Alex Golesh
Alex Golesh went 27–17 as a head coach, 2023–2026, at South Florida and Auburn. Wikipedia’s season articles record one season differently (2026, 3–2); by them his record is 26–17. Share
- Record
- 27–17 career
- Seasons
- 4
- Schools
- 2
- Final AP top 10
- 0 seasons
- Born
- Jun 24, 1984
- Alma mater
- Ohio State 2006
- Best season
- 2025 9–4
Season by season
| Season | School | Record | Conference finish | Bowl | AP final | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | South Florida | 7–6 | T–5th | Boca Raton Bowl W | ||
| 2024 | South Florida | 7–6 | T–6th | Hawai’i Bowl W | ||
| 2025 | South Florida | 9–3 | T–4th | Cure (not coached) | ||
| 2026 | Auburn | 4–2 (Wikipedia: 3–2) |
Each season links to the team’s season page; bowls and playoff games link to the game. Conference finishes from the Wikipedia article’s record table.
How his teams did
| Kind of game | Games | Record | Won |
|---|---|---|---|
| Against ranked teams | 8 | 3–5 | 38% |
| Against top-10 teams | 5 | 1–4 | 20% |
| Against rivals | 7 | 4–3 | 57% |
| Conference games | 28 | 16–12 | 57% |
| Bowls and playoffs | 2 | 2–0 | 100% |
| Decided by 8 points or fewer | 11 | 7–4 | 64% |
| At home | 20 | 15–5 | 75% |
| On the road | 20 | 9–11 | 45% |
| At neutral sites | 4 | 3–1 | 75% |
| As our Elo’s favorite | 19 | 15–4 | 79% |
| As our Elo’s underdog | 25 | 12–13 | 48% |
His own 44 games on file, 2023–2026, as played (vacated wins counted, ties as half a win). Ranks are the AP poll going into the game; rivals are the ones either program’s Wikipedia article names; favorite and underdog by our own Elo rating, which reads only scores.
Against other head coaches
| Coach | Record | Their schools | Games | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brian Newberry 2023–2025 | 1–2 | Navy | 3 | |
| Ryan Silverfield 2023–2025 | 0–3 | Memphis | 3 |
Alex Golesh’s record against the head coaches he met three or more times, from the games on file, as played.
Most-faced opponents
| Opponent | Games | Record |
|---|---|---|
| Charlotteseries | 3 | 3–0 |
| UABseries | 3 | 2–1 |
| Riceseries | 3 | 2–1 |
| Florida Atlanticseries | 3 | 2–1 |
| Navyseries | 3 | 1–2 |
| Memphisseries | 3 | 0–3 |
| Southern Missseries | 2 | 2–0 |
| Floridaseries | 2 | 1–1 |
Career
| Years | Team | Job | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Westerville Central HS (OH) high school | Defensive line coach | |
| 2004–05 | Ohio State | Student assistant | |
| 2006–07 | Northern Illinois | Graduate assistant | |
| 2008 | Oklahoma State | Graduate assistant | |
| 2009 | Toledo | Running backs coach and recruiting coordinator | |
| 2010–11 | Toledo | Tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator | |
| 2012–13 | Illinois | Tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator | |
| 2014 | Illinois | Tight ends and halfbacks coach and recruiting coordinator | |
| 2015 | Illinois | Tight ends and special teams coach | |
| 2016–19 | Iowa State | Tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator | |
| 2020 | UCF | Co-offensive coordinator and tight ends coach | |
| 2021–22 | Tennessee | Offensive coordinator and tight ends coach | |
| 2023–25 | South Florida | Head coach | |
| 2026–present | Auburn | Head coach |
Every job as the infobox of his Wikipedia article lists it (CC BY-SA), assistant jobs included.
Coaching tree
Worked under
- Jim TresselOhio State
- Joe NovakNorthern Illinois
- Mike GundyOklahoma State
- Tim BeckmanToledo, Illinois
- Matt CampbellToledo, Iowa State
- Bill CubitIllinois
- Josh HeupelUCF, Tennessee
Assistants who became head coaches
- Clay PattersonNortheastern Oklahoma A&M
- Kevin PatrickSouth Florida
- D. J. DurkinMaryland
- D.J. DurkinFlorida, Maryland, Auburn
- Larry PorterMemphis
- Larry ScottHoward
Worked under (7)
| Head coach | Team | Years | His job | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jim Tressel | Ohio State | 2004–05 | Student assistant | |
| Joe Novak | Northern Illinois | 2006–07 | Graduate assistant | |
| Mike Gundy | Oklahoma State | 2008 | Graduate assistant | |
| Tim Beckman | Toledo | 2009–11 | 2009: running backs coach and recruiting coordinator; 2010–11: tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator | |
| Matt Campbell | Toledo | 2011 | Tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator | |
| Tim Beckman | Illinois | 2012–14 | 2012–13: tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator; 2014: tight ends and halfbacks coach and recruiting coordinator | |
| Bill Cubit | Illinois | 2015 | Tight ends and special teams coach | |
| Matt Campbell | Iowa State | 2016–19 | Tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator | |
| Josh Heupel | UCF | 2020 | Co-offensive coordinator and tight ends coach | |
| Josh Heupel | Tennessee | 2021–22 | Offensive coordinator and tight ends coach |
Coached under him, later head coaches (6)
| Coach | With him | Head coach at | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Clay Patterson | South Florida, 2023: tight ends coach | Northeastern Oklahoma A&M | |
| Kevin Patrick | South Florida, 2023–25: defensive line coach | South Florida | |
| D. J. Durkin | Auburn, 2026: defensive coordinator and linebackers coach; 2026: defensive coordinator | Maryland | |
| D.J. Durkin | Auburn, 2026: defensive coordinator and linebackers coach | Florida, Maryland, Auburn | |
| Larry Porter | Auburn, 2026: running backs coach | Memphis | |
| Larry Scott | Auburn, 2026: tight ends coach | Howard |
Other assistants under him (5)
| Coach | With him | |
|---|---|---|
| Joel Gordon | South Florida, 2023–25: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach; Auburn, 2026: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| Todd Orlando | South Florida, 2023–25: defensive coordinator and inside linebackers coach | |
| Kodi Burns | South Florida, 2025: assistant head coach, co-offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach; Auburn, 2026: assistant head coach, co-offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach | |
| Coleman Hutzler | Auburn, 2026: outside linebackers coach | |
| Tim Banks | Auburn, 2026: co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach |
From coaches’ Wikipedia infoboxes (CC BY-SA) and each season’s article for its coordinators: an assistant’s seasons at a school count under its head coach in our records; jobs in the NFL and elsewhere, under the head coach whose own article lists the job that year. Names without a page here link to their Wikipedia articles.
How he coached
Golesh’s teams went for it on 29% of fourth downs and on 47% of those where the model said go for it, passed on 49% of plays and took 21.2 seconds a play, 2023–2026.
| Season | School | Went for it on fourth | When the model said go | Pass rate | Seconds a play | EPA a play | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 13 g | South Florida | 45 of 116 39% | 64% | 48% | 21.3 | +0.03 | |
| 2024 13 g | South Florida | 27 of 115 23% | 40% | 51% | 20.6 | 0.00 | |
| 2025 13 g | South Florida | 21 of 86 24% | 32% | 47% | 21.1 | +0.15 | |
| 2026 6 g | Auburn | 11 of 44 25% | 45% | 51% | 22.4 | +0.06 | |
| All 45 g | 104 of 361 29% | 47% | 49% | 21.2 | +0.06 |
His seasons as a head coach from 2004 on, from ESPN’s play by play: fourth downs where he went for it out of every fourth-down decision; how often he went when SportsDataverse’s fourth-down model said going for it was the better call; the share of his offense’s plays that were passes; seconds of game clock per offensive play (lower is faster); and expected points added per offensive play (EPA, a measure of how much each play moved the offense toward points). The season in progress counts its games so far. SportsDataverse’s coach tendencies, from ESPN’s play by play; the EPA and the fourth-down model are SportsDataverse’s.