EXCLUSIVE: USF Bulls Football HC Alex Golesh Previews The Upcoming Bulls Season with Jay & Zac!

going do something he's not going to say something and that he won't do himself so um it's easy to follow him and uh go into battle each and each and every week with him there you go Byron Brown earlier today with Patton Aaron right here on 953 wdae and am 620 and he talked about the guy that brings the juice and he's going to bring the juice right here to our program it's Jay and Zach filling in for Tom crra Nikki on the drive and we are welcomed on the central Florida Behavioral Health Network da hotline by your head football coach of the USF Bulls Alex golish coach how's it going man thank you so much for your time how are things over there at USF Coach man things are awesome I appreciate you having me on we we play in just over 48 hours which is is kind of surreal in a lot of ways yeah I can't wait man to be over there two nights from now over at Raymond James Stadium and you heard Byron Brown there it's just so cool to be able to see how he's matured and how much he's grown over the last couple years what's the ceiling for this kid here in the 2024 season yeah I think I think his ceiling is incredibly High he's 19 years old so he's he's still got got so much to to continue to grow and learn from but you know he spent this entire offseason just enamored with football I think it's it's the first time for him he's been in the same system two years in a row and he's so fascinated by ball he's fascinated by situational football he's so humble in his approach to how he prepares and it'll be fascinating to watch him continue to grow yeah we're definitely excited excited to see him out there and and a lot of the weapons he has on offense it's going to be a lot of fun but coach my question for you to kind of kick things off here is about the defensive side and just what you think the biggest change is going to be for your defense this season compared to last year well I think more than anything it's year two in in the system and you know it's easy to say that just because it's the second year but you know we we took over a a defense that that was literally the worst in the country and and just the mental makeup of that group because there's still a lot of guys here that that were part of that the mental makeup of that group was one that that knew that they were statistically the worst in the country and so just as much as anything else it it was truly a belief in something and I think Coach Orlando and that staff have done a really good job of of just building a structure where where one the guys understand what's going on but two believing in each other and and it there's so many things that go into playing good defense you know I think the average fan will tell you man if you just run of the ball you got a shot well that that's a huge part of it but recruiting to a system is another part of it um and then at the end of the day you've got to be able to you got to be able to stop people and we've gone out and and taken the pieces we had here recruited to a bunch of needs that we had starting with the secondary I think it'll look a lot different and then year two belief in each other belief in the system belief in the coaches um and and now that group truly believes that they're ready to make a jump where where they should be one of the top defenses in the entire country and a year ago you could maybe say that I don't know that anybody actually believe that within our locker room but I I think after two years in it and a strength program and and the same coaches and the same messaging and the same work ethic over and over and over again there's a belief that that we're going to be really really good on defense and so we'll see it's easy to say that right now but but I feel like we put pieces in place to make sure that we can go attack people every Saturday USF head football coach Coach Alex G is joining us here on the drive Jay reter and Zack blobner filling in for Tom C Nikki and Coach I asked you last year after the Alabama game and you just St pan you're like Jay there is no moral victories like we're out here we're we're we got to win these games and you got them on the schedule here in a couple weeks and I'm not going to ask you about them we will down the road but you know what did that mindset how did that mindset evolve from that day through the rest of the season up until today of how your team approaches every single day with that lofty mindset of like Hey we're we're not here to just take part we're here to take over you know I I think you'd be surprised to to know we we don't talk about winning and losing at all uh we never never comes up never never anything that is brought up we'll talk tomorrow night about our keys to to us being successful are keys to to winning in terms of what offensive football defensive football special teams look like and that's the night before the game the only thing we legitimately ever talk about is is our day-to-day and our and our process and how we go about things you know it it's that game in particular you know it it was everybody wanted us to say man you know we came close to beating Alabama and I think that's such a losers mentality I think I think even talking about winning games in general is very much a losers mentality because you skip the step that the actual step that allows you to go have success on Saturday which is what you do every single day and and it's not just during the week during the season it's what what our winter looked like what our spring look like what our summer look like and it's these guys waking up every morning and making a decision to go be a lead at their craft and at the end of the day if that results in a win then it results in a win if it results in a loss then we got to go back and figure out where we went wrong because at the end of the day those games are won and lost in the off season they they're one and loss in PA camp they're one and lost during the week because at the end of the day on Saturday it's it's 11 dudes on the field and and there's not a whole lot else that that can go into it you got to go make plays and so as a result of all that there there certainly has to be a mindset that we're going into every single game with a plan to win and at the end end of the day the end result will be what it is yeah no doubt about that coach and just thinking back to when you first got here and we're talking about things that are going to start happening we've seen so much progress on the facility side and looking ahead to the on campus Stadium another thing that we talked about a lot early on was you know potential conference realignment and what's going on with USF where they fit in but now we have a 12 team playoff we have more legitimate paths for all kinds of teams to get in and play uh in the postseason Beyond bull season got to say and got to ask you with the team you have now and a lot of the Good Vibes rolling over there with USF is the 12 team playoff something you've discussed or even on your own time not even necessarily what the team thought about uh potentially finding a way into that this year you know I I think the one time that it comes up is in recruiting um because that's what you're battling at all times is the opportunity to go play in the playoff amongst other things which would take another show here but you're you're battling man powerful you know group of five this opportunity to play in the playoff and the 12 team playoff just gives you the opportunity to say hey we go do what we're supposed to do you'll have a chance to go play on that National stage outside of that you know we we're we're so far from worrying about what happens in December um and that's not coach talk that's real talk there's so many things that that need to happen for that to to be a reality we're we're trying to get to a to a place in our program where we're consistently winning every single week at the end of the day that part will happen in this conference if you go win this league it's it's all but sure that you're going to go have a chance of playing that playoff and and that's all we're worried about right now and the rest of it will take care of itself we got to continue to win football games in our conference and everything else will take care of itself coach I remember speaking to you before the season started last year and just we were so excited for the season ahead um and man to you finished the season off with a really nice Bowl victory but you yourself you're a guy that's very pensive and and self-reflective on focusing on the process over the result what's the biggest adjustment you yourself as a head coach has made in let's say 365 days Yeah man so much um I I think just understanding the bigger picture of of everything going on you know I think a year ago I was so focused on on every SLE thing going exactly right and in terms of how we get to the game you know how we dress how we look what what the pregame meal looks like what what do our guys think of this and that and all all these things that truly matter and in year one you had to go establish process in every single part of your program from nutrition to sports medicine to academics to obviously the football side I think now now that those processes are in place and I feel comfortable with the people and and there's such a high level of trust within our program I can truly kind of almost take a not a step back necessarily but a but a more worldly view of man everything is in line everything is synced up there's true alignment from every Department within our within our walls and now you can go and take every part of your program to another level essentially evaluate all of it and say man how do we get it better and every one of those support areas every single every single team that touches our players and then schematically in that same breath man we've laid a foundation with with what we are schematically on all three sides of the ball now let's dive into the detail of all of it and take it to a two and 300 level so it's almost like you you you you got to take a step back for a second find the the areas where man we've got to continue to grow exponentially in these areas and you kind of said it at the beginning where the easy thing to do is say man we finished really well we had a great Bowl win it's the best season in in a long time here and people are excited I I think again that would be very much a losers mentality I think you gota you gotta rewind it back and say man where did we fall short where were we not right in our process and went and attacked the heck out of it this summer this offseason and now I feel like I'm more than more than ready to as the as things come to go and attack them once we get going here on Saturday night coach I know one of the things we really appreciate about you is that you're always willing to lift up the Tampa Bay Area obviously USF as well but just the area and it's so great to see you doing that and Coach Amir abdur Rahe and we just see it across USF Athletics in your mind and I know you've spoke on this quite a bit what makes USF more of a destination than a stepping stone for people to come and for athletics well for a really long time this is where we vacation this is where I got married this is this was like when we did get a weekend or or a week this is where we came you know I I feel so fortunate to get a chance to raise raise our family here and and live here that you know the obviously like from a personal standpoint it's it's phenomenal but from a recruiting side it you just got to get a young man here on campus you know we've done so much nationally and and Amir and I talk about this all the time you know Jose has done this internationally like he was one of the first people to tell me man just get get a kid here on campus and you got a shot and part of that is is just what's going on on on that campus the growth on the academic side the growth certainly from a facility side but this community this is this is one of the coolest Sports cities in the entire country there's so much pride in Tampa there's so much pride in all of these teams and it it really really hit me that first winner um that I was here and we went to a Lightning game it was a Tuesday night and that place was packed it was rocking and it it was such a cool environment such a cool crowd and I'm like man like these people if you win these people are going to support it like never be mind you this is a hockey town in Tampa in Florida you know I'm like man if we could just give them a football product to be proud of they'll they'll eat this thing up but it's just such a cool City you know I spent this whole first year anywhere I went every single person I met legitimately every single person said man coach welcome to Tampa and and that's from people in the store to to people at restaurants to to anybody you meet downtown man coach welcome to Tampa they're so proud of this town this community the growth that this place has made and when you combine the the school itself with with the city this really is a destination and and you know you got to remind yourself every now and again this football program is going into its 27th year that's all we are and uh you know you look around our state and Florida State Florida Miami these places have played football for over a century well over a century and and so we're you can look at it two ways and say we're 100 years behind them or man we're in a race to get there as fast as we can and and I'm so so humbled to be just a part of that journey and and continue to build and see where this thing goes because I think there is no ceiling on on the University as a whole but there's no ceiling on this football program yeah you got that right coach there's a palpable Buzz over in the last 12 months that we've gotten here I mean we hear it because we are really that kind of conduit between the fans and the teams and and what you guys have done what coach Amir abdurahim has done just in the last 12 months you've definitely lifted up you the University of South Florida and we shout out to everybody involved over there we've had coach Jose on and of course the great Michael Kelly go USF bus.com all the on there get out there Saturday night Raymond James Stadium USF takes on bth cooking can't wait for that coach I'm making the trip to Tuscaloosa as well can't wait to be in attendance for that to see you guys against Alabama but we appreciate your time today safe trip home today in this crazy weather we got out here and uh yeah go blls man best of luck we'll talk to you again soon appreciate it see everybody at rayj Saturday night go BS yes sir the one and only Coach Alex schlish go blls is right go USF bus.com go get your tickets there and it it's just different it's different and as much as we had great relationships with the coaches before then what Alex goolish and Amir abdurahim just those two guys and we're not taking anything away from everybody else because you know we love our Bulls here but what those two men have been able to do in the last 12 months at that university has stoked the flame of people here in the Bay Area and team Tampa Bay is proud to talk about these two teams because we know the trickle down effect Zach if these two programs are good that does well for everybody in USF Athletics so kudos to Michael Kelly and all the coaches and everybody uh involved with the Athletics program but I don't I've been here 20 years I don't think I've ever been as excited for a USF football season as I am this year yeah and I think again like we're speaking about things that can happen and Coach is seeing the vision of it you know I go back to the growthy Le teams and how they got in the rankings and like what that could have maybe turned into had some off the field things not derailed that coaching staff obviously I don't want to go back down that rabbit hole we we all are well aware if you're aren Google it