Former Tennessee offensive coordinator Alex Golesh will return to Knoxville this weekend when Auburn visits for an SEC showdown against the Volunteers.

This will be Golesh’s first time back to Knoxville since he left the program in late 2022 to take over as the head coach at USF.

Golesh is in his first season as the head coach at Auburn.

Alex Golesh drops some strong comments on his relationship with Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel

Golesh, who joined Josh Heupel’s staff at UCF in 2020 before following him to Tennessee in 2021, met with reporters on Monday to preview Auburn’s game against the Vols.

And Golesh, unsurprisingly, was asked about his relationship with Heupel.

“I’ve got so much respect for Coach Heupel,” said Golesh. “He gave me an opportunity in 2020, and brought me with him to Tennessee. He changed in a lot of ways how I look at offensive football, and how I look at just running a program. [He is] really high-end smart and a really phenomenal leader. I’ve got a ton of respect for him. He has certainly been a really good friend.

“He was really good to me when I was with him. He helped me in a lot of ways to one, get my first opportunity to be a head coach. He supported me all through that. He’s a really good human being. Incredible family — really good people. I’ve rooted for him from a distance, and obviously this week the challenge at hand is to go get the win. But I have a ton of respect, and not just for coach, but so many people on that staff. The majority of that offensive staff, we were all together. There’s guys on that defensive staff that I’ve got a ton of respect for. I’ve got nothing but high-end things (to say) about coach.”

"I've got so much respect for Coach Heupel…He has certainly been a really good friend…He's a really good human being. Incredible family — really good people. I've rooted for him from a distance, and obviously this week the challenge at hand is to go get the win. But a ton of… pic.twitter.com/4vf7m2HrvC

— zach ragan (@zachTNT) September 28, 2026

Golesh has had a lot of praise over the years for Heupel. It’s clear there’s a ton of respect between the two coaches.

But this week, they’re rivals. The respect factor won’t go away, but they might be cussing each other on the sidelines a few times on Saturday afternoon.