TAMPA – The intensity is still there, the burning desire to succeed. But it seems to be a bit more controlled now, perhaps because there has been some success, because the plan seems to be working.
Three years ago, Alex Golesh couldn’t be sure of that. He was a young guy who had never been a head coach before, who had his own ideas about how you needed to go about things, build a winning culture, and South Florida was going to give him the opportunity to prove his point.
From the start, Golesh’s intensity was obvious. He was driven. It often seemed he was trying to cram 25 hours into a 24 hour day. When it came to USF football, no detail was too small to escape Golesh’s attention.
Everything that impacted the program was important if this was going to work. And he would make it work. Nothing else seemed to matter.
Golesh stepped into a make-or-break situation at South Florida. His immediate predecessor, Jeff Scott, had seemed to be the perfect choice to lead USF out of the college football wilderness.
He was poised, articulate. He had mastered the nuances of coaching at Clemson, had the right pedigree. There was new energy at USF. And then Scott went 4-26, won just one conference game and was fired at midseason the year before Golesh arrived, and South Florida was back in the basement once again.
So Golesh had to turn this around, for himself and USF. If he failed, both he and football at South Florida would become irrelevant, and Golesh would not let that happen. His single mindedness in that regard could make people feel somewhat uneasy, uncomfortable, but Golesh forged ahead.
And he got results. His first year, Golish led the Bulls to a 7-6 record including a bowl win over San Jose State. It was USF’s first winning season since 2018 when Charlie Strong also went 7-6. A second 7-6 season followed in 2034 including another bowl win.
All this was critical to Golesh’s success, and the first year was crucial. While he had no doubt what he was doing would work, he had nothing substantial to prove it. If USF had floundered under Golesh that first year as it had under Scott, there would have been doubt. Another losing season would have created more apprehension, even if Golesh himself remained steadfast to his plan.
“Two springs ago it was like, and you’ve heard me say this before, but it was gloves off every day,” Golesh commented. “You’d get done and you’d get home and Lex (Alexis, his wife) would be like ‘Man, how was the day?’ And I’m literally, I felt like I was in a 12 round bout every day.
“It was a dog fight,” Golesh continued. “Now, we’re at a point where we’re constantly guarding the culture but like I said, the standard at which you do everything takes forever to establish.
“I think you’re constantly building the culture,” Golesh went on. I tell our staff all the time you come in every morning and you’re going to do everything you can to protect the culture you’re trying to build.”
What Golesh has been trying to do, and he seems to feel that this year, his team is making real progress in that regard, is instill his principles, his work ethic, his attention to detail in his players.
When the team starts believing that what they’re doing will help them win football games and Golesh no longer has to convince them of that, then the players hold themselves and their teammates to Golesh’s standard.
And once they’ve accepted the culture, they are able to use it as the foundation for building a winning program.
“It got better from year one to year two,” Golesh said of his ability to inculcate his message to the team. “But for two years the coaches are the ones holding players to the standard.
“This year, I feel like for the first time since I’ve been here the standard is being upheld in the locker room among the guys,” Golesh declared. “You’re seeing that with way less accountability issues off the field. You’re seeing that through the coaching on the sidelines.
“There’s 10 guys that have started a lot of games that are standing on the sidelines and they’re coaching harder than the coaches,” Golesh said. “Like you’re trying to grab a young guy to coach him and somebody else is already coaching him.
“They’re holding the standard within the locker room. “Does that equate to wins on the field? Man, in my history it has. I think it’s your best chance. I think when the standard is held within the locker room by the players it’s going to be harder for those guys to let each other down,” Golesh said.
And it’s a standard that is passed on from one group of players to the next. It’s not like signing a bunch of transfers hoping to get one good year.
“That’s why I’ve said so many times you’re either going to build a team or you’re going to build a program,” Golesh said. “We chose to build a program.”
