In his roughly three-year stint on the Plains, former Auburn Tigers head coach Hugh Freeze was able to recruit valuable talent to the program, but he could not figure out how to get results on the field. Freeze couldn't fix the Tigers' quarterback problem, and his teams continued to find ways to lose games.
After parting ways with Freeze, former USF head coach Alex Golesh was brought in to lead the Tigers. USF's offense was ranked No. 2 in the country last season, and Golesh has hit the ground running in terms of strategy, recruiting, roster retention and figuring out how to get this program back to winning.
Although Golesh is untested as a head coach in the SEC, he has extensive experience as an assistant in the conference. He has surrounded himself with highly experienced staff members, some of whom were head coaches or coordinators last season.
Paul Finebaum was asked to describe 13 football coaches in one word, per AL.com, and he assigned a word to both Golesh and Freeze, though the words he chose were incredibly different. When asked about Golesh, Finebaum gave the word "fascinating."
“I just love his backstory,” Finebaum said. “I thought he handled his opening press conference with great poise. I am amazingly excited about him. Everything about him is interesting.”
Then, Finebaum went on to assign Freeze the word "laughable." And though it is slightly insulting, it's an apt description for how Freeze's time on the Plains went. What else can you do besides laugh when you have all the ingredients for success but just can't figure out how to achieve it?
Either way, it's nice to be moving forward with the "fascinating" coach rather than the "laughable" one.