Sources: Auburn to hire South Florida coach Alex Golesh

Alex Golesh is heading back to the SEC.

The former Tennessee offensive coordinator and South Florida coach will be the next coach at Auburn, sources told Yahoo Sports' Ross Dellenger.

Golesh has been at South Florida for three seasons. The Bulls went 7-6 in his first two years and are 9-3 with wins over Florida, North Texas and Boise State this season.

USF has had one of the most dynamic offenses in the country in 2025. The Bulls are fourth in the country with 43 points per game and averaged 7.2 yards per play. QB Byrum Brown has thrown for over 3,100 yards and rushed for over 1,000 yards with 42 total touchdowns.

Before working at USF, Golesh ran Tennessee's offense in 2021 and 2022. In that second season, UT averaged 46 points per game.

Offense has been a problem for Auburn in 2025. The Tigers scored more than 20 points just twice in SEC play this season as they went 1-7 in the conference. Auburn fell to 5-7 overall and missed a bowl game with a 27-20 loss to Alabama in the Iron Bowl on Saturday night.

The Tigers were 4-5 when Hugh Freeze was fired with three games to go in the season. Freeze, the team's primary play-caller, was never able to find offensive success on the Plains and inconsistent quarterback play became a theme since he was hired in 2023.

Auburn started three quarterbacks in 2025. Jackson Arnold was the team's starter to begin the year and Ashton Daniels emerged later in the season. Freshman Deuce Knight started the team's game against Mercer in the penultimate week of the season.

Freeze had been replaced by defensive coordinator D.J. Durkin as the team's interim coach for the final three weeks of the season. Durkin had been seen as a contender for the head coaching job in 2026 and beyond, especially if the Tigers beat the Crimson Tide.

Auburn has struggled for consistent success since winning the national championship with Cam Newton in 2010. Coach Gene Chizik was fired two seasons after that national title run and replaced by offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn. The Tigers won at least nine games in three seasons with Malzahn, but fired him after he went 6-4 in 2020.

The Tigers haven’t won more than six games in a single season since then. Bryan Harsin replaced Malzahn and was fired eight games into his second season with the Tigers at 3-5. Freeze, who revived his coaching career at Liberty, got Auburn to a bowl game at 6-6 in 2023 before the Tigers finished 5-7 in 2024. Auburn was 4-5 when Freeze was fired in 2025.