Auburn University AD John Cohen talked about Alex Golesh's future in an assumptive manner during an appearance on 97.7 ESPN The Zone: specifically, assuming that the first-year head coach will still be on the Plains coaching the Tigers during the 2028 season when the Notre Dame Fighting Irish come to town in the rematch of their 2027 home-and-home matchup in South Bend, Indiana.
Per Cohen, “We got Notre Dame coming to town in three years and Alex is really excited about that opportunity. I love seeing our kids embrace games like this under Alex. When we first agreed to the series with Notre Dame, we were still in an 8-game conference schedule. However, we are thrilled to compete against them. They have never been to the Plains, and we’ve never been to Notre Dame. So, we are excited about that game.”
Of course, if Golesh is the head coach of the Tigers in 2028, that'd mean he will have outlasted Bryan Harsin's tenure, which was cut short eight games into his second season back in 2022. If Golesh were to make it to the end of the 2028 season, he will have outlasted Hugh Freeze's tenure.
Sub-ground-floor standards from Golesh's two predecessors. The world could be his because of it.
John Cohen needs Alex Golesh to make it to 2028
Cohen needs Golesh to make it to the 2028 season. The Loveliest Village has lost a few steps since he became AD in 2022. Auburn's best moments during that time, like the 2025 Final Four run and Suni Lee's run in gymnastics, were with a head coach he didn't hire.
The head coaches he has hired, including, most notably, Freeze and Steven Pearl, failed to produce postseason success beyond an NIT title that the school can't even go overboard celebrating, less risk being clowned.
Golesh could buy Cohen some time with a successful run, but even then, it was Jon Sumrall that Cohen zoned in on as the top candidate, but couldn't land during the hiring process. It's been an uneven run, to say the least, for the Mississippi State alum at AU.
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