USF’s Alex Golesh Earns National Award, Becomes Hottest Name in College Coaching

USF coach Alex Golesh received some huge and well-deserved recognition on Monday. He was named the Dodd Trophy National Coach of the Week by The Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year Foundation and Peach Bowl,  Inc.

According to a news release, the award goes to “a football coach who led his team to a significant victory during the previous week, while also embodying the award's three pillars of scholarship, leadership and integrity.”

Check. Check. Check. Check.

Before we dive deeper into this, let’s state the obvious: Golesh will be at or near the top of the “hot college football coach” list for any school looking for an upgrade.

It won’t be long before we hear that representatives from various power conference schools have their eye (and wallet) focused on Golesh. Plugged-in national writers will get tips from boosters or other school officials that they’re after him, which will quickly go viral.

He signed a six-year deal with USF in 2022 that works out to about $2.5 million per year. For comparison: Billy Napier, the coach that Florida boosters want to run out of town on a rail, signed a 7-year, $51.8 million deal in 2021. He is making $7.4 million this year.

I am sure the leadership at USF is not only aware of that, but is actively working toward a package that would head off potential suitors at the pass.

I say this even in this time of flux, where USF is operating with an interim athletic director and a university president who plans to step down as soon as her successor can be found.

Golesh is the national darling now in college football,  and for good reason.

USF has found its guy.

Eventually, and probably sooner rather than later, it will have to find a way to keep its guy before the program becomes Group of 5 chum for the Power 4 sharks.

“Coach Golesh and the Bulls have already put together one of the best resumes in college football, defeating two ranked teams to open the season,” Chairman Jim Terry of the Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year Foundation said.

“Coach Dodd would have commended how USF’s players remained disciplined, poised, and resilient in all three phases of the game, especially on the road in a hostile environment.”

Golesh doesn’t stop at just X’s and O’s. He has emphasized academic accountability. The Bulls posted a 983 Academic Progress Rate and a 76 Graduation Success Rate last season.

He was also recently named a nominee for the prestigious 2025 Allstate AFCA Good Works Team, which recognizes college football student-athletes and head coaches who demonstrate outstanding commitment to community service and leadership.

“This was a huge moment for USF and Coach Golesh,” said Gary Stokan, Peach Bowl, Inc. CEO and President.

“Coach Golesh’s leadership has sparked a remarkable turnaround for the Bulls. Back-to-back wins over ranked opponents to open the season shows just how far the program has come under his guidance as he now has his team in position for a potential College Football Playoff bid.”

I’ve been around Golesh and the football program for the last couple of years, and I believe he and his family love USF and Tampa. And even if the offers come from other places – and they will – he would just be taking over someone else’s mess.

This is his program now, rebuilt to this point from the dumpster fire it was when he arrived. He has formed incredible relationships with his players and assistant coaches.

That matters a lot.

Given that, his exceptional recruiting skills, and the fact that the Bulls will christen their on-campus stadium in less than two years and might be in a power conference by then, I think it would be highly difficult for him to turn over his creation to someone else.

Just to be safe, though, USF needs to make that impossible.