Alex Golesh isn’t putting a number on what Auburn has to win in Year 1. The one fear he keeps coming back to is whether anyone will actually know what Auburn football stands for by the end of the season. After years of coaching changes and losing records, the new $44M head coach believes the Tigers need something more lasting than a few extra wins.

“For us to be really successful in year one, we have to have an identity,” Alex Golesh said during an interview with David Pollack on See Ball Get Ball. “If we leave Year 1 and, not just our football team, but the general public that watches college football can say, ‘Man, those guys are this.'”

That identity, in his eyes, has nothing to do with catchy slogans. Alex Golesh wants Auburn to become a team that’s physically and mentally tough, plays smart football, avoids self-inflicted mistakes, and finishes games when they matter most. His biggest fear is finishing Year 1 with people still asking what they really are. 

It’s an answer Auburn has been searching for longer than anyone around the program would like to admit. Between 2020 and 2025, Auburn changed head coaches three times and saw constant staff turnover. Players left, systems changed, and no single style stuck. That constant churn created an identity vacuum.

Former head coaches Bryan Harsin and Hugh Freeze couldn’t turn things around either. It hurts to see the team lose six games by just one score in 2025 under Freeze. So, year 1 under Golesh is critical because it is the first chance to reset that culture and show a clear pattern.

During the interview, Alex Golesh pointed out that most SEC games are decided by a single possession. The difference, he argued, usually comes down to discipline, situational football, and toughness, not necessarily who has the most valuable roster. That’s also why Auburn’s offseason wasn’t just about collecting transfer portal additions. 

Alex Golesh brought 13 players with him from South Florida, believing familiar faces could help build the culture he wants faster than starting from scratch. His vision also sounds remarkably familiar to longtime Auburn fans. For decades under legendary coach Pat Dye, the Tigers earned their reputation by playing bruising defense, running the football and wearing opponents down over 60 minutes.

Back then, those teams won four SEC titles in seven seasons. Dye’s teams won through discipline and toughness. Golesh inherits a program that lost six one-score games: same formula, but different execution. Golesh knows the first step is identity. He’s starting with DJ Durkin’s defense, which held opponents to 20.7 ppg last season.

Now, if that defense keeps setting the tone and the offense can consistently win on the ground, Auburn may finally start playing the kind of football Alex Golesh has been talking about. Projections are modest, as CBS Sports’ Brad Crawford forecasts 7-5 and a Gasparilla Bowl. That record would end the program’s run of seven-loss campaigns.

Alex Golesh, however, seems interested in something that can’t be measured by standings alone. Wins matter, and he made that clear. But he believes they’ll come naturally if Auburn first becomes a team that opponents recognize for the same things every Saturday.