Former USF coach Alex Golesh was too 'booked' for Tampa radio at SEC Media Days

Alex Golesh was back in Tampa this week for the first time since leaving USF late last November to become the head football coach at Auburn.

The occasion was the SEC football media days in downtown Tampa and it was natural that local reporters covering the event would want to speak with Golesh. After all, he left USF so quickly -- accepting the Auburn job at 3 a.m. on November 30, about four hours after the Bulls' regular-season ending win over Rice -- that no one from the Tampa area media got a chance to ask him questions.

The SEC media event was their first opportunity. It would have Golesh's chance to mend some fences from a place that supported him well for three years and put him in a position to get the Auburn gig.

For whatever reason, it didn't happen. When radio station @975WDAE -- the largest sports talk station in town -- requested a sitdown with Golesh, host Rock Riley said an Auburn rep told him Golesh was all booked up.

We don't know whether the rep decided to run interference for Golesh or whether the coach himself said he didn't want to do it. Either way, it was another missed opportunity for Golesh, kind of like the Memphis and Navy games last season that sent USF from a potential playoff spot to the Cure Bowl.

We do know it's just another log on the fire that was lit when Golesh left without saying goodbye. It's a shame these two teams don't play each other.

He did give Tampa a brief mention in his opening remarks Tuesday, but didn't mention USF directly.

"Thankful to be back in Tampa. We spent just over three years here and met some incredible people here, some dear friends still," he said. "This community was incredible to my family. I am really, really thankful for my time here and the way we got treated and the commitment that was made to us here in Tampa."

Golesh got mad at me last year for insinuating that he couldn't wait to leave USF for Auburn. All I know that, by his own admission, the deal to go to Auburn was sealed well before sunrise.

Listen, he's a football coach. Auburn offered him a 6-year deal for $44.25 million. It's a storied program in the SEC. Of course he was going to take the job, and I didn't blame him then and don't blame him now.

But a few things have gone south since then.

Golesh gave an interview with USA Today, where he said, “I felt like you could win a national title here, where at South Florida, I think you and everybody else knows you never were going to get there.”

That prompted this rapid response from Rob Higgins, USF's CEO of Athletics.

Having the right coaches.

Meow!

New USF coach Brian Hartline added his two cents later, telling Pete Nokos of On3.com, “There was some success here the last couple of years, but nowhere near where it should be. The expectation should be to win — the floor here should be a constant chase for the American Conference championship."

Since Auburn tends to devour its coaches, I'm not certain how long Golesh will last there. There is plenty of skepticism among the faithful about the large number of USF players who transferred there when Golesh arrived.

That's for him to deal with.

In the meantime, it would have been nice for Golesh to go on WDAE and say something like, "Hey, there were a few things about my departure from USF that I would like to clear up."

But I guess he was booked.

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