Goff to work with, as well.

Rogan Wells, the Harlon Hill Trophy runner-up, will be back at quarterback and will possess a wealth of talented playmakers at his disposal. VSU could bring back its top 10 rushers, who accounted for 101.22 percent of the Blazers’ 3,676 rushing yards in 2018, its top two passers (94.67 percent of the 3,658 passing yards) and its top four receivers and 16 of the 18 players that caught a pass during the title season, accounting for 88.76 percent of the receiving yardage.

Prior to Tiffin, Goff served as offensive coordinator at West Virginia Wesleyan and also was an assistant at Princeton, New Mexico State, Iowa Wesleyan and Southeastern Louisiana.