Alex Golesh is coming into the 2026 season with the Auburn Tigers, looking to continue what worked with the USF Bulls. Byrum Brown and a handful of his weapons are entering the Plains with expectations to replicate their success from South Florida.
Auburn fans, though, are bringing plenty of baggage into the mix and very much want a clean slate. The Tigers have been under siege from Cult of Personality-type head coaches since Gus Malzahn's firing, with Bryan Harsin being unlikable and Hugh Freeze being disingenuous.
FOX Sports' Michael Cohen believes that the ghosts of Auburn's past include the late-Malzahn era. Cohen put the onus on Golesh to bring winning to a fanbase that he believes hasn't truly felt it since the early days of Gus.
"At 41 years old, Golesh is certainly one of the fastest-rising coaches in the profession given the work he did as head coach at South Florida from 2023-25, a three-year run that included 23 victories at a school that only won four games over the preceding three seasons combined. His 9-3 overall record and 6-2 conference mark this past fall meant that Golesh was always going to be a central figure in the coaching carousel — especially when considering he had the chance to bring star quarterback Byrum Brown with him to a new locale," Cohen said.
"Even with his rising stock, Golesh needs a strong debut at Auburn to placate a fan base that has been unhappy for nearly a decade. Five consecutive losing seasons under predecessors Hugh Freeze (15-19 overall) and Bryan Harsin (9-12 overall) were preempted by a noticeable decline across the back half of the Gus Malzahn era, which began bathed in glory courtesy of a national championship game appearance in 2013. Given his youth and relative inexperience (he's only been a head coach for three seasons), Golesh will need to start quickly to get the fans on his side."
One could argue semantics about how far back AU's suffering goes. The late Malzahn years look like a breeze compared to how embarrassing the Tigers have been over the last five years. Nothing, though, was worse than what the offense looked like last year despite bringing in so many top talents.
Alex Golesh can settle into long-term role by being as successful as Gus Malzahn
Funnily enough, Malzahn was fired because he got Auburn close to the SEC Championship, but couldn't get the team over the hump. Well, the bar has been lowered so much after Freeze and Harsin that Golesh being Gus 2.0 would probably give him the duration of his contract to stay in Lee County, Alabama.
NIL and rev-share has changed the game, giving coaches shorter leashes every year that goes by without a title. Maintaining a baseline level of competition, and finally righting the ship when pay-to-play is a thing is a must.
Golesh appears capable of achieiving that. He raised the bar with the Tennessee Volunteers, then got the Bulls in Big Ten conversations, since USF is AAU-accredited, by getting fans in the stands to watch a great product.