After a recent USF football victory, head coach Alex Golesh was being interviewed on the field by CBS Sports Network. In such settings, Golesh is normally unflappable. This time, he became emotional.

He caught sight of his wife, Alexis, patiently standing nearby.

"Usually, we don't get time to reflect on anything, we just keep moving to the next thing,'' Golesh said. "But when I saw her, I could tell that she was proud. And, I think back to what we've done to get to this point.

"I've dragged her all over the country. She's the most unselfish person I've ever met. Because she says, 'Let's go. I've got your back.' And we're rolling. She's there for me. She's there for our kids. So, I have moments when I see her and think, 'Man, I'm so grateful for having a support system like that.'''

Alexis Corbin Golesh is married to a coach. But she's not a typical coach's wife. She's fiercely independent. She has a master's degree in healthcare management and maintains her career as a dietitian. Usually, once a month, she flies back to her home state of Arkansas, where she does consulting work with nursing homes.

Otherwise, she's wrapped up in the lives and activities of their two children, daughter Corbin and son Barrett. She's a confidante for the spouses of USF staff members, a loyal cheerleader for Bulls players, and an enthusiastic host for recruits and their families.

When she met Golesh in 2008, he was a graduate assistant at Oklahoma State. She followed him to Toledo and they were married a year later. His assistant-coach path took them to Illinois, Iowa State, UCF, and Tennessee before the USF head-coaching opportunity emerged last December. As Golesh arrived in Tampa, hitting the floor running for the USF program rebuild, she stayed in Knoxville, Tenn., until the summer so the kids could finish their school year.

Part of the gig, she said.

"The rewards of this life are big rewards,'' she said. "Our kids get to be around these college athletes. They see how hard their dad works. I think it's an incredible lifestyle.

"The lows are so far. But the highs are very high. It all happens so fast. You get a win and certainly try to celebrate the big ones on Saturday night. It's a short time and then Alex is back out the door. Even in the craziest times, I know we are fortunate to be part of something like this.''

Golesh said his wife's role is "vital,'' even though she prefers to stay in the background. Before he accepted the USF job, they had a heart-to-heart talk.

"The main question I had was, 'Are you ready for this?' Because it's just as much on her as it's on me,'' Golesh said. "Two years in Knoxville, as the offensive coordinator for a program that is passionately followed, that gets you ready for what people will say about your husband, right?

"But are you ready for the kids to go to school and have somebody say something crazy? Are you ready for people to look at you differently? There's social responsibility and the other wives will seek your direction. Are you ready to rally the troops and make sure everybody feels included? Are you ready for me to be homeless (working consistently)? Are you ready for my phone to always be on and for that phone call at 1 in the morning to come to me?

"She said, 'Let's go!' That's all I needed to hear.''

For Golesh's wife, there was never a question.

"Moving is never easy, but he was ready to be a head coach and it was his dream, so you don't say no to that,'' she said. "We're at a great school in a great city. No one cares more or is more willing to put in the work than him. He'll get it going. He makes you believe. I saw that quality from the beginning.''

An Immediate Connection

What was her initial attraction to Golesh?

"I'm pretty sure it wasn't earning potential,'' Golesh said with a laugh. "She knew I worked 55,000 hours and wasn't making much. But thankfully, she had a good feeling about me.''

In 2008, Golesh had just begun as a graduate assistant at Oklahoma State. He made about $12,000 a year and had spartan living arrangements. She was out of school, a graduate degree in hand, and her career as a dietician was underway.

The wife of Golesh's fellow GA, Glen Elarbee (now the offensive line coach at Tennessee), said a friend was coming into town. She thought Golesh should meet her.

She was the Arkansas girl from the tiny town of Greenwood who loved football and never missed a Razorback home game. He was the up-and-coming coach, the son of Russian immigrants, who already had an outgoing can't-miss personality.

They hit it off immediately.

"I think we talked every day after that,'' she said. "I just wanted to get to know this guy better. I thought he had this incredibly fun personality. I still do.

"He's very much a relationship-type person. He can dive into stories with a college coach or a high-school coach, just from memory, and there's this immediate connection. It's the way he connects with people in recruiting as well. It astonishes me sometimes. He makes a connection. You like him. You trust him.''

At the beginning of the relationship, Golesh had a problematic car, an old Camaro. It wouldn't make it into Arkansas for the first meeting with her parents, so he borrowed another vehicle. Constant repairs were needed on the car. After too many loans from his brother, Eugene, who had a good financial services job in Ohio, Golesh sheepishly turned to his relatively new girlfriend.

"Alex called and said, 'Hey, I hate to ask this, but …' and he wanted to borrow $400,'' she said. "I knew it was for his car. I gave him the money, no questions asked. He wrote me a check, and I joked with him, 'Hey should I hang onto this for a couple of weeks and not cash it immediately?' He laughed and said, 'Um … maybe.' ''

Eight months after they met, Golesh was offered his first full-time coaching job when Oklahoma State assistant Tim Beckman became head coach at Toledo. Golesh knew his relationship with Alexis was growing serious, so he asked if she would go. They located Toledo on the map and the great adventure began.

"It was such an unlikely thing for me to do, leaving a really good job and going to a place where I didn't have a job,'' she said. "My parents love Alex, but I think they were mad at him. They were like, 'What are you doing?' But I just had this feeling.''

"That was pretty much the moment that I truly knew what I had,'' Golesh said. "The southern girl wanted to come with me to go live on Lake Erie and survive those winters? At that point, I knew I better not screw this up. I had to put a ring on it.''

Golesh proposed to her on a bench at Disney World, not far from the boardwalk area. They were married in 2010 on Clearwater Beach and spent their honeymoon at Montego Bay in Jamaica before the return to Toledo's fall training camp and the nonstop football life that led them to USF.

At Home In Tampa

Golesh's wife admits she "cried nearly every day'' during the first few weeks in Toledo. It was a huge adjustment. But once she pushed out of her comfort zone, there was no looking back.

"I give her so much credit — and the wives of all coaches so much credit — because you are often moving to places where there's no automatic support system … except the other wives,'' Golesh said. "Then when I took this job at USF, she stayed behind in Knoxville and that wasn't easy.

"She just handles things. She's a real dog, now!''

Golesh's wife has been the family "lawn person'' for most of their marriage. She prefers being outside to the indoor chores. When they lived in Oviedo for the UCF job, and Golesh became offensive coordinator at Tennessee, the neighbors came over to say, "We know what he's making at Tennessee, so we hope he'll get you a lawn guy up there.''

She quickly said, "No, you don't understand. I enjoy doing the lawn.''

She enjoys figuring things out and solving problems. She enjoys building a family and being part of an extended family — the USF coaches, their spouses, and kids. She enjoys the connection of recruiting, getting to know potential players and their families, then helping them achieve their goals.

"I love meeting new people,'' she said. "I love getting on the front end of the whole recruiting process and meeting these players. And then when they do come to your college, I love watching them develop and thrive. I have a real connection with that.

"There are also times when you can be a sounding board. It might be for your husband. It might be for a player. It might be for a young wife who is new to this scene and this town. She just needs somebody to talk to. I'll reach out if I realize someone is having some issues. That's a good role, too.''

When she jumped on the college coaching train, she knew it would be an adventure. She's grateful that it landed in Tampa.

"I feel fortunate,'' she said. "We're in a great spot with the quality of USF, the support that Alex gets, everything that is going on to build up the program, like what's having with the on-campus stadium.

"I would have supported Alex regardless of the opportunity he received. But coming to Tampa is not a hard sell at all. It's a great place for the kids with the weather and so much to do. We're definitely in a good place.''

–#GoBulls–