Alex Golesh wants the Auburn Tigers to treat this week like a game week.
Golesh is set to coach his first game as the Tigers’ head coach next week on Sept. 5 when the Tigers take on Baylor in Atlanta. The first-year coach wants his team to look at this week no different than a game week.
“Turned our attention to Baylor starting yesterday going into this mock week,” Golesh said. “The biggest thing for us, especially here, year one, it's the first time for everybody. It's the first time for the players, first time for our coaches, first time for our staff. So, a lot of teaching on how we want it, what we want, collectively, what I expect both from the players' perspective and from the kids and from our staff. So, a lot of teaching yesterday, a lot of teaching today.”
Using the week before the opening week as a mock week is something's Golesh has implemented at multiple stops.
"I think the mock game week piece has been going on for a long time, I can go back to there's so many different ways we've done this thing," said Golesh. "I remember 2008, Oklahoma State, and it didn't look like what Mike Gundy wanted it to look like. We ended up running... So I, I kinda thought at that point, "Man, I don't know. Maybe just tell them what to do ahead of time, and then we don't have to do all that." It's a dress rehearsal of a week. I've stressed to our guys that it needs to look like a normal week. And figure out, I mean, everything from, like, when am I watching film on my own? When am I watching film with the coaches? When do I take a nap i- in the middle of the day if I'm a nap guy? Like everything. You want it to be ironed out."
Auburn's coaches are also being challenged to prepare like it is a game week.
"I've challenged our coaches to, man, like, don't treat it like a mock week," said Golesh. "Treat it like a normal game week. Because what happens sometimes too is you treat it like a, like a mock week, and it's like, "Well, we'll just get to that next week," or, "Man, we'll just put in a bunch, and then we'll cut back," which is also could be detrimental in a lot of ways. I've been guilty of that. So, I think it's the culmination. I've seen different people do it different ways. For me, treat it like a normal game week. We obviously don't play anybody Saturday, but we'll go out and we'll practice and then truly coordinate a, um, a game-like situation in terms of substitutions on, off, everything from special teams to special situations to sub packages on and off, turnover, subbing off the sideline, all these things that 'cause still to this day have not been on the same sideline at the same time working through substitutions and flow of game. So we need it. We need it as a staff. I think as you get further and further into a program, you probably need that less and less, but we need it as a staff, purely communication, offense to defense to special teams, all of it."
