Alex Golesh made Auburn’s position on gambling crystal clear, and he did not leave much room for interpretation.
In an interview with David Pollack, the new Auburn Tigers head coach said there is one line a player simply cannot cross. “We’ve all known growing up, [gambling is] the one thing I can’t get you out of,” he said.
“This is the one thing I can’t help you with. I can help you with a lot.
I can teach you about a lot, but you bet on a game, and it’s one thing I can’t get you out of.”
That stance lands in the middle of the Brendan Sorsby controversy, which has been one of the biggest storylines in college football this summer. Sorsby was caught wagering on his own team’s college football games while he was on the roster but not starting, and the fallout has kept him out of college football in the foreseeable future.
The situation became even more unusual after Sorsby sued the NCAA in an effort to regain eligibility. The NCAA lost that legal fight, and for a stretch it looked as though Sorsby would return to college football at Texas Tech after serving a two-game suspension for his actions. That possibility sent the sport into a frenzy, but Texas Tech eventually moved on from the quarterback.
Golesh’s message suggests Auburn would not budge in a similar situation. If a Tiger were found gambling on any sporting event, whether involving his own team or not, he would not be welcomed back on the roster, even if he later won his eligibility back through the courts.
“You have to [be clear about the rules] because it is at their fingertips,” he said. “There’s a reason why the money in this game is so big, and that’s part of it. It’s just something you can’t do.”
In Other News...
Alex Golesh Just Faced Auburns First Real Culture Test
Alex Golesh has wasted little time trying to define what Auburn football is supposed to look like under his watch, and the word he keeps circling back to is accountability. For a new coach inheriting a roster with plenty of moving parts, that means more than just demanding effort. It means building a room where players are expected to look out for one another, accept criticism and understand that selflessness is part of the job if the culture is going to change.
The challenge, of course, is that accountability is easier to preach than to prove, especially when a team is still learning how to trust itself. Golesh has talked about tough situations as the real test of whether those standards stick, and Auburn is already being asked to navigate one early off-field issue involving transfer edge rusher DaShawn Womack. However that is handled, it will say plenty about how quickly the Tigers can turn a familiar coaching message into something more durable. [Read more 🡒]
Cole Skinner Sees The Auburn Identity Fans Have Been Waiting On
Cole Skinner arrived at Auburn with a clear sense of what the Tigers want to be up front, and that matters as much as anything for a program trying to sharpen its identity. The offensive lineman spent his previous stop at South Florida working at multiple spots, then followed head coach Alex Golesh to Auburn for his final collegiate season, bringing the kind of versatility and experience that can help settle a line still taking shape.
What stands out most is how Skinner talks about the job in a tempo-driven, run-first offense. Auburn is trying to build an edge with physical play and consistency, and the line will have to set that tone from the start. Fall camp opens in August, and the competition there should tell a lot about which linemen are ready to turn that vision into something more than a talking point. [Read more 🡒]