Auburn bets on Alex Golesh fixing Tigers’ offense. Expert grades the hire

Alex Golesh to Auburn may have gone under the radar considering Lane Kiffin grabbed the spotlight and Florida had Steve Spurrier and Urban Meyer gloss its new hire.

Golesh led South Florida to a 9-3 record this season, the program’s most wins in eight years. Over his three-year tenure at USF, Golesh went 23-15. He took over a Bulls program that had gone just 4-29 in the three seasons before he was hired.

Under the 41-year-old Golesh, the Bulls finished among the top 35 FBS teams in scoring offense in each of his three seasons. This season, it averaged 43 points per game, the fourth-best mark in the FBS.

Here’s who we grade the Tigers’ hire:

Grade: B-

Auburn needs help on offense to pull it out of yearslong rut, and Golesh shows some chops for the assignment. He’s worked inside the SEC and was Josh Heupel’s offensive coordinator when Tennessee toppled Alabama in 2022 and the Vols’ up-tempo spread system led the nation in offense.

Golesh did a solid job at South Florida in his first coaching gig. The Bulls were 1-11 the year before he arrived. By this season, Golesh’s Year 3, the Bulls upset Florida and went 9-3. They fizzled a bit in the second half of the schedule. USF enjoys an advantage as one of the best-resourced programs in the American Conference, and it’s located in enviable recruiting territory.

Golesh can’t expect such a head-start on his SEC peers while at Auburn, and USF fans were appropriately disappointed Golesh couldn’t get this year’s team to the American Conference championship game, after peaking early in wins against Boise State and Florida.

Golesh is a more unproven hire than Auburn’s past two, but after Bryan Harsin and Hugh Freeze failed miserably, you could argue it’s worth taking a shot on a rising 41-year-old talent.

The up-tempo spread system Golesh is trained in has become less novel inside the SEC in recent years. Golesh will join Heupel, Lane Kiffin and Jeff Lebby as coaches who operate a version of this offense. Does that increase in familiarity sacrifice some of the advantage Tennessee enjoyed while Golesh was there? Perhaps.

He also must prove himself as a recruiter while going toe-to-toe with the likes of Kirby Smart, Kalen DeBoer and others in blue-chip battles.

Golesh is a bit of a gamble, but not a total Hail Mary, and he’s a hopeful choice after the retread shot with Freeze flopped.