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TAMPA — During the Southeastern Conference’s halcyon days, when it was capturing 13 football national championships between 2006 and ’22, Auburn and Florida were full partners in the title-winning operation. The Tigers won it all in 2010 and played for the championship in ’13. The Gators claimed titles in ’06 and ’08, and arguably had the second-best team in the nation in ’09.
As the SEC now tries to recover from three years of forced humility administered by the Big Ten, Auburn and Florida have to take their share of responsibility for the current state of affairs. They’ve crashed. They need to get up. They’re both starting over again, in hopes of getting the latest iterations of their programs back to respectability.
If the SEC is going to return to the top, its to-do list prominently includes successful rebuilding jobs at those two schools. The 2025 rise of Vanderbilt and Mississippi was great, but the ceiling is arguably higher at Auburn and Florida.
But before worrying about ceilings, they have to get off the floor.
The Tigers have had five straight losing seasons for the first time since 1946–50, a run of futility that led to the Shug Jordan era and the program’s arrival as a major player in the sport. Bryan Harsin was a bad hire, pushed out during his second season in 2022. Then Hugh Freeze turned out to be worse, failing to deliver anything approaching his success at Mississippi and Liberty in three inglorious seasons.
The Gators have had four losing seasons in the last five—like Auburn, it’s the program’s worst stretch since after World War II, when Florida went 17-29-3 from 1945 to ’49. Four coaches have come and gone in Gainesville since Urban Meyer’s tenure ended in 2010, with flickers of promise extinguished by downpours of dysfunction and mediocrity, from Will Muschamp to Jim McElwain to Dan Mullen to Billy Napier.
For proud programs that are located in prime recruiting territory, the recent results have been dispiriting. For passionate fans who are just waiting for a reason to roar again, it’s been embarrassing. Just about the only solace either has had in recent years in Alabama icon Nick Saban’s retirement (for Auburn) and the swan dive into irrelevance by Florida State (for Florida).
Otherwise, it’s been grim. A single snapshot covers both programs: Common rival Georgia has beaten Auburn nine straight times (tying its longest streak in a series that dates to 1892) and Florida five straight (its longest streak since six straight from 1978 to ’83).
Most recently, both programs busted hiring coaches who won elsewhere in the SEC (Mullen and Freeze) and someone moving up from the Group of 6 conference ranks (Napier and Harsin). Now both have gone down similar replacement paths, dipping into the American Conference for their new guy.
Alex Golesh arrives at Auburn from South Florida, where he revived a beaten-down program by recording a 23–15 record in three seasons. Golesh’s final Bulls team was his best one, going 9–3 and upsetting Florida in The Swamp in Week 2. Prior to that, the 42-year-old Golesh was offensive coordinator at Tennessee, helping establish Josh Heupel’s up-tempo, big-play offense.
Jon Sumrall is the next man at up Florida after 20 wins in two seasons at Tulane, taking the Green Wave to the College Football Playoff last season. Prior to that, the 44-year-old former Kentucky player and defensive assistant coach was 23–4 at Troy.
On paper, these look like good hires who can restore prominence. How long that might take is the unknown variable.
Golesh gave himself a chance for a quick transition by bringing his star USF quarterback with him, Byrum Brown. He was one of the top dual-threat QBs in the nation last year, accumulating 42 total touchdowns while rushing for more than 1,000 yards and passing for more than 3,000. He’s just 45 yards away from the 10,000-yard career total offense mark, having fit seamlessly into Golesh’s attack for three years.
“Byrum Brown represents everything that’s right about Auburn football and the identity that we’re building,” Golesh said Tuesday at SEC media days. “A guy that went into the portal after last season and you talk about a couple days where you sit there and cringe, like, Man, everybody in the country is going after this kid. Gives me a level of confidence going into the season that we’re led by that guy.”
Sumrall did not retain former five-star QB DJ Lagway, who left Florida for Baylor. It remains to be seen how much of a loss that is, given his wildly inconsistent performances. His place will likely be taken by Georgia Tech transfer Aaron Philo, who showed promise backing up Haynes King there, but redshirt freshman holder Tramell Jones Jr. is in the mix as well. Whoever quarterbacks the Gators will spend a lot of time handing off to one of the top running backs in the SEC, Jadan Baugh.
Like every SEC coach of the 21st century not named Mike Leach, both Golesh and Sumrall have arrived preaching smashmouth toughness. It’s certainly the most proven path to victory in the league, as currently embodied by kingpin Georgia and previously by Nick Saban-era Alabama.
“The first piece of this identity that we’ve hammered home is the ability to be physically and mentally tough,” Golesh said. “That’s what Auburn football was built on, physical and mental toughness. The ability to be the most violent football team on the field every Saturday. Violent. I think that’s something you can watch and see.”
When asked in May what his Florida teams will look like, Sumrall sounded similar to Golesh.
“I would like to see our toughness carry over,” he said. “At Troy, we were blue-collar tough. It didn’t matter if it was a back alley or the biggest venue in college football, those guys were going to come out and fight. Tulane, we were a little sexier athletically. I think we still needed to be tough. Those teams that hit Troy and Tulane, you knew every time you played them, they were going to bring it.”
There is never a better time for a new coach than right before preseason camp, when he’s undefeated and seen as the cure-all for everything that had gone wrong at that school before him. Golesh and Sumrall should give Auburn and Florida a chance to get well. Both powerhouses have been down way too long.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Why Auburn and Florida Hold the Keys to the SEC’s Football Revival.
