Florida Atlantic head coach Tom Herman and USF head coach Alex Golesh were at the center of a viral moment this past weekend.
Golesh, who served as the Tennessee Vols’ offensive coordinator from 2021 to 2022, led USF to a 44-21 win against FAU last Friday night.
After the game, Golesh made his way to midfield and quickly shook Herman’s hand. Golesh didn’t stop to chat with Herman, which apparently didn’t sit well with the second-year FAU head coach. Herman turned around and attempted to chase down Golesh on the field. But the former Tennessee offensive coordinator managed to shrug off Herman.
Earlier this week, Herman, after having a couple of days to reflect on the moment, addressed the handshake incident with Golesh during a media session with reporters. And his response was as bizarre as you’d expect.
“I appreciate you giving me a brief opportunity to clarify,” said Herman when asked about the handshake. “Because I heard kinda the same thing, that I was mad about something or some two-point conversion. I was worried about the next offensive drive, I thought that’s just what the math of their two-point chart said [to do]. They kicked our butts — especially in the second half, like we did to them (last season).
“Like I have in all my years as a head coach, I jogged to the middle of the field and actually got the words ‘good game’ out of my mouth and was about to compliment him, especially on the second half. And he slapped my hand down. The way I was raised, when you slap another man’s hand down, you stick around and talk about it. So I turned back and I was confused, I wasn’t mad at anything. So I turned back and wanted to figure out what the confusion was about and he continued to walk away. But hey, I moved on. I appreciate you giving me an opportunity to clarify, but we’ll meet again someday and we’ll figure it out at that point.”