Tennessee football could be squaring off with one of its former offensive coordinators in conference play, or a marquee out-of-conference game, sooner than later. On3’s Andy Staples took a look at a handful of Group of Five head coaches who could be at the head of Power Four programs as soon as next season. Alex Golesh, the offensive coordinator under Josh Heupel in 2021 and 2022, was on the list. He is currently entering his third year at the top of USF.
The other coaches listed were Jon Sumrall of Tulane, Ryan Silverfield of Memphis, Jamey Chadwell of Liberty and Jason Candle of Toledo.
To be a Power Four head coach, it would mean being hired by an SEC, Big Ten, SEC or Big 12 program. This past offseason, no SEC coaches were fired, and all 16 returned. However, that could just mean it averages out this offseason with multiple coaches being let go.
Hot seats in the conference include Brent Venables at Oklahoma, Hugh Freeze at Auburn, Sam Pittman at Arkansas, Billy Napier at Florida, Mark Stoops at Kentucky and Jeff Lebby at Mississippi State.
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So far at USF, Golesh has posted a 14-12 record and is 2-0 in bowl games. He went 7-6 in both seasons, including a 4-4 mark in AAC play.
This is Golesh’s first head coaching job. In his first year, he led the Bulls to their first bowl game since 2018 and defeated Syracuse 45-0. This came after taking over a program that was coming off a 1-11 season.
Golesh first joined Heupel in 2020 at Central Florida. After one year as the offensive coordinator and tight ends coach with the Knights, he joined Heupel in Knoxville to start his Vols’ tenure. He served the same role at Tennessee.
Before that, Golesh was the tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator at Iowa State, Illinois and Toledo. He was the running backs coach for a year at Toledo, as well.
Golesh was a graduate assistant at Oklahoma State and Northern Illinois early in his career. He was a student assistant at Ohio State, where he received his degree. His coaching career started as the defensive line coach for Westerville Central High School in Ohio.
He was born in Moscow, Russia, and is 41 years old.
