(Chris Henry / University of South Florida Athletics)
There wasn’t a single SEC football coaching change last season. But less than a month into the 2025 season, there’s already been one move with Arkansas firing head coach Sam Pittman Sunday following a humiliating loss to Notre Dame to fall to 2-3 (0-1 SEC) on the 2025 season.
Offensive coordinator and former Arkansas head coach Bobby Petrino is now the interim head coach as Athletic Director Hunter Yurachek begins his search for the next Head Hog. And a former Tennessee football assistant coach is a candidate for the job.
On3’s Pete Nakos put together a hot board for the open Arkansas football job Sunday that included former Tennessee offensive coordinator and current USF head coach Alex Golesh.
Golesh is an obvious candidate for any head coach openings this offseason, South Florida is off to a 3-1 start to the 2025 season with upset wins over Boise State and Florida and its lone loss coming at Miami. South Florida went 3-22 in the two seasons before Golesh took over as head coach. But the Bulls are now 17-13 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. Just in the SEC, a number of coaches are on the hot seat as the season progresses including Kentucky’s Mark Stoops, Auburn’s Hugh Freeze and Florida’s Billy Napier.
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.
Petrino begins his audition to become Arkansas head coach in two weeks when the Razorbacks travel to Knoxville to face Tennessee in a critical SEC matchup.
