When clicking on a link to a story about candidates for vacant college football head coaching jobs, the odds are very good that you'll read Alex Golesh's name somewhere in the piece.
Bulls have known this was going to happen, and with some big-boy jobs open and likely more on the way, Golesh will continue to be mentioned. It's a compliment, of course, because that means outsiders have looked at what Golesh has accomplished in less than three years at a program that was a steaming heap before he arrived.
CBS Sports took another attempt at predicting how the market will unfold. It pegged Golesh for the vacant Arkansas job. That one has been intriguing from the beginning.
CBS Sports predictions pic.twitter.com/k13qgJCP6Y
— BuffalOKstate (@BuffalOKstate) October 28, 2025
You can win there, although the Hogs record since 2017 is a meh 40-65, including 2-6 so far this season. It has a rabid fan base, resources, and it is the flagship program in the state.
But Arkansas has also had losing records in the SEC in eight of the last nine years and is headed for another one this season. The only non-losing season in conference play was 4-4 in 2021.
Some might look at what Golesh has done at USF and see him as a turnaround master. Others might look at a league where boosters may be growing weary of paying humongous buyouts and wonder if it's wise to put a Group of Six coach in the pilot seat of an SEC program, no matter how successful he has been.
See Napier, Billy.
Here's my two cents.
First, if the new CEO of Athletics, Rob Higgins, isn't working on a major contract extension for Golesh, I would be extremely surprised. The status quo of Golesh's $2.5 million contract won't cut it any longer.
Second, go back to this statement from Golesh a few weeks ago, when it became impossible to ignore all the noise surrounding him.
"I didn't have nothing growing up. I've got more than I've ever needed. We're super, super happy here. My family's incredibly happy. To me, that's more important than any conference affiliation," he said.
"I've never, just never thought of it in the sense of, I gotta go chase a job. Just never have. I don't know. Maybe I'm different, maybe I messed up, maybe I should (have chased a job). And clearly, this profession is getting crazier by the minute."
The key words: family happiness is "more important than any conference affiliation."
Cynics might snicker at that, but Golesh is a different kind of cat. That doesn't mean he wouldn't go, but it would have to be the proverbial "too good to turn down" job, and I don't see it out there.
Yet.
USF is Golesh's ninth coaching stop.
That's nine times he had to find a new place to live and all the other stuff associated with moving. He was married in 2010. Since then, he has had to tell his wife, Alexis, six times that, "Honey, we gotta go."
From Toledo, to Illinois, to Iowa State, to UCF, to Tennessee, and now to USF, Golesh has lived the nomadic life of a coach. If you are a caring family man -- which Golesh most definitely is -- you have to weigh what's more important: Conference affiliation, or harmony at home.
He knows he has a great situation at USF that is only getting better. He sees coaches like James Franklin, fired for losing three straight after coming within an eyelash last season of playing for the national title.
Golesh will likely have a decision to make once this season is over. USF needs to do whatever it can to make that choice harder than it already will be.