USF’s Alex Golesh Shuts Down Rumors: "I Have Not" Interviewed With Oklahoma State

USF football coach Alex Golesh had to know he was going to get THE question when he walked into his regular news conference Tuesday morning. A podcaster who covers Oklahoma State sports tweeted that Golesh interviewed for the vacant football job there last month and that he is the leading candidate to replace Mike Gundy.

Sure enough, Golesh was asked if that was true.

Some coaches might get mad at being asked that. Some might be defensive. Some might laugh it off. Golesh, instead, kind of shrugged and said, "i have not."

He then expanded his answer.

"I'm so focused and locked in on this program, this team, and we've got so much work to do. But I am not trying (interviewing.). I try to stay away from the social media piece," he said.

"I said a couple of weeks ago, it's humbling that people bring your name up. It's because these guys have done an elite job of building this place to where people are taking notice, Credit to our kids, credit to our staff."

College coaches are notorious for professing love for their current school only to bolt the next day for a bigger paycheck and a seat at a bigger table. Remember how Lane Kiffin, whose name has been in the news lately, left Tennessee after one year for Southern Cal, saying it was THE ONLY PLACE he would have left the Vols for.

Kiffin was also fired on the airport tarmac after a loss and was told to find his own way home. That's a cautionary tale about leaving a place where you and your family are clearly comfortable.

It would be understandable if some USF fans are resigned that Golesh's departure is inevitable.

But they might think differently if they could hear the way he talks about his players, staff, and the USF community. I've been around a lot of coaches over the years, and what Golesh has built here is something different.

There is a closeness between coaches and players that goes beyond mere teamwork. Lifelong relationships are being built around the culture at USF athletics and the university at large.

"We talk about love a lot, and I think that stems from Amir (Abdur-Rahim) about who he was and what he preached," defensive back Tavin Ward said. "You have to love the game and love your team as well."

I don't know Carson Cunningham, the Oklahoma podcaster who started this stuff. He might be a plugged-in reporter with good sources who told him in good faith that Golesh had interviewed. But, define "interview" please.

The word implies that Golesh sat down with Okie State leaders and talked about the job, but I'd bet that never happened. Are agents involved? Or, given the cutthroat nature of college football, did a USF rival plant a rumor to distract Golesh and, with the early national signing day coming up on December 3, give Bulls' recruits a moment of pause.

"I try not to worry about anything that doesn't have to do with our players, our team, how we grow our organization, and, obviously, my family. There's not enough time in the day. I'm not smart enough to be able to worry about, man, is somebody using it against you," Golesh said.

"Obviously, people are trying to find every negative that they can. I talked to all of our recruits weekly and they're saying the same thing, like, well, so and so, trying to get me on a visit, and they said you're not goiing to be here. I'm not going to be here because we're winning too much? Like, what's the issue? Like, why am I not going to be here?"

He has another point for those recruits.

"Tell these guys, man, we recruited you to come here and help us continue to build something really special here. I'm here. I'm locked in and focused on what we're doing," he said.

Would he leave what he has built just to start over and try to replicate it at a struggling power conference program?

Maybe some day he will do that. But it will have to be at a premiere program, and that means one better than Oklahoma State.