As the Bulls prepare for Saturday's opener of the 2023 South Florida Football Season presented by Tampa General Hospital at Western Kentucky, there's the usual fascination over questions that don't yet have answers.
How fast will USF's offense actually go?
Can the Bulls slow down quarterback Austin Reed and the high-octane WKU offense?
Which USF newcomers will make the biggest impact?
But there's another opening-day factor that might elude the prognosticators who are breaking it down and analyzing the position-by-position matchups.
It's the head-coaching debut for USF's Alex Golesh, the former Tennessee offensive coordinator who ran last season's No. 1-ranked unit.
On game day, what will he tell the players?
"I haven't thought about it,'' Golesh said. "You know, if it's going to come down to my pregame speech, we've got bigger problems at that point.
"The guys know the expectations. The guys know what our standard is. At that point, when you're 22 minutes or 15 minutes away from playing the game, man, I don't know what I could tell them to get them going that they don't already know.''
And that, more than anything, typifies Golesh's head-coaching approach. Being the best USF team possible is all about preparation, belief and playing with confidence — not false confidence.
"I talked to the guys about playing with emotion, but not emotionally,'' Golesh said. "I think you've got to have controlled intentional aggression within the white lines. I've got to do my best of putting our guys in positions to go play.
"So, I hope they are more amped up and juiced up than I am. I've just got to manage and make sure we're in a good spot. My biggest job is to let our guys play really fast and not screw them up.''
It's not about words. It's about actions.
Be Who You Say You Are.
"He's just a hard-working head coach,'' offensive tackle Donovan Jennings said. "He brings that energy to practice and he's going to bring the energy to us as well. We couldn't ask for a better head coach and leader of this program.''
"He honestly wants what's best for us,'' cornerback Aamaris Brown said. "Some head coaches just lay back and don't really say too much, just letting their coaches coach, and they might step in when something important needs to be said. But he's always turning up the energy on the field. So, I feel like that will be a great asset to add to our team this year on the sideline.''
Golesh, who has called plays from the press box during the past three seasons, will be on the field for the first time since 2019, when he was an Iowa State assistant. He will be in constant communication with USF offensive coordinator Joel Gordon and other staff members.
"I've spent most of my life as a coach upstairs in the press box and at the midpoint of last season, I actually made the transition down to the field,'' said Gordon, who was at Iowa State last season. "It's a whole different game on the field. So much of the emotion gets blocked out in the press box, which is almost silent throughout the game. The vision, the angles, the amount of bodies, that's all different.
"We've been preparing as a coaching staff for what the game is going to be like. There's a lot going on from one play to the next. We've been working on trying to improve it every single time. Communication is the key, for sure. We all have our roles and our jobs on game day when we're playing.''
Golesh said he spent time during the offseason working on clock management, making decisions on the defensive side of the ball and the emotion of being on the sideline.
He feels prepared.
But that has been Golesh's feeling since the first workout.
"Every time I get to go out on the practice field with these guys, I'm genuinely energized and excited,'' Golesh said. "So, I still go drill the drill. That hasn't changed.
"I'm honest when I say that I've really just tried to take this thing one day at a time. I think it (Saturday's opener) will be a cool day before probably my family, my friends and people who are going to be there. For our team, the most important thing is just me being present and ready to roll. I don't think any game is just another game. I think anytime you step between the white lines and you get an opportunity to coach, you get an opportunity to play, it's the most important game of your life, I truly believe that.''
– #GoBulls –
