Auburn football hires USF's Alex Golesh as next head coach
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This story has been updatedto include quotes and new information.
AUBURN — Alex Golesh has been hired as Auburn football‘s next head coach, the program announced Sunday, Nov. 30, coming from South Florida to succeed Hugh Freeze on the Plains.
Golesh, 41, signed a six-year deal to come to become the 33rd head coach in Auburn history, according to multiple reports. Contract figures have yet to be released.
“Auburn Football is one of the proudest, most tradition-rich programs in all of college football and my family and I could not be more excited to join the Auburn Family,” Golesh said in a release. “This will be a player-driven program, and no one will outwork our staff. Auburn has won, can win and will win championships. Let’s get to work.”
Golesh spent three seasons at South Florida, where he compiled a 23-15 record, including a 9-3 campaign this fall that began with back-to-back ranked upsets of Boise State and Florida. Before helming the Bulls, Golesh had a lengthy career as an assistant. He has coordinated offenses for Central Florida and Tennessee, and he has been a recruiting coordinator at Illinois, Iowa State and Toledo.
“Alex is known nationally for his player development prowess, ability to shape creative and explosive offenses, and his relentless approach to building winning programs,” athletics director John Cohen said in a release. “I was also struck by his coaching experience on both sides of the ball. In our conversations, he showed the determination and edge that this program demands of its head coach.”
Golesh is taking over an Auburn program that failed to progress year over year under his predecessor. The 56-year-old Freeze made his exit with a 15-19 record, helping a program with a reputation of fresh hires who win fast establish a trend of losing. He and his predecessor, Bryan Harsin, went a combined 24-31 on the Plains, which amounted to a historic downturn.
Since 2021, Auburn has sniffed the postseason twice. It’s bottom-three in the SEC regarding conference winning percentage, and it just secured its fifth consecutive losing season — which hasn’t happened since the middle of the 20th century. That span lasted from 1946-50.
It’s a chain of events that has Auburn at the crossroads of an identity crisis, and Golesh arrives with the course of the program’s future teetering on its axis.
Alex Golesh’s coaching history
- Alex Golesh’s coaching history (2004-25)
- 2025-Present: Head coach, Auburn
- 2023-25: Head coach, South Florida
- 2021-22: Offensive coordinator/Tight ends coach, Tennessee
- 2020: Co-Offensive coordinator/Tight ends coach, UCF
- 2016-19: Recruiting coordinator/Tight ends coach, Iowa State
- 2015: Special teams coordinator/Tight ends coach, Illinois
- 2014: Recruiting Coordinator/Running backs and tight ends coach, Illinois
- 2012-13: Recruiting coordinator/Tight ends coach, Illinois
- 2009-11: Recruiting coordinator/Tight ends coach, Toledo
- 2008: Graduate assistant, Oklahoma State
- 2006-07: Graduate assistant, Northern Illinois
- 2004-05: Student assistant, Ohio State
Adam Cole is the Auburn athletics beat writer for the Montgomery Advertiser. He can be reached via email at acole@gannett.com or on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, @colereporter.To support Adam’s work, please subscribe to the Montgomery Advertiser.
This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Auburn football hires Alex Golesh, replacing Hugh Freeze as head coach
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