In the current rivalry between the Florida Atlantic Owls and the South Florida Bulls, the two coaches currently representing the two schools are not very fond of each other, which reared its ugly head again on Friday night.
FAU head coach Tom Herman and USF coach Alex Golesh met at midfield and briefly shook hands after the Bulls handily beat the Owls 44-21 on the road.
Golesh in particular had a very serious expression on his face as he slapped Herman’s hand and then immediately walked away from him.
But when Herman wanted to discuss a perceived slight, he chased after Golesh as the opposing coach continued walking through the crowd after the victory.
Herman appeared to bite Golesh, and the latter did not respond as cooler heads seemed to prevail.
FAU coach Tom Herman (white cap) chases USF coach Alex Golesh (black cap) after a loss.
Now, there is context to this situation that needs to be explored, and for good reason.
Last year when these two teams met, FAU beat USF 56-14, with a controversial ending to the contest, which was USF’s homecoming game.
With South Florida up by 42 points, Herman decided to increase the score on the opponent by taking his team out for an onside kick at the end of the game.
Golesh seemed to take offense to that and his memory was long enough to take revenge on Friday night.
Bulls running back Ta’Ron Keith ran for a 42-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter to take a 42-21 lead late in the game.
Golesh then decided to turn the knife: he kept his offense on the field to go up by two and converted it to go up 44-21, which served as the final score. Ironically, this was also FAU’s homecoming game.
“I said a year ago we would come back to get it and we came back to get it,” Golesh said after the match. ‘Whatever you say, I’m fine… I think they say we don’t like each other.’
He added: “Last year, at the end of the game, we embarrassed ourselves at home.” “We came and we got it, and we will continue to do it.”