Alex Golesh's two predecessors as Auburn's head football coach failed for different reasons. Still, there was one common thing that Bryan Harsin and Hugh Freeze faltered in doing: beating Alabama and Georgia.
For any coach who arrives on the Plains, beating the two rivals will always be at the top of fans' measuring sticks. Gus Malzahn, despite his faults, earned a lot of good grace due to his record against the Crimson Tide and Bulldogs, pulling out victories when he needed to against the two most despised teams on the Plains.
When he arrived at Auburn in 2014, Bruce Pearl said he wasn't allowed to sit at the back booth of Chappy's Deli, a local hangout of longtime Auburn athletic administrators, until he swept the Crimson Tide in basketball.