(Chris Henry / University of South Florida Athletics)
The month of September wasn’t even halfway over by the time that a pair of power four head coaching jobs came open with UCLA firing head coach DeShaun Foster and Virginia Tech firing head coach Brent Pry following week three losses to fall to 0-3 on the season.
Virginia Tech football has failed to regain its program success in the 10 years since Frank Beamer’s retirement as they now look for their third head coach since his departure due to unsuccessful tenures from Justin Fuente and Pry.
As the Hokies begin their search for a new head coach, they’re reportedly interested in a pair of former Tennessee offensive coordinators. Both South Florida head coach Alex Golesh and former Wake Forest head coach Dave Clawson landed on On3’s hot board for the open ACC head coaching job.
Golesh is an obvious candidate, South Florida is off to a 2-1 start to the 2025 season with upset wins over Boise State and Florida and its lone loss coming last week at Miami. South Florida went 3-22 in the two seasons before Golesh took over as head coach. But the Bulls are now 16-13 in Golesh’s two-plus seasons as head coach.
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The former Tennessee offensive coordinator’s success has made him a popular head coaching candidate early in the season and he will likely show up on more hot boards as more jobs come open. It seems unlikely that he would leave South Florida for Virginia Tech unless the Hokies up their commitment to football and other top jobs don’t come calling.
Golesh spent two seasons at Tennessee as Josh Heupel’s offensive coordinator from 2021-22, helping re-build the Vols’ program and one of the nation’s best offenses.
Clawson’s time in Knoxville was much less successful. He was Tennessee’s offensive coordinator in 2008 which proved to be Phillip Fulmer’s final season as head coach due in part to an offense that struggled badly.
But Clawson’s career took off after his time at Tennessee. He spent five seasons as head coach at Bowling Green and then 11 seasons as head coach Wake Forest where he led the Demon Deacons to their most successful run in the modern era.
With the new age of college football putting greater emphasis on resource allotment and Wake Forest being short on financial commitment, Dave Clawson resigned as head coach after two 4-8 seasons in 2023 and 2024. According to the On3 report, Clawson would consider a return to coaching if the school had a financial commitment to the football program.
