There’s always talk when a new coach and staff come in that the atmosphere in and around the facility changes, mostly for the better, as a breath of fresh air arrives and players are given a new start.
That certainly seems to be the case at Auburn, as new head coach Alex Golesh hopes to rebuild the Tigers into title contenders after five lost seasons under Bryan Harsin and Hugh Freeze.
One Auburn player is already talking about the difference.
Eric Winters already sees difference in team attitude
“It sorta became, ‘Oh, we’ve got to come here and we’ve got to do this?’” sophomore safety Eric Winters told On3’s Chris Low. “I’m not saying that it was like that throughout the whole year, but as time wound down, there was a lot of that, ‘Man, we’ve got to go through this again.’”
It was a rough freshman season for Winters as the Tigers continued to lose games they should have won, finishing 5-7 and seeing Freeze get the can after an embarrassing 10-3 home loss to woeful Kentucky in November. If Freeze brought hope to the program after being hired in 2022 to replace Bryan Harsin, who was a disaster from the start, that went away after two straight losing seasons, leading to a 2025 season in which he entered on the hot seat only to see it get hotter after a four-game losing streak.
Golesh was hired to restore some pride in the Tigers, and after a massive exodus of talented players recruited by Freeze, he brought in a slew of transfers, including several from USF, including quarterback Bryce Brown, to help turn the program around.
Winters continues to see what a difference a year and a new coach make.
“Guys are here all throughout the day just hanging around and putting in extra work. We want to be here, want to go play for the guy beside you,” Winters said. “You didn’t have much of that last year. The guys are here, pushing each other, bonding with each other, and it’s different people, not just the same guys.
“You wake up in the morning and look forward to coming here, look forward to getting better every day. That’s the biggest difference to me.”