South Florida officially named Alex Golesh as the sixth head coach in program history on Sunday.
He replaces Jeff Scott, who was fired in November after a 1-8 start.
Special teams coordinator Daniel Da Prato closed out the season as interim coach and the Bulls finished 1-11 overall, 0-8 in the American Athletic Conference.
“We are thrilled to welcome Coach Golesh as the new leader of our program,” USF athletic director Michael Kelly said. “He is a dynamic coach and recruiter who is relentless in pursuit of excellence, as evidenced by his outstanding track record of elevating numerous programs. He also happens to be one of the most creative and successful offensive minds in college football.”
Golesh, 38, is a finalist for the 2022 Broyles Award as the nation’s best assistant coach for his work this season as the offensive coordinator at Tennessee. His Volunteers lead the nation in total offense (538.1 yards per game) and scoring (47.3 points per game).
Golesh has prior experience coaching in Florida, working as the co-offensive coordinator at UCF in 2020 before joining the staff at Tennessee in 2021.
“I’m excited to be back in the state of Florida and work with the great high school coaches in this state,” Golesh said. “This program will have an identity both offensively and defensively, and with special teams.
“We will be the most aggressive team in the country, both on the field and on the recruiting trail.”
His coaching history also includes stops at Iowa State, Illinois and Toledo. This is Golesh’s first head coaching job.
He inherits a program in Tampa, Fla., that has fallen on hard times, going 4-26 in two-plus seasons under Scott.
The Bulls posted back-to-back seasons with double-digit wins in 2016 and 2017 under coaches Willie Taggart and Charlie Strong, respectively.
