Alex Golesh (born June 24, 1984) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

coach who is currently the head football coach at the

University of South Florida The University of South Florida (USF) is a public research university with its main campus located in Tampa, Florida, and other campuses in St. Petersburg and Sarasota. It is one of 12 members of the State University System of Florida. USF is ...

. He was previously the offensive coordinator and tight ends coach at the

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee (officially The University of Tennessee, Knoxville; or UT Knoxville; UTK; or UT) is a public land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee. Founded in 1794, two years before Tennessee became the 16th state, ...

Coaching career

Golesh began his coaching career as an assistant coach working with the defensive line at

Westerville Central High School Westerville Central High School is a public high school located in Westerville, Ohio, northeast of Columbus. It is the newest of three high schools in the Westerville City School District. It opened in August 2003. History Westerville expe ...

in Ohio, whose football program was in its first year. He was later hired as a student assistant at

Ohio State The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...

in 2004 where he earned his degree in 2006. He also spent time coaching at

Northern Illinois Northern Illinois is a region generally covering the northern third of the U.S. state of Illinois. The region is by far the most populous of Illinois with nearly 9.7 million residents as of 2010. Economics Northern Illinois is dominated by th ...

and

Oklahoma State Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New M ...

as a graduate assistant.

Toledo

Golesh was hired as the running backs coach and recruiting coordinator at

Toledo Toledo most commonly refers to: * Toledo, Spain, a city in Spain * Province of Toledo, Spain * Toledo, Ohio, a city in the United States Toledo may also refer to: Places Belize * Toledo District * Toledo Settlement Bolivia * Toledo, Orur ...

in 2009 working under

Tim Beckman Timothy David Beckman (born January 19, 1965) is a former American football coach. He served as the head football coach at the University of Toledo from 2009 to 2011 and at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign from 2012 to 2014, compi ...

, who he also worked under at

as a defensive graduate assistant. He was later shifted to the tight ends coach in 2010. Golesh aided the Toledo program in securing the No. 1 recruiting class in the Mid-American Conference in consecutive years.

Illinois

Golesh followed Beckman to

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

in 2012, working once again as the tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator. He also added running backs coach duties in 2014 and was later promoted to special teams coordinator in 2015.

Iowa State

Golesh was hired as the tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator at

Iowa State Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a public land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State became one of the n ...

in 2016 under Matt Campbell, who he worked with at

. In the season before Golesh came to Ames, Iowa State tight ends caught a combined five passes. In 2019, Cyclone tight ends caught 75 passes under his direction and played a pivotal role in the team’s success. Golesh mentored all-conference performers at tight end in 2017, 2018 and 2019, as the Cyclones recorded a pair of 8-5 seasons and back-to-back bowl berths in 2017 and 2018. In 2018, Iowa State broke its school record for conference victories in a season (six), tying for third in the Big 12 for the best conference finish 40 years. In 2019, the Cyclones ended 7-6 after an appearance in the Camping World Bowl in Orlando, for their third consecutive bowl invitation. Sophomore tight end starter Charlie Kolar caught 51 passes for 697 yards (most yards all-time by a Cyclone tight end in a season) and seven touchdowns, helping him earn second-team All-America honors from Pro Football Focus and first-team All-Big 12 recognition, as well as first-team Academic All-America notice. He also was a semifinalist for the Mackey Award as one of the nation’s top tight ends. Teammate Chase Allen earned second-team All-Big 12 honors as Golesh’s unit completed the rare feat of sweeping both All-Big 12 tight end awards. The tight production helped Iowa State rank 11th nationally and second in the Big 12 in passing offense at 311.3 yards per game. Both, Charlie Kolar and Chase Allen, participated in the 2022 NFL Combine.

UCF

Golesh was hired as a co-offensive coordinator and tight ends coach at

UCF The University of Central Florida (UCF) is a public research university whose main campus is in unincorporated Orange County, Florida. UCF also has nine smaller regional campuses throughout central Florida. It is part of the State University ...

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

, working under

Josh Heupel Joshua Kenneth Heupel ( ; born March 22, 1978) is an American football coach and former player. He is the head football coach at the Tennessee Volunteers football, University of Tennessee. Previously he served as head coach at the UCF Knights fo ...

. Despite the challenges presented by the unique COVID-19 shortened season, the

Knights A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the Christian denomination, church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood ...

shined offensively in Golesh’s first year, ranking second in the FBS in total offense (568.1), fourth in passing offense (357.4), seventh in total passing yards (3,574) and eighth nationally in scoring offense (42.2).

Tennessee

Golesh followed Heupel to

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

as offensive coordinator and tight ends coach in

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

. During the 2021 season, Golesh helped

shatter eight team single-season records, including points (511), total offensive yards (6,174), touchdowns (67), point after touchdowns made (67), total first downs (316), rushing first downs (164), fewest interceptions thrown (3) and passing efficiency (167.10).

improved their scoring offense by 101 spots, going from 108th in the country in 2020 to seventh in 2021.

South Florida

On December 4, 2022, Golesh was announced as the sixth head coach of

South Florida South Florida is the southernmost region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is one of Florida's three most commonly referred to directional regions; the other two are Central Florida and North Florida. South Florida is the southernmost part of th ...

Personal life

Born in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

, Golesh moved to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

as a child, growing up in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

and

Dublin, Ohio Dublin is a city in Franklin, Delaware and Union counties in the U.S. state of Ohio. The population was 49,328 in the 2020 census with a census estimate of 49,037 in 2019. Dublin is a suburb of Columbus. The city of Dublin hosts the yearly Mem ...

. Golesh and his wife Alexis have a daughter and a son, Corbin and Barrett.

Head coaching record

References

External links

*
Iowa State profile

Tennessee profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Golesh, Alex 1984 births Living people Illinois Fighting Illini football coaches Iowa State Cyclones football coaches Northern Illinois Huskies football coaches Ohio State Buckeyes football coaches Oklahoma State Cowboys football coaches High school football coaches in Ohio Toledo Rockets football coaches UCF Knights football coaches Tennessee Volunteers football coaches Ohio State University alumni People from Brooklyn, Ohio People from Dublin, Ohio Sportspeople from Moscow Coaches of American football from Ohio Soviet emigrants to the United States Russian emigrants to the United States