Alex Golesh is set to take on a program he is very familiar with on Saturday.
The Auburn head coach was once the offensive coordinator for the Tennessee Vols under Josh Huepel before he became the head coach at USF. Golesh was asked Monday if his familiarity with the Vols' staff is an advantage ahead of the Tigers taking on Tennessee on the road.
“It would give you an advantage if they didn’t have so much familiarity with your staff," Golesh said. "The longer you do this, the more you end up with crossover like that where there are several guys in this league that started together and kind of spread out. To me, it’s more fascinating to see how we've all evolved, whether it’s offensively or defensively, but how to make it your own. I think really good football coaches are able to adjust to their personnel every year and continue to grow. They certainly have. We certainly have. I think the familiarity certainly makes you sit and think twice about certain things you’re putting in. Obviously, from an operational standpoint, there’s familiarity, and it makes you think twice about certain things there. That’s the greatest part of this coaching piece is the mental side of it and the ability to game plan, knowing what they know and knowing what they’ve seen. Ultimately, it comes down to your players executing what you do. I think overthinking — say you have to change drastically because of this or that, and then it puts your players in a situation where they’re not fully confident in the plan. If you do what you do and you do it at a high level, I think that gives you the best chance to win. There’s obviously familiarity, but it’s been four years now, so we’ve all grown, changed, and evolved. I don’t know how big of a factor that is.”
Auburn is coming off a win over the Vanderbilt Commodores while the Vols are fresh off of losing to the Texas Longhorns at home. The two programs will square of Saturday in Neyland Stadium. Kickoff is set for 2:30 p.m.
