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TAMPA, Fla. — Put a nickel in a jar every time the "ever-changing landscape" of college athletics gets mentioned, and you could find yourself with a fortune, perhaps in a hurry.
Name, image and likeness. The annual churn of turnover that's become the transfer portal. Anything feels possible at this point, and an SEC mainstay taking notes from what's been a perennial Big Ten bottom-feeder could be the latest item listed.
While it's historically been one of the worst Power Four programs in the nation, Indiana isn't so insignificant anymore. Head coach Curt Cignetti delivered the Hoosiers their first-ever national championship last fall. It marked arguably the most-miraculous turnaround in the history of the sport, reaching such heights in just two seasons.
Auburn football doesn't carry a similar history as the Hoosiers, but entering this season, it finds itself hampered with a half-decade of underwhelming results. It found itself a Group-of-Five hire in Alex Golesh however, who coincidentally brought 13 transfers with him from South Florida — the same number of transfers who followed Cignetti from the James Madison to Indiana.
So, is Golesh trying to run the Hoosier method on the Plains? At the least, is there anything he's learned from the program's quick ascent under Cignetti?
Golesh admitted Tuesday, July 21, at SEC Media that he doesn't know Cignetti, but that he's certainly studied his program's success, "because you want to understand exactly how that's happened." Two things stand out.
"Not being in there, it's hard to say that this is what their model is, but where I think as you look at it from the outside looking in," Golesh said, "the biggest piece of it is the age and the veteran-ness of what that team has been the last two years, and specifically the age up front."
Of the eight linemen who started on either side of the ball for the Hoosiers in their national title appearance, seven were upperclassmen. Four of those seven were transfers, with two of them following Cignetti from James Madison.
"Certainly when you have a Heisman Trophy winner at quarterback, that helps," Golesh said. "But the age piece, the experience, I think that's one thing that there's just such a fine line, especially with high school recruiting and the portal. ... The detail, the margins, the situational football, third down, tight zone, two-minute, four-minute; these situations that end up winning football games, experience is king."
Adam Cole is the Auburn athletics beat writer for the Montgomery Advertiser. He can be reached via email at [email protected] or on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, @colereporter.To support Adam's work, please subscribe to the Montgomery Advertiser.
This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: What has Auburn football HC Alex Golesh gleaned from studying Indiana's success?
Continue reading...
Name, image and likeness. The annual churn of turnover that's become the transfer portal. Anything feels possible at this point, and an SEC mainstay taking notes from what's been a perennial Big Ten bottom-feeder could be the latest item listed.
While it's historically been one of the worst Power Four programs in the nation, Indiana isn't so insignificant anymore. Head coach Curt Cignetti delivered the Hoosiers their first-ever national championship last fall. It marked arguably the most-miraculous turnaround in the history of the sport, reaching such heights in just two seasons.
Auburn football doesn't carry a similar history as the Hoosiers, but entering this season, it finds itself hampered with a half-decade of underwhelming results. It found itself a Group-of-Five hire in Alex Golesh however, who coincidentally brought 13 transfers with him from South Florida — the same number of transfers who followed Cignetti from the James Madison to Indiana.
So, is Golesh trying to run the Hoosier method on the Plains? At the least, is there anything he's learned from the program's quick ascent under Cignetti?
Golesh admitted Tuesday, July 21, at SEC Media that he doesn't know Cignetti, but that he's certainly studied his program's success, "because you want to understand exactly how that's happened." Two things stand out.
"Not being in there, it's hard to say that this is what their model is, but where I think as you look at it from the outside looking in," Golesh said, "the biggest piece of it is the age and the veteran-ness of what that team has been the last two years, and specifically the age up front."
Of the eight linemen who started on either side of the ball for the Hoosiers in their national title appearance, seven were upperclassmen. Four of those seven were transfers, with two of them following Cignetti from James Madison.
"Certainly when you have a Heisman Trophy winner at quarterback, that helps," Golesh said. "But the age piece, the experience, I think that's one thing that there's just such a fine line, especially with high school recruiting and the portal. ... The detail, the margins, the situational football, third down, tight zone, two-minute, four-minute; these situations that end up winning football games, experience is king."
Adam Cole is the Auburn athletics beat writer for the Montgomery Advertiser. He can be reached via email at [email protected] or on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, @colereporter.To support Adam's work, please subscribe to the Montgomery Advertiser.
This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: What has Auburn football HC Alex Golesh gleaned from studying Indiana's success?
Continue reading...
