FAMU athletic director Kortne Gosha has hit the ground running since taking the helm of Rattler athletics on December 3rd. His energy level, gift for gab, and ability to articulate a vision is infectious. He certainly provides a sharp contrast to his predecessor.
However, in his excitement, we’ve noticed, that Gosha is prone to exaggerate and inaccurately portray elements of his past work experiences. In fact, he seems to claim a hand in successes that he had nothing to do with. While speaking on a video podcast with the Black College Sports Network on Tuesday, May 19, Gosha implied (at 43:41 in) that “in his short time at the University of Miami he built the $34 million Carol Soffer Indoor Practice (football) Facility.”
A few quick google clicks, revealed that the University of Miami broke ground on the Soffer IPF in August 2017 and held its first practice in the facility in August 2018. UM formerly dedicated the building on October 11, 2018, ten days before Gosha began work at UM.
Earlier this year, on the Sean Pittman Radio Show, Gosha suggested that he played a role in helping to construct the $47 million football stadium expansion at Jacksonville State University.
Gosha, told Pittman (at 3:38 secs in), “as an undergrad (at Jacksonville State) I was director of football operations, and I graduated and literally my first job was a $47 million stadium project.”
According to news reports, and JSU’s athletic webpage, the stadium construction project was started in 2008 and completed in time for the start of the 2010 football season. Gosha, was an undergrad political science major during this time and did not graduate until 2011.
Sources with intimate knowledge of the stadium project at Jacksonville State said, “It didn't happen. Really, who puts an undergrad (political science major) in charge of a major construction project?”
Gosha’s gross exaggerations are again repeated in his bio on FAMUAthletics.com
Clearly, there was a breakdown in the university's background checking and vetting process.
Prior to coming to FAMU, he spent the previous year as the associate athletic director for Facilities and Operations at the University of Miami. In this role, he took care of day-to-day facility and event operations, grounds, custodial, information technology, access control, and capital projects.
In his first six months on the job, Gosha appears to be saying all the right things, and getting things done, which has made him popular among the Rattler faithful. However, given his propensity to overstate and misrepresent the truth, it kind of makes you wonder what else he is inaccurately portraying.