Auburn hires Alex Golesh: Tigers bring in USF coach to replace Hugh Freeze, breathe life into offense
Auburn will bring in Alex Golesh from USF as its next coach
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Auburn will hire USF coach Alex Golesh as they look to reclaim a position as an SEC contender after five consecutive losing seasons, the Tigers announced Sunday.
Auburn has not had a winning season since Gus Malzahn's final year in 2020 when they went 6-5. Since then, the Tigers have gone 28-35 and have made it to two bowl games, losing both. This year the Tigers went 1-7 in conference play and finished tied for 13th with Mississippi State and South Carolina, with only Arkansas below them.
After back-to-back 7-6 seasons, Golesh led USF to a 9-3 record in 2025 that included wins over Boise State and Florida to start the year. The Bulls eventually slipped out of the American Athletic Conference title race with losses to Memphis and Navy, but still posted their best season in nearly a decade. That performance made Golesh a hot name on the coaching market, and after reportedly turning down Arkansas, Golesh opted to take the opportunity on the Plains.
What hiring Golesh means for Auburn
Golesh will give the Tigers a fresh approach after the failure of Hugh Freeze's tenure. Golesh's USF squad is fourth in the country in scoring at 43.0 points per game, and given Auburn's offensive struggles this season, they will be hoping he and his staff can bring the Tigers' offense back to life.
Auburn hasn't finished a season in the top half of the country in scoring since 2019, and will expect Golesh to finally put them back among the SEC's best offenses. Prior to taking the job at USF, Golesh served as Tennessee's offensive coordinator in 2021 and 2022 after one season as the offensive coordinator for UCF in 2020.
While Golesh played at Ohio State and spent the early portion of his coaching career in the midwest, he's spent the last five years in the southeast and seems very comfortable recruiting and coaching in the region. Auburn will hope he can hit the ground running in building a roster that fits his system and can inject some life into a program that's fallen off the pace in the SEC over the last five years.
