What Does Auburn Hiring Alex Golesh Mean for the Georgia Bulldogs?

The regular season is over and the coaching carousel is underway. There’s an abundance of job openings, and quite a few of them are going to fill up quickly. One of the most coveted openings in the country belongs to one of the Georgia Bulldogs’ biggest rivals, the Auburn Tigers, who parted with Hugh Freeze after being on his way to a third consecutive losing season in his three years as head coach.

Just hours into the regular season being concluded, the Tigers have made their hire. Alex Golesh will officially be the next football coach for the Auburn Tigers. Golesh served the past three seasons as the head coach for the South Florida Bulls, who are 9-3 on the season. The Ohio State alum helped lead the Bulls to big upsets over Boise State and Florida, which helped the Bulls clinch their most wins in eight years.

What does Golesh’s hire mean for the Bulldogs? Like Florida, Golesh is the fourth coach for Auburn that a Kirby Smart coached Georgia team will play in his tenure as head coach. Smart has only lost to Auburn once during his time at Georgia, which came in 2017.

There certainly are similarities between Golesh and Freeze, who both served as the main playcaller during their times at prior schools. With the change, there’s likely going to be an overhaul in offensive identity.

Some key names to watch on Auburn as the transfer portal begins to open are WR Cam Coleman and QB Jackson Arnold. Freeze played a major role in both of their decisions in their commitments to Auburn and will both likely explore their options to go elsewhere. Arnold, who transferred from Oklahoma prior to this season, was also benched weeks ago for backup QB Ashton Daniels.

The Bulldogs are set to host the Tigers in Sanford Stadium in 2026. The Auburn team they face on that day will likely be a 180 from the teams they’ve been used to during Freeze’s tenure. This past season, the Bulldogs overcame a 10-0 lead at the end of the second quarter to ultimately defeat the Tigers by a final score of 20-10.

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