Three Things To Know About New Vols Assistant Alex Golesh

Alex Golesh joined Josh Heupel's Central Florida staff in January of 2020, and a year later he found himself following Heupel to Knoxville to coach at Tennessee. The Moscow, Russia native's hire is now official, so we can take a look at what he brings to Rocky Top. 

Developer of Talent

Golesh has spent time at multiple stops across the country since arriving on the coaching scene. He garnered national recognition at Iowa State under Matt Campbell, where he is touted with revamping the Cyclones tight end room. He took a unit that caught 5 passes in 2015 to 75 catches in 2019, while helping develop Charlie Kolar into an all-American. Kolar was a three-star tight end who rated as the nation's 1208th best prospect in the 2017 recruiting cycle. In addition to Kolar, Golesh also helped Chase Allen become an all-Conference performer in multiple seasons. Golesh spent the 2014 season pulling double-duty at Illinois, as he coached the running backs and tight ends. During that season, he helped Josh Ferguson become one of the premier all-purpose backs in the country

Recruiting Prowess

Golesh has made in-roads as a recruiter, and he has served as the Director of Recruiting at multiple stops during his college coaching career. Golesh helped Toledo to back to back number one classes in the MAC. He also served as the recruiting coordinator at Illinois and Iowa State. Golesh had an eye for talent, as he landed Ke'Shawn Vaughn out of Nashville during his time at Illinois. Vaughn eventually ended up at Vanderbilt and is now in the NFL. Golesh was the primary recruiter for both of the tight ends mentioned, however, it has been his overall efforts in recruiting that have made him a household name. In addition to his efforts at Illinois and Toledo, he helped Iowa State to its best recruiting class of all-time in 2019 while serving as Director of Recruiting for the program. 

Versatility

As mentioned above, Golesh has been effective as a recruiter and tight ends coach, but he has done much more than that in his career. He has worked on both sides of the ball. Golesh added experience coaching running backs during one season at Illinois as well. Golesh spent time at Ohio State (defensive line), Oklahoma State (Outside Linebackers), and Northern Illinois (secondary). Golesh got his first shot as a coordinator under Heupel at UCF, and after just one year with him, he will join his inaugural staff in Knoxville.