USF fans may have noticed that head football coach Alex Golesh gets a little excited from time to time.
That’s OK, of course, because his enthusiasm can become infectious.
However, sometimes it can be good to pump the brakes, and that’s where Kodi Burns comes in.
Burns was hired shortly before the Hawai`i Bowl last December to serve as Co-Offensive Coordinator and Assistant Head Coach. He also coaches the wide receivers.
Burns is the cool to Golesh’s fire, someone to turn down the heat before things get too toasty.
“Kodi's got this calm confidence all the time. Some people would call it swag, but he's always had a calming effect on me,” Golesh said.
“I kind of go up and down a little bit, so it was good to have something calming like that.”
Burns brings an excellent pedigree to the job. While at Auburn from 2007-10, he became the first true freshman at the school since 1998 to start a game at quarterback.
After two seasons under center, he moved to wide receiver and amassed almost 2,300 yards and 22 touchdowns over his final two years.
He was a key player in Auburn’s perfect 14-0 season in 2010, and caught a 35-yard touchdown pass in the national title win over Oregon.
Burns also coached six seasons at Auburn and was co-offensive coordinator in 2017 when the Tigers set a school record with 327 points in SEC play.
He later coached at Tennessee when Golesh was an assistant there, and spent two seasons with the New Orleans Saints of the NFL.
“I think I take the approach of just being really positive all the time, not being up and down, trying to be the same person each and every day,” he said.
“And I think it's consistent for the players. I think that builds confidence that, you know, my coach is never going to be overzealous or super down on me. He's always going to be the same person, and I know what to expect every single day.”
Burns has aspirations to be a head coach eventually and probably will be, but for now he understands his role.
“My job here is to be right there as a G's right-now man, anything he needs from me to help him. As a head coach at South Florida or anywhere, I don't care where it's at, you’ve got a lot of things on your plate,” he said.
“It's my job to take some of those things off his plate so that he doesn't have to worry about those things.”
After receivers coach L'Damian Washington left to join the coaching staff at Kentucky, Golesh moved quickly to bring Burns on board.
“The unique thing about Cody is he's been there. He's done that as a player. He's been there, done that as a coach. And you kind of see that,” Golesh said.
“We saw that at his position group. They're steady. There's, there's not this emotional roller coaster. And I think in a profession where it's a constant emotional roller coaster, you need people that can say, Hey, bro, we’re good. He’s always been that way for me.
“I love Cody. I love the demeanor. I love what he brings to our staff. He's done an incredible job with the players, done an incredible job recruiting. And there's a reason why he's the Associate Head Coach. There've been times I've had to step away for certain things, and it’s like, K.B., you got it.”