How will Auburn football handle play-calling under Alex Golesh?
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AUBURN — Alex Golesh became Auburn football‘s fourth head-coaching hire since 2013 over the weekend, and like his three latest predecessors, he arrived with an offensive background.
Golesh coordinated high-octane offenses at Central Florida and Tennessee. His latest offense at South Florida, where he was head coach, was top-five nationally in scoring and total yards.
So, what’ll that mean for play-calling? It’s a generally tepid topic for any hire, but Auburn‘s offense struggled under the guidance of Hugh Freeze — and a play-calling approach that seemingly had a different assistant handling every down.
On Monday, Dec. 1, Golesh got into how his staff will call plays on the Plains.
“It’s going to continue to be what it has been the last couple of years at the University of South Florida (with) an offensive staff that’s going to be absolutely elite, the large chunk of which is coming with,” Golesh said. “Those guys will absolutely crush it offensively. They will call the plays, and everybody else in that room will have a ton of input.”
Does that mean Auburn will have a different decision-maker for every down and distance? In short, no. Golesh didn’t dismiss the amount of perspectives that go into in-game decision-making. He even described the process as a collaborative effort, like his predecessor.
“Offensive line coach is crazy involved, quarterback coach is crazy involved,” Golesh said. “We’ve got young coaches that are crazy involved, and when you get into a game, there’s so much conversation in between drives. … I have a two cents at times. We all kind of do. Ultimately, the guy calling the plays, it’s on him to get us in the right spots. But it’s constant communication.”
Golesh’s Auburn staff has yet to be finalized. The only official addition has been former Tiger Kodi Burns, who Golesh said Monday would be making the move from his South Florida staff to become Auburn’s associate head coach.
Other names reportedly coming to Auburn from USF are co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Joel Gordon, offensive line coach and run game coordinator Tyler Hudanick, cornerbacks coach DeMarcus Van Dyke and head strength and condition coach George Courides.
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: How Alex Golesh will handle play-calling with Auburn football
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