SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE FOOTBALL MEDIA DAYS

July 21, 2026

Alex Golesh

Auburn Tigers

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Welcome to the podium the Auburn University head football coach, Alex Golesh.

ALEX GOLESH: War eagle.

All right, thank you Commissioner Sankey; appreciate the introduction.

I am humbled and grateful to have been named the head football coach at Auburn University seven months ago, and it has been an incredible journey up until this point.

Thankful to be back in Tampa. We spent just over three years here and met some incredible people here, some dear friends still. This community was incredible to my family. I am really, really thankful for my time here and the way we got treated and the commitment that was made to us here in Tampa.

Thankful to Dr. Roberts and our administration and them welcoming us to Auburn. What they've done for us through these first seven months in giving us the ability to go hire an elite staff, to go build the way we need to. Thankful to John Cohen for bringing me to Auburn, our board of trustees that continues to pour into our program.

Beyond thankful to the Auburn family for welcoming us, my family.

And even as late as last night, spending time here in Tampa with a bunch of alums and people that care deeply about Auburn down here in Florida and all over this state. That was a neat event, and thankful to the donors across the country that I've had a chance to go meet.

From the time I got there, spent a bunch of time in May, man, the love for Auburn around the hand at country is incredible. Thankful to there are support, their continued investment in our program.

Thankful to our staff. John gave us the ability to go hire the most incredible staff that I've ever been a part of. Every time I walk out of our staff meetings I'm just wowed by the professionals in there, the men and women we were able to bring into this program to help us build Auburn back to where it belongs.

Thankful to their families and the close to 100 families that chose to move to Auburn and join in building this new era of Auburn football. Grateful to the wives, kids, and how many people picked their lives up and came with us that believe in our vision, believe in myself, and believed in what we're doing.

More than anything else, I'm thankful to our players, the almost 70 that chose to stay, and then the 40 that came in. Thankful for what they've done. Change is hard. Change is incredibly hard in this day and age, and these guys have embraces change.

When you come in and you things are different, things are not what they're used to, the expectations, standards are different than maybe things that people want, the ability to buy-in and continuously fight for what needs to be done, I'm beyond grateful to our kids in our program.

We are two weeks from camp actually today. Report two weeks from today. We are going to go into getting ready for week one in the Aflac Kickoff Game against Baylor. Grateful to be a part of that in Atlanta. Grateful to get in front of our fans in Atlanta. Got an incredible alumni base. It's going to be an incredible Auburn crowd. Thankful for Aflac for having us in the game.

You combine that with nine SEC games, and we feel like we're set up to have one of the best schedules in the country and an incredibly tough slate to get through for the year that we're beyond excited about.

This two weeks from camp, we've had a six-month buildup. Spent a month assembling a roster, retaining a roster, and we've had a six-month buildup to get to this point. I get giddy thinking about starting football. It's the three weeks of the year where the doors are shut, you're with your players, with your staff, and you get to play ball. That's the part I'm most excited about.

Talk about a six-month buildup, we went through an incredibly hard winter. We made it hard intentionally. We pushed as hard as you can to the limit to get ourselves ready for spring. We went through a long, long, long hard spring. Talk to our players, and they would tell you it was about a hard as anything they've gone through, as it needed to be.

It was hard in a lot of ways. It was the start of building an identity and it was the start of building and changing a culture that's standard-based where everything we do is at an elite level.

Then the summer was about, yeah, getting physically, mentally stronger, bigger, faster, but as much as anything else, is the ability for us to connect as a team. As you put together 115 guys that haven't been together and a brand new staff, the ability to connect and work through things and get to know each other is the difference of how the season ends up playing out.

Can these guys communicate? Can these guys truly learn to grow and love each other and truly form a brotherhood? We got two weeks left to get into camp and be able to get after it.

The biggest question I've gotten as I've gone through this journey the last seven months is, man, what's a successful year one look like? How do you gauge it? What are your goals?

I don't really have any goals, other than laying a foundation for what Auburn football is going to be for years to come. That starts with building an identity. This word "identity" is the only thing we've talked about as a program and what does that look for us, what is the identity of our program, who are we when people sit down and watch us play on Saturdays.

The identity is one thing for me to talk about, one thing for me to preach, one thing for me to hold a standard in every aspect of our program, but it's another for our kids to embrace it and live it.

The first piece of this identity that we've hammered home is the ability to be physically and mentally tough. That's what Auburn football was built on, physical and mental toughness. The ability to be the most violent football team on the field every Saturday. Violent.

I think that's something you can watch and see. It's something that that you can look and say, man, this is a physically and mentally tough football team, a team that's connected. Guys score, do they celebrate together? Guys make mistakes, do people pick them up? Creat an explosive on defense, is everybody in there celebrating together?

A group that's connected, a group that communicates extremely well, a group that plays for each other, a group that has leadership.

Got to have the ability to lead, and it has to come from the guys on the field. I've always said that if a team is coach-led you'll max out at a level or at a point. When a team is player-led and it's player-driven, you wield championships. That's as hard of an objective to reach right now in college football as you can ever imagine. But the ability to lead and then the ability for guys to follow, we've spent a lot of time building leaders. It's got to be the guys on the football field.

The team that's incredibly detailed. We talk about winning in the margins. You watch a team play and are they detailed in what they do? Does situational football look the way it's supposed to? Third down, fourth down, special teams, detail in special teams, ball security, red zone offense, tight zone offense, goal line offense, two-minute offense, four-minute offense, four-minute defense, two-minute defense, red zone defense, tight zone defense, goal line defense.

Are you detailed in the margins that win football games? That's what I want our identity to be. If we can leave year one and we have a foundation that's built on our identity I would tell you it's a successful year one. We have fought like crazy to build a process-driven program where we worry about winning day-to-day.

My job is to set standards in every aspects of our program. It's our players' job to uphold those standards and live them every single day. That's what we've worked on for seven months. In two weeks we get to go strap it on, continue to build on our identity, and like I said, I'm beyond excited it go kick it off in Atlanta in the Aflac Kickoff Classic.

I'll take questions.

Q. Coach, can you tell our audience why you selected these three players to bring to SEC media days and can you make a few comments about them?

ALEX GOLESH: Absolutely. You know, we talk about identity and everything that I want this program to be and everything that we represent. There could have been a bunch of guys that we picked. These three guys represent every single day this identity that I talk about. Represent the standards that we live every single day.

Start with Champ Anthony. Champ is a young man that has overcome about as much as anybody in our program. A young man that came from junior college, came in, won a job, was a captain, and has had two seasons get cut short by a broken leg and a broken leg. A young man since the day I got there has stood on the table for being at Auburn, leading the right way, bringing others with him on both sides of the ball, on top of being a high-end football player that can play all five spots in the back end and has said over and over again, Coach, just find a way to get me on the field and I'll do everything in my power to help Auburn win football games.

Inspirational in every way. He is the first guy I see every morning when I walk into the building rehabbing to get right. He is finally cleared. He's ready to rock and roll. Guy that in spring when he couldn't go literally I would have to pull him off the field because he was out there coaching his tail off. Champ represents everything you want an Auburn man to be, overcoming adversity, and I just absolutely can't wait for him to have the year that he deserves to have.

Alex McPherson, our kicker, and is the only specialist here at SEC media days it got pointed out to me. Alex is another young man that had an incredibly successful career at Auburn, as an Alabama kid that grew up dreaming of playing at Auburn. Another young man that said since the day I got there, Coach, I just want to do everything in my power to go win at Auburn.

A young man whose 2024 year got cut short. His story has been highly publicized. Talk about overcoming adversity. Really shouldn't being playing football, and continues to fight through to be one of the best kickers in the history of Auburn, but at the same time, represent everything you want an Auburn man to be.

He is a young man that in winter workouts talked to the trainers or doctors and told his position coach, listen, like this winter workout thing, this is about to be as grueling as anything that these guys have ever gone through. I need Alex to make field goals. Like let's have him go over there, work out on his own.

I went up to Alex, listen, dude, you're not going to go through this. You should've seen the look on Alex's face. He's like, I'm not a kicker, I play football here. As late as yesterday morning at 7:00 a.m. when he lifted with the developmental group, he is out there running with the skill guys.

This is a kicker that we need to make field goals; refuses to do so anything other than what everybody else is doing. You talk about our identity: Physically and mentally tough. Leader. His process is elite in what he does and how he does it. Almost 90% field goal guy in his career here. Another guy I'm so excited about watching his senior year and seeing him help us win football games because of the way that he's bought in and his process and identity of our football game.

He's an Auburn man as they come.

You talk about Byrum Brown, and Byrum is a young man I've known since he was an 18 year odd redshirt freshmen that has grown through these four years into one of the best football players I've ever been around. Again, you talk about identity and you talk about process driven and you talk about player led. A young man that has not only developed as a player to become a complete quarterback, but a guy that has developed as a leader.

I have always said this, and I have been fortunate over the last ten years to be around some special quarterbacks, when your quarterback can be one the toughest guys on the team, can be one the hardest workers on the team, have the most elite process on the team on top of being one of the best leaders on the team, when it's driven by that quarterback, the guy that touches the ball every single snap and both the offense and the defensive guys can point to him and say, that's who we follow, you can do something special.

And Byrum Brown represents everything that's right about Auburn football and the identity that we're building. A guy that went into the portal after last season and you talk about a couple days where you sit there and cringe, like, man, everybody in the country is going after this kid. The kid that showed up in Auburn and said, man, what do we got to do to go win makes obviously me feel good. Gives me a level of confidence going into the season that we're led by that guy and a guy that's worked extremely hard to embrace the guys that were already at Auburn, the guys that transferred in.

Just everything you could ever want in a young man, in a quarterback, both physically and off the field. That's why these three guys all seniors, all representing what we want our identity to be and three guys that by the time they get done hopefully in late January that will be Auburn men for life that represent everything that's right about the Auburn family.

Q. Coach, bringing your quarterback gives you a jump start on implementing the types of things you are going to want to do offensively. At the end of the day, if at the end of the season we're talking about Byrum Brown as one of the best quarterbacks in the country, what things have to happen between now and then to help make that a reality for Byrum and help Auburn achieve their goals on the field this season?

ALEX GOLESH: Yeah, well, Byrum Brown is one of the best quarterbacks in the country, and he's shown that over the years. What has to happen for Byrum is he's just got to continue to be him every single day.

What gives him confidence is everything that we preached from day one. It's your daily process. It's how you come in that building. It's how you treat people. It's how you take care of your body. It's how you show up to work. It's truly how your locker looks. How you approach getting on the field, off the field, how you communicate on the sideline, on top of how you actually work when it's time to go to work.

Byrum just has just got to be him. The confidence that he is going to be the best version of him every single day should give confidence to everybody around him, players, coaches, support staff. And ultimately if he's the best version of him every single day we'll get to where we got to get to on the field.

Q. At Tennessee your offense became known for creating explosive plays. Now that you are at Auburn, what's the key to bringing that same level of success to production there?

ALEX GOLESH: I think offensive football is about finding matchups in space, and we chose to do it really, really quickly. As we've evolved offensively and as we have to continue to evolve offensively, we've got to use these next three weeks once we get into camp to truly figure out who are our playmakers, put them in the best positions to create the best matchups and do it really, really fast.

If we continue to do that, we've got the right staff to figure it out. We've got a bunch of guys that are familiar with the system. Got a bunch of guys that we brought in that are getting familiar with the system. But we need to use those three weeks to truly identify formationally how we do that, which guys can help, because we want to use as many as can help us, and then getting them in space.

And that's in the run game and the pass game. For us everything starts with the ability to run the football, and it sets up everything else. But it's the players in the right formations to then be able to create explosive, because the matchups and the space allows you to do so. It's on us to put them in the right positions and on the guys to go execute at a high clip.

We are going to need every single day of those three weeks of camp to get ready for Baylor to be able to identify that and then detail it out.

Q. In a conference that has so many new faces this season. You're one of a few taking that American-to-SEC pipeline. Can you speak a little bit more on that relationship and Jon Sumrall and a rematch that will be all-SEC this year?

ALEX GOLESH: Yeah, you know, Jon and I obviously competed against each other for a couple years in the American. Gotten to know Jon well. I respect how he works. I respect his approach. I think he works as hard as anybody. Players believe in him, which is -- you can see when you turn the film on when you play against them.

I think smart, tough, gritty. That's what his teams are. That's what he's always been as a coach. Got a ton of respect for him. We've got a long way before we get to that week three matchup. It will be fun in Jordan-Hare week three Saturday night.

Q. Professional Football Focus just put out a stat that other than West Virginia, your teams go faster than anybody in the country as far as running your offense. What does that converse look like with DJ Durkin and how differently he has to adjust and atone for that?

ALEX GOLESH: That's a great question. I think what's fascinating about college football, and specifically our league, you look at our schedule, our out-of-conference, and certainly in the SEC, half of our schedule you're playing teams that are -- at least going into the season -- that are playing with a high level of tempo.

The goal has never been to be the fastest team in the country or top anything. The goal is to play as efficiently and quickly as you can while executing with an elite level of detail. So for our defensive staff, it's what you want to get ready. It's way easier to get ready for a tempo offense and then be able to slow it down where you have a little bit more time to get lined up, identify things, communicate, than the other way around where you're playing against a slow-down offense and when it's time to play an up-tempo offense, now you got to change the way you practice or how a scout team or multiple scout teams have got to operate.

For our defense to be able to go play against our offense every single spring practice, every single fall camp practice, and then the ability to wind it back when you have to I think is way easier than the inverse of that. And so it's been really good for our defense. Again, it's going to be six games at least as of right now going no where that's the prep that we need defensively.

And so for Durkin, that defensive staff, it's the best thing that you could possibly have is being able to see that in practice every single day and having answers. Because it is, you call it different, you practice it differently. So to be able to have answers ahead of time going into the season is absolutely huge.

Q. Coming into your first season, what would you say is the Alex Golesh definition of success this year? Is it a certain win number? Is it beating your rivals in Alabama and Georgia? Is it making the College Football Playoff? What is your set goal or definition of success going into 2026?

ALEX GOLESH: Yeah, so I don't set goals. I've always thought that that's like a little bit like New Year's resolutions. They usually work for a little bit and you kind of keep it moving.

I set standards. We set standards as a program. Our standard is to be the best versions of us every single day. The standard when I got to Auburn was to get as good as we possibly can as fast as we can. How do we do that? By our daily process. By how we attack every single day. By the standards within that program that like you talked about earlier. As they become upheld by our players and it becomes player driven, then those standards become reality, a way of life every day within the program.

I think a successful year one as I mentioned earlier is if we can leave year one and have a foundation of who we are, our identity, proof of concept offensively, defensively, so we can continue to recruit to that identity.

Right now we recruited extremely well. It's a huge credit to our staff, huge credit to recruiting staff, scouting staff, personnel staff, full-time staff, everybody involved.

We are sitting with a top 10 class in country with zero proof of concept, with a year behind a majority of our league. Now if you can show proof of concept and lay a foundation for what Auburn football looks like moving forward you can continue to recruit, and just as importantly, really more importantly, retain to that and develop within your program underneath that umbrella of what our identity is year in, year out.

That's how you build a consistent football program. So year one that foundation has to be laid. What that looks like in win totals will be determined by what we've done the last seven months and what we do in the next six weeks leading up to week one.

The wins will take care of themselves as long as our identity is what it is. If we are physically and mentally tough. If we are detailed. If we are player led. If we are connected as a team. We win in the margins. If we take care of what we have to take care of from a detail standpoint, I love where our talent is. We are plenty talented enough to go win every single game.

This is a really, really talented league with elite players and elite coaches. So what wins football games? The teams that can play on Saturdays and score one more point than the other because they have a true identity of who they are.

Year one will be successful if we leave and know exactly who we are and we have proof of concept to continue to build to.

Q. Coach, you picked up a couple big wins last season at USF. This year, pretty tough road schedule. What makes you confident in your team and system to go in to places like Knoxville and Tuscaloosa?

ALEX GOLESH: Yeah, what gives you confidence is the ability to go into every single day and continue to perfect our process. I think confidence comes -- real confidence, not fake confidence, but real authentic genuine confidence comes from an elite level process day in day out as coaches, as players.

The ability to walk into a Saturday morning, Saturday afternoon, Saturday night, especially in some of the best environments in the entire country, and know that the amount of work that's put in is what's prepared me for this moment.

That's truly the day to day of how we operate. I said going into the summer we can't waste the day. The confidence comes in not wasting a day. The confidence comes in knowing you never cheated your process. And that's individually as players, as coaches, as support staff day in, day out.

Because you're right, to go win in some of the best environments in college football, that's why you want to coach in this league, that is why play in this league, because of that, and the confidence comes truly from your day to day process.

Thank you; war damn eagle.