How can USF football upset 4th-ranked Alabama? It’s a ‘process’

TAMPA — The prevalent buzzword around USF football headquarters contains no clear-cut definition. Like chemistry or karma or mojo, it’s an abstract term but essential to the program’s well-being.

Hang around coach Alex Golesh at a practice or news conference, and you’ll hear him utter it practically every other sentence. To him, it’s the concept that will catapult the Bulls to the next stratosphere and the philosophy that will help it remain formidable. It’s the cornerstone that will erect a stadium and status, and perhaps secure a passport into a power conference.

Process. To Golesh, it’s a way of life.

“I think from his standpoint, and I see this daily, it’s the most impressive thing,” Bulls defensive coordinator Todd Orlando said.

Its prerequisites are dedication, consistency and an indefatigable work ethic. Its definition? Depends on whom you ask.

“That’s an interesting question,” veteran Bulls tailback Nay’Quan Wright said. “I would just say our process, man, is taking it one day at a time and just winning the day. That’s really key for us.”

Transfer cornerback De’Shawn Rucker’s take? “I feel like process, the biggest thing is just seeing where we came from and just keeping our heads on our shoulders,” he said. “So, all of us have a chip on our shoulders.”

Both answers contain key elements of the process which, at its core, can be defined as follows: striving to reach a predetermined standard — every day — in everything the Bulls do. That includes practice, film study, class performance, nutrition, community service, even sleep habits.

“You’re trying to be elite in every aspect of your life,” said Golesh, whose team faces fourth-ranked Alabama on Saturday. “And that’s school, that’s ball, that’s personal life, that’s what it looks like when you walk around, how you present yourself.

“I truly believe when your process is right, you didn’t cheat it in any way. You’ve got elite confidence; you’ve got real, authentic, genuine confidence. I think life is that way, too. We joke, like, the football gods know exactly what you’re doing when nobody’s looking. Always have, always will. So, that’s what I mean in a players’ sense.”

In coaching sense, it refers to meticulous — if not maniacal — attention to detail, be it game preparation, recruiting or retention, and seeing that players receive every resource available to maximize their potential.

“And as a program — and that’s where my process comes in — am I overseeing the entirety of every single department, every single piece that touches our players?” Golesh added. “Is it right? If it is, then I should have confidence that we’re ready to go in that same breath.”

If that sounds like micro-managing, well, that’s part of it. If nothing else, Golesh — the consummate grinder — practices what he sermonizes regarding his process. Orlando said he remains amazed at how Golesh can compartmentalize his 16-hour days into 30-minute blocks, with intense devotion and labor toward each half-hour segment.

“I’m just telling you, I’ve been around this game a long time, and the way that he works is, like, so impressive,” Orlando said. “You talk about empty the tank every day, I think that’s his mindset — to do things that most humans don’t want to do. And to try to win in the margins; you’ll hear him say that quite a bit.”

Such is the approach — albeit with fewer work hours — Golesh is trying to convey to the Bulls.

“You want to be a really good, elite college football team? There’s a lot of people that want to do that, but you’re not ever going to have a chance unless you put the work in,” offensive coordinator Joel Gordon said. “And I think when you hear (Golesh) talk about the process it’s, man, our guys understanding that there is going to be work all the time that’s going to have to be put in.”

The byproduct? Confidence, Golesh says, which often leads to success. Elite daily effort, he insists, leads to elite confidence. Hence the reason the Bulls believe they exist on the same plane as any power program — as long as they’ve successfully executed their process that particular week.

“No doubt,” Wright said. “I feel like as we prepare as a unit, as a team, that we can compete with anybody in the country.”

That includes the Crimson Tide. Imagine the nation trying to process such an upset.

“I think at the end of the day, you’ve got to go into every single opportunity with elite confidence, or you’ve got no shot,” Golesh said. “And that’s how you see lesser teams win all the time, because one team is more prepared and one team’s process was better.”

Contact Joey Knight at jknight@tampabay.com. Follow @TBTimes_Bulls

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