Why Auburn HC Alex Golesh is Telling His Team To 'Humble Yourself'

The first-year Auburn head coach warned his team after its scrimmage that there's plenty more fall camp to happen until starters are named.

Auburn Tigers head coach Alex Golesh has three weeks until his debut against Baylor on Sept. 5. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

While everybody counts down the days until college football, Auburn Tigers head coach Alex Golesh wants his team to stack them. 

Auburn’s scrimmage this weekend had Golesh looking for improvement ahead of a Sept. 5 matchup with Baylor. He also wants his group to have a mentality refresh ahead of the school year opening up next week on campus. 

Until then, he doesn’t want to think about the hypotheticals that come with playing in the SEC. 

“We are nowhere near talking about winning football games,” he said on Friday. “We're still at ‘what do we got to do today to be the best version of us today.’ The truth is, here, in a couple of days we start school; there's elements now that will create distraction, and that's why I say humble yourself to show up and go right back to work.”

Golesh has tried to limit as many of these distractions as much as possible, with the team staying at one hotel altogether for the start of fall camp. Now, with commutes to campus to begin the academic semester, and the rest of the student body coming into the fray, it means practice will go much more quickly, with greater anticipation of the season coming with each day. 

The first-year Auburn head coach wants to make sure his team is reset for this next phase of camp. 

“There tends to be an element - and this is every camp - but you're nine, 10 days in, you start feeling like, I've won a job, or I've won a role in this or that, and maybe at times you start getting a little bit comfortable,” Golesh said. “It's like, all right, we're getting close. We're still in camp mode for another week.”

Remaining humble keeps a team-first mentality that he’s looked for to help unite the group in the first year of a new coaching staff. Although Golesh brought some pieces with him from USF that are essentially starters, like quarterback Byrum Brown and some of the offensive line, like Cole Best, the head coach wants competition to remain at its highest without naming his official group. 

Until then, practices will amp up as the Tigers are under three weeks until they kick off in Atlanta against Baylor. 

Only way to send that message is to continue to be honest, continue to point out things that you're seeing, good and bad, and worry about today,” Golesh said. “Don't worry about winning, losing games. We're still 22 days out from worrying about that.”

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