Sports

South Florida Football Coach Alex Golesh Bashes Reporters For Manufactured Quarterback Drama

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Alex Golesh USF Quarterback Byrum Brown Bryce Archie
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USF head coach Alex Golesh does not care that fans are upset with how he managed the quarterback position throughout the 2024 college football season. Bryce Archie played all but two plays of the Hawaii Bowl even though Byrum Brown was listed as the starter on the last depth chart before kickoff.

It was an unusual end to an unusual saga that began during a lopsided loss to Tulane at the end of September.

Brown, a true third-year junior, started every game during the 2023 season and led the Bulls to a 7-6 record and their first bowl win since 2017. He returned as the starter in August and went 2-3 in five games. Unfortunately, a leg injury during Week 5 prevented him from continuing in that role.

And then the drama began.

Brown worked hard to rehab his way back into the lineup over the next three months. Come the end of the regular season, there was a chance he could play. Or so they said. “They” is mostly the media but their reports stemmed from some chatter inside the program. Golesh teased a potential return on a few different occasions but never made a formal declaration.

Will Byrum Brown play or won’t he?

Everybody, especially the fans, wanted a definitive answer. It never came.

Fast forward to Christmas Eve when South Florida played San Jose State in the Hawai’i Bowl. Nobody knew who was going to start at quarterback for the Bulls with less than 90 minutes until kickoff. An initial depth chart listed Byrum Brown as QB1 over over Bryce Archie. The latter entered the game with just as many interceptions as touchdowns in seven starts. The former was supposedly healthy enough to play.

However, a last-minute report suggested a last-minute change to the depth chart.

It was indeed Archie who trotted out for the first snap of the postseason. He played all but two snaps. Brown entered the game for exactly two plays after Archie went to the sideline with leg pain. That was it.

Brown was healthy enough to take snaps in relief but Archie played the entire game. It was baffling.

To make the decision even more confusing, Archie looked lost in the backfield on multiple occasions. He also took two especially bad sacks and threw one interception without a touchdown. Brown watched on from the sideline.

So what happened?! Alex Golesh explained the confusing situation from his vantage point after the game. He went with the guy he thought would give his team the best chance of winning, which it did during a fifth period of overtime— after the Bulls somehow avoided a costly penalty for a sucker punch in the fourth quarter.

Here is what Golesh had to say:

A reporter followed up on the head coach’s explanation to say that fans have been confused by “this whole saga.” Golesh doesn’t care.

And I say this…with all due respect, I think the confusion comes from you, and making it a thing. I’ve sat up here and been completely honest with you, been honest with you when he’s available. He’s a young man that broke a bone in his leg, and has fought like crazy to come back.

He’s fought like crazy. He’s rehabbed 5-6 hours a day. He’s continued to come in every day and prepare like a start. He watches more film than anyone in our program […]

And just because on Twitter, somebody doesn’t think I’m being transparent on his injury?

Until the league makes us release some sort of list that says, ‘Man, this guy’s available’ on Tuesday or Wednesday, why would I give anybody an advantage to know when somebody’s available or they’re not?

His parents trust me with making sure the information is his information. So I don’t really care that you or anybody on Twitter is unhappy with the disclosure of his injury. And until the league makes us do it, or my bosses make me do it, I’m going to keep telling you the truth, which is he’s practiced. He’s gone through warmups the last three weeks. He’s tried to come back, he’s prepared like the starter.

— Alex Golesh

Whether right or wrong, that was the explanation provided by the man who makes the decisions. Alex Golesh blamed reporters for manufacturing drama at quarterback with Bryce Archie and Byrum Brown. He does not care whether the fanbase is frustrated with how he leads his program.