(Chris Henry / University of South Florida Athletics)
Former Tennessee offensive coordinator Alex Golesh is indeed headed to the SEC. But it’s not the job that it was originally reported that Golesh was accepting. Golesh is headed to The Plains of Alabama to lead the Auburn football program, ESPN’s Pete Thamel first reported on Sunday.
The hire comes less than a week after reports that Arkansas was closing in on Golesh as the program’s next head coach. But things change quickly in the coaching carousal and after missing out on Tulane’s Jon Sumrall, Auburn turned to the 41-year old Golesh.
Golesh just wrapped up his third season as head coach at USF where he’s helped lead the Bulls to a 23-15 record. The offensive minded coach inherited a terrible situation in Tampa with the Bulls posting a 1-11 record the year before his arrival. But Golesh got USF back to a bowl game in his first year as head coach.
USF went 7-6 in each of Golesh’s first two years as head coach before taking another leap this season. The Bulls broke onto the scene back in September with an upset win over Florida and looked like a legit group of five College Football Playoff contender. But an upset loss against Navy earlier this month dashed the Bulls playoff hopes. South Florida wrapped up the regular season with a 52-3 route of Rice on Saturday.
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Golesh inherits an Auburn program that’s floundered since firing Gus Malzahn following the 2020 season. The Tigers hired Boise State’s Brian Harsin to replace Malzahn but fired him after a season and a half. Hugh Freeze did not make it much longer with Auburn firing him following an early November loss against Kentucky.
Freeze’s Tigers went 16-21 over the last three years, failing to make a bowl game each of the last two seasons. Auburn is 27-35 in the last five seasons after firing Malzahn.
Golesh spent two seasons at Tennessee as Josh Heupel’s offensive coordinator from 2021-22, helping re-build the Vols’ program and one of the nation’s best offenses. He was previously on Heupel’s staff at UCF before coming to Tennessee.
