Nick Saban doesn’t hand out praise lightly, especially not when the subject is Auburn. So when the former Alabama coach called Alex Golesh “a really, really good coach” at SEC Media Days, it stood out.
Saban’s comments came as questions continue to swirl around Auburn’s new head coach, with plenty of attention focused on how long Golesh will stay in the job after the Tigers’ constant turnover at the position over the past decade. But Saban, who knows the SEC as well as anyone, made it clear he sees real substance in the hire.
“Alex [Golesh] at Auburn,” he said during SEC Media Days. “He brings his quarterback (Byrum Brown) with him from South Florida, and D.J.
Durkin is a good defensive coordinator. He kept him.
There are some pieces there. I think Alex Golesh is a really, really good coach.
I think he’ll have success at Auburn.”
That endorsement carries extra weight because of the history between Saban and Auburn. The Tigers were longtime rivals during his Alabama run, and they delivered some of the most painful endings of his seasons, including the 2013 Kick Six and the 2019 upset led by Bo Nix that knocked the Tide out of the then-four-team College Football Playoff.
Against that backdrop, Saban’s willingness to say Golesh is legitimate says plenty. It would have been easy to dismiss Auburn’s new coach simply because he’s now leading the Tigers, but Saban didn’t take that route. He called it straight.
Golesh has already built a résumé that backs up the praise. At Tennessee, his offensive system helped produce the Volunteers’ best offensive season ever and led to 14 different offensive records being broken. He also turned USF around, rescuing the Bulls from a string of rough seasons and making them a team capable of beating SEC opponents on their own field.
Now comes the biggest test of all. Auburn wants more than competence; it wants to get back to the level where national championships are in reach, the way they were in years past. That’s a tall order, but Saban’s endorsement gives Golesh something Auburn fans have been waiting for: a heavyweight voice saying the hire is real.
In Other News...
Champ Anthony Just Sent A Strong Message About Auburns Newcomers
Champ Anthony is heading into his final Auburn season with a little more attention attached to his name, after landing on the preseason All-SEC ballot and stepping into a program that is clearly changing around him. With Alex Golesh taking over, the Tigers have spent the offseason adjusting to a new voice and a new roster mix, and Anthony has already become one of the players helping set the tone for what comes next.
What stands out most is how quickly Anthony has bought into the newcomers Golesh brought with him from South Florida. Auburn added 13 transfers from there, and Anthony has treated them like part of the program rather than outsiders trying to find their footing. For a defense trying to establish its identity under a new coach, that kind of buy-in matters, especially with the offense also getting a major infusion of help and the full shape of this roster still coming into focus. [Read more 🡒]
Alex Golesh Is Taking A Very Different Approach With Byrum Brown
Last season, Auburns quarterback room was part of a broader debate about how much help a young passer should get in practice, with Hugh Freeze even asking the defense to back off at times so Jackson Arnold could build confidence. Both Freeze and Arnold are gone now, and at SEC Media Days, new coach Alex Golesh made it clear he wants a different tone in practice, one that treats every rep like a real one and lets both sides of the ball sharpen each other without any easing up.
For Auburn, that approach matters because it says a lot about how Golesh plans to prepare the Tigers for the league they are trying to survive in. It also puts Byrum Brown in a useful spotlight, because if he can operate against a defense that is not being asked to hold back, it will go a long way toward answering whether his production can carry over when the games start counting in the SEC. [Read more 🡒]