It was never going to be an easy job for Alex Golesh when he left the Tennessee Vols to go rebuild the USF Bulls after the 2022 season.

But rebuild the Bulls he did. Golesh went to Tampa and took them to a 7-6 record in his first season with a victory in the Boca Raton Bowl. It was USF’s first winning season since 2018 and their first bowl win since the end of the 2017 season. Golesh followed that up again with another 7-6 year and a bowl win the following season.

USF took a big step forward last year in Golesh’s third season in Tampa, taking them to a 9-3 regular season mark. The Bulls remained in contention for the American title until late November.

But apparently that progress was not enough for new head coach Brian Hartline, who had some eyebrow raising comments to On3 Sports regarding USF’s progress the last few years.

USF head coach Brian Hartline had some interesting comments about the Bulls under Alex Golesh

“There was some success here the last couple of years, but nowhere near where it should be,” Pete Nakos quoted Hartline as saying. “The expectation should be to win — the floor here should be a constant chase for the American Conference championship.”

Hartline’s comments are, frankly, a bit unfair, given what Golesh inherited. USF went 4-8 in 2019 and won four total games over the next three years. 2-10 and 1-11 marks in 2021 and 2022, respectively, had sunk the program to the ocean floor of the sport.

That kind of turnaround takes time, and by the end of year three, Golesh had brought the Bulls all the way back inside the top 25, competing for a conference title, and flirting with double-digit wins. That’s one heck of a reclamation project and why Golesh earned his shot at Auburn.

Perhaps Hartline is being rah-rah, and that’s fine, but the job that Golesh did during his three years in Tampa deserves far more credit than what his successor gave him.