‘I Can Feel a Feeling in the Building:’ Auburn AD Talks Alex Golesh

Even at the top of Auburn athletics, there's a general optimism about the upcoming tenure for head coach Alex Golesh.

Auburn football head coach Alex Golesh and Auburn athletic director John Cohen pose for photos during his introductory press conference. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Amidst perhaps one of the worst decades of football in program history, the Auburn Tigers are looking to new head coach Alex Golesh to fix their drowning program.

This is an effort that seems to be going quite well, at least if Auburn’s athletic director, John Cohen, has anything to say about it.

“There's a lot of high energy," he said. "One of the anthems for Alex has been, 'Be who you say you are.' And I can feel a push. I can feel a feeling in the building.”

This feeling has shown up constantly in practice videos and even in the program’s recruiting, as its 2027 class currently ranks among the top-10 best classes in the country. The message is simple: players are buying into what Alex Golesh is selling, both now and for the future.

Of course, bringing over a litany of transfers from your former program may have a part in the trust in Golesh, but having a team like this as a bridge, acting to set a culture standard, could be instrumental in the future of Golesh’s program.

Golesh has leaned into the identity and culture aspect of his program in the short time he has been the head coach at Auburn, and it is already showing up in big ways.

“The worst thing that can happen when you leave year one is you have no identity," Golesh said. "No identity schematically, offensively, defensively. No identity culturally. No identity in recruiting. That's what I fight daily for, to make sure that the identity is established, but then you're protected with everything you've got.”

Notably, Golesh is not leaning into the ‘we will win now’ mentality of coaching, rather choosing to focus on his team and his players, and letting the wins come with that. He seems highly concerned with building a cultural foundation that his teams, both now and in the future, can benefit from.

Golesh has certainly built both recruiting and cultural identities since he arrived in November, though what he has in store for his offensive and defensive identities still remains to be seen. Of course, DJ Durkin returns to continue to foster his highly successful defensive culture on the Plains, though it will certainly be interesting to see how Golesh impacts the squad.

Offensively, the Tigers are set to be quite a run-heavy offense, leaning on a litany of top-level backs as well as Byrum Brown, who rushed for over 1,000 yards last year at USF while still managing to throw for over 3,000. 

Much still remains to be seen with this Auburn program, but Golesh has been crystal clear that no matter what, identity stands above all in his Tiger program.

Sign up for our free Auburn Tigers newsletter and follow us on Facebook and X for the latest news!