Perhaps it'll perplex some across the college football world, but the Auburn Tigers have the 14th-highest program value in the country. This was a stat and story curated by The Athletic, anyway. Auburn football is reportedly worth $1.1 billion.
The Texas Longhorns ($2.46 billion), Ohio State Buckeyes ($2.3 billion), Notre Dame Fighting Irish ($2.1 billion), and Michigan Wolverines ($2 billion) were all part of the two-billy club. A tier below, the Georgia Bulldogs ($1.95 billion), Alabama Crimson Tide ($1.8 billion), Oklahoma Sooners ($1.6 billion), USC Trojans ($1.6 billion), Tennessee Volunteers ($1.57 billion), Penn State Nittany Lions ($1.4 billion), LSU Tigers ($1.32 billion), Florida Gators ($1.16 billion), and Oregon Ducks ($1.13 billion) all sit ahead of AU. No one else.
The New York Times' sports outlet projected hypothetical open-market values using "recent football revenue, comparable pro-team sales and factors such as conference affiliation, brand strength, facilities, fan support and future growth."
What does this say about the Tigers, who have the eighth-highest-valued program in the SEC but are projected to finish No. 12 in the 2026 SEC Football Preseason Media Poll?
Well, for one, nothing about Alex Golesh. Faith has been lost in Auburn from a national media perspective over five years of losing that had nothing to do with him. This could benefit Golesh, if anything.
Alex Golesh is sliding under the radar with low expectations in the SEC
The Tigers are all but forgotten in the CFP picture. That is a good thing. Hugh Freeze got a lot of hopes up last summer, though he somehow simultaneously dimmed the lights on any hype by fumbling and saying that a bowl game was the goal.
This year, few are reasonably expecting Golesh to turn things around quickly enough for a CFP appearance. Many expect Jon Sumrall, the guy who passed Auburn up and landed at Florida, to get that job done down in Gainesville, though.
Flying under the radar is a joy in college football. Curt Cignetti's Indiana Hoosiers just went from nobodies to champs in two years. Golesh chose the Plains because he felt he could do the same with the Tigers' vast resources.
John Cohen has some 'splainin to do
Make no mistake. Auburn showed the kind of money that was accumulated from the On To Victory faithful during the Freeze era. There was just never any semblance of a return for all the NIL spending. AD John Cohen kept promising it, though.
Cohen didn't turn on Freeze until it was trendy. When it comes to major football decisions, he made an easy one firing Bryan Harsin and made an even easier one firing Freeze after his winning percentage with the Tigers sank to Potato Man levels. It's not exactly a hard decision to go for upgrades in the late 2020s.
Cohen's Golesh hire will be a defining one for his tenure. It's Cohen's chance to redeem bringing Freeze on and not holding him more accountable. The golf story was a humorous one, though only until you really think about how Freeze was allowed to shirk responsibilities so often with an AD who defended him every step of the way.
Cohen came into a financial juggernaut but hasn't left the athletics department in a better place than he found it. He has some 'splainin to do.
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