Alex Golesh addresses report that linked him to Arkansas opening: 'It wasn't true'

USF concluded its regular season with a 52-3 victory over Rice Saturday afternoon, clinching its first nine-win season since 2017. The Bulls finished their season extremely strong, outscoring UAB and Rice 100-21 over their last eight quarters of football.

Alex Golesh‘s program was seen as one of the best Group of Five teams all season long, alongside fellow American Conference members Navy, North Texas, Tulane, and the Sun Belt’s James Madison Dukes. Two of USF‘s three losses (Memphis and Navy) came by a field goal. Although it will miss the College Football Playoff, the program still made some noise this season.

Due to Golesh’s impressive turnaround of the program, he became a hot name for this coaching cycle. A report emerged earlier this week tabbing Golesh as the next head coach at the University of Arkansas, although that was ultimately not true. The USF head coach doubled down on the report being untrue following the win on Saturday.

“Distractions take away from the main focus of what we’re trying to do, which is win football games,” Golesh said. “I apologized. These guys, I feel, have my back and I have their backs. I apologized and it was nothing that I put out there. It wasn’t true. I told them that I didn’t put it out and it wasn’t true. It wasn’t true, and same thing I said, I ask for some time after this game to process everything that’s going on. These guys obviously, by the way they played, did that.”

Alex Golesh asks for time to ‘process everything that’s going on’

Along with emphatically stating that it wasn’t true, Golesh asked for some time to process what’s next for him and his family.

“I’ve not had time with my family to process everything that’s going on,” Golesh continued. “So, we’re gonna take some time to process this and figure it out. The administration here has committed in such a huge way to having our staff be here and continuing to build. But I think in all fairness to me and in all fairness to everybody that’s been here with me, I need some time to process it. I will, and I’m gonna make the best decision for the entirety of our organization.”

“Make the best decision for everybody that came here three years ago and have stuck with me, this team, with us. But I’ve not had time to process it. I really haven’t, and I owe it to the entire University to process it the right way and think about everybody involved. I think if it was just going to be about me, I would’ve already processed it and thought about it. I’ve not spent the time that I need and that’s all I ask is that I get some time to figure this whole thing out. The first people that will know will be our players.”

Although it seems likely that Golesh will be accepting a Power-Four job elsewhere, it is currently unknown whether or not he will be coaching USF in its bowl game.