Can Golesh make USF matter once again?

by Gary Shelton on December 28, 2022

in general

Wednesday, 4 a.m.

In college football, all that matters, really, are the playoffs.

Anything else is just a side order of fries, Conference titles don't mean anything, and non-playoff bowl games don't matter and rivalry games don't matter. The Old Oaken Bucket and the Heisman Trophy and whichever All-American teams you follow don't matter. Conference alignments don't matter and the commitments of recruits don't matter and coaching contracts don't matter.

But in college football, you know what matters least of all.



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The USF Bulls. They're just another team in just another conference.

Time was, the Bulls were the plucky little kid brother on the block, the kid who took no guff. They were in a hurry to be good, and they could win an upset -- over Auburn, over FSU, over Miami, over Louisville, over Notre Dame -- that would grab a headline.

But those days are no more. USF has turned into an afterthought of a program, a team that rarely wins, a program that doesn't go to bowls, a program that seems to have lost all impetus.

And now, in the middle of another recruiting season, the Bulls struggle for relevancy once more.

This time, the coach is Alex Golesh, a man with fairly impressive credentials. He's been an offensive assistant for good teams, and he has some energy, and he sounds right. On the other hand, all of those things were true of Jeff Scott, too, and he went 4-26.

So what are we to make of Golesh and his first 16 recruits of his new era?

Again, at this point, we don't know. A new coach never loses his opening press conference, and high school recruits are often just rumors at this point.

On the other hand, 247dports.com ranked the class 85th in the country. Rivals.com rated it 95th. On3.com ranked it 93rd. UCF, which South Florida fancies itself to still be a rival, was 41st, 51st and 53rd.

Here's a stat that will get you. Campbell University, the Fighting Soupmen, ranked l82nd, 8l7th and 104th. Granted, Campbell is mmmmm-mmm good, but should be really be out recruiting the Bulls?

Of course, Golesh will need more time. There are too many leaks in the dam to plug in a few weeks. But Golesh will have to prove he can rebuild momentum. He must prove that he has the belief of Jim Leavitt and the flair of Willie Taggert.

Granted, the Bulls can't get much worse. If Golesh will go long, if he will attack, if he will make USF football fun again, then he has a chance. If he can connect on an upset every now and then, and if he can play with people his size, then he has a good chance.

Look, USF isn't going to make a living competing head-to-head with Florida or FSU for a five-star recruit. But there are a lot of kids in Florida who end up going out of state. USF has to prove it is a better option. It has to develop a player or two along the way. It has to instill the grit and hustle that programs like Cincinnati and TCU carry.

Once, USF seemed like a program on its way.

Now, it is lost.

It is up to Golesh to help the Bulls find themselves.

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