‘Like his hair, he’s fiery’ – Hendon Hooker reacts to former Vols offensive coordinator Alex Golesh becoming the head coach at Auburn
Hendon Hooker and Alex Golesh were together for two seasons with the Tennessee Vols.
Former Tennessee Vols offensive coordinator Alex Golesh is back in the SEC just three years after leaving Knoxville.
Golesh, who spent two seasons (2021 and 2022) as Tennessee’s offensive coordinator, spent the last three seasons as the head coach at USF before agreeing to replace Hugh Freeze at Auburn earlier this offseason.
The former Vols assistant coach nearly landed at Arkansas before accepting the job at Auburn.
Former Tennessee quarterback Hendon Hooker reacts to Alex Golesh landing at Auburn
Former Vols quarterback Hendon Hooker had Golesh as his offensive coordinator in both of his seasons at Tennessee.
Suffice it to say, the two know each other well after two seasons together in the SEC trenches.
Hooker joined Sirius XM College this week at the Super Bowl and he was asked for his thoughts on Golesh taking over as the head coach at Auburn.
“Like his hair, he’s fiery,” said Hooker when asked what Auburn fans can expect from Golesh. “They’ll get a passionate football coach who wants to help the kids develop the same way coach (Josh) Heupel did.
“I think that me and coach Golesh’s relationship, it’s kind of the same as me and coach Heupel’s. [Golesh is] very personable. Every Friday we would meet and just talk about things for the first 30 minutes or 45 minutes about regular life. And then we’d hop into the game plan and what I want him to call, and what he shouldn’t call. But I think that they’ll have a very exciting season this year. I know they have a lot of guys transferring in from various schools…I saw (QB) Byrum (Brown) was going there, so I’m excited for him and his coaching staff. A lot of the guys that I played with at Tennessee are on his coaching staff now.”
Hooker, who spent the first two seasons of his career with the Detroit Lions, is looking for some stability going into the 2026 season after spending time last season with the Carolina Panthers and the New York Jets.
The former Vol said this week that he’d welcome a return to the Jets next season.
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