TAMPA, Florida — Since earning the job in early December, USF head football coach Alex Golesh has been busy getting to know the current roster, recruiting future players and doing a plethora of interviews.
It has been a tedious adjustment for Golesh, who'd been a college assistant coach from 2009-2022. Now the head of the Bulls program, Golesh is getting used to having the spotlight on him.
"Everybody's looking at you. You don't know what that's like until you're sitting there," he said. "You get out to the field and...every move you're making is evaluated looked at [and] judged."
Golesh believes his experience as an assistant coach has prepared him for this role. In his offensive coordinator role at Tennessee from 2021-2022, head coach Josh Heupel allowed Golesh to instill his style of football on offense. Tennessee broke eight single-season records in his first season before leading the country in scoring and yards per game in 2022.
Whether USF produces similar stats remains to be seen, but the style of play will be similar to what fans saw from Tennessee under Golesh.
"We're going to be the most aggressive team in the country," the head coach said. "We're going to use the entire width of the field and we're going to play really, really fast. That's our identity. It's who we are. It's how we play."
Last season, the Bulls ended the season on a 10-game losing streak to finish with a 1-11 record. USF ranked ninth in the AAC in scoring and offensive efficiency. Golesh plans to vastly improve those numbers and believes the team has been open to the changes he is implementing.
"Haven't had a lot of adversity. Also, haven't had another opponent come in here yet. You won't really know where you are until that happens," he said.
The USF spring football game takes place on April 14 at Corbett Stadium on USF's campus. The first game of the regular season is on Sept. 2 against Western Kentucky.