Knights introduce coordinators, QB coach
When Alex Golesh arrived on the UCF campus, there were a lot of things the Knights’ new co-offensive coordinator and tight ends coach needed to learn.
There were the usual aspects of a new coaching job, including immersing himself in a new offensive system while schooling himself on the personnel on the roster. But as he grows more comfortable in his role, Golesh still finds himself relying on his fellow coaches to lend a hand.
“I probably wear those guys out daily in terms of questions,” Golesh said of his coaches like fellow co-offensive coordinator Anthony Tucker. “From ‘Where do you drop your recruiting letters?’ to ‘Where do you park?’ and ‘Where do you grab a sandwich at lunch?’ ”
As UCF prepares to begin its third year of spring workouts under coach Josh Heupel on Friday, Golesh is working to familiarize himself with his new job and his new home. He’s the first new assistant coaching hire since Heupel took over in 2018.
“A ton of the last seven weeks and the next three months are going to be spent on combining learning the system and trying to help the system grow and then learning the personnel,” Golesh said. “Every day is a learning experience and there’s something new that comes up every day.”
He chuckled and added, “[I’m] finally not using my GPS to drive home and I can figure that out on my own now.”
Golesh, who spent the previous four seasons at Iowa State working as the program’s tight ends coach and recruiting director, developed a familiarity with the UCF program. He evaluated the Knights, searching for ways to incorporate elements of their offense into the Cyclones’ scheme.
“I’ve studied a lot of UCF and obviously for this past year’s games, the first thing I did when I got here was sit down and study them from a personnel standpoint and then from a scheme standpoint,” Golesh said.
He isn’t the only UCF coach taking on more responsibility this spring.
Tucker, who serves as the team’s running backs coach and passing coordinator, will add co-offensive coordinator duties.
“Obviously, I appreciate it and I appreciate the trust,” Tucker said. “… I really appre
ciate that and what that comes with but it’s not going to be about me or one other guy. It’s about what we do collectively that makes us unique and will help us continue and be even better which is what our goal is always.”
Joey Halzle also got a promotion and takes over as quarterbacks coach following the departure of Jeff Lebby, who left for Ole Miss.
Halzle worked on the staff as an offensive quality control assistant in 2019 and previously worked under Heupel at Oklahoma, Utah State and Missouri. It was with the Sooners, as a quarterback, that he played under the third-year coach as well.
It was there that Halzle laid the foundation for a possible career in coaching.
“I started talking to Coach Heup my senior year and then [former Oklahoma] Coach [Bob] Stoops approached me as well, saying, ‘I think this is something you should do; this should be your next step.’ So when those two guys tell you you should do this, you do it.”
Halzle said a good quarterbacks coach should not only instill a sense of competition but also educate players early on in order to allow them to play with a sense of freedom on Saturdays.
“The main part of a quarterback coach’s job is drilling them with the detail early so they can play fast and free on the back end,” Halzle said.