Alex Golesh says Auburn staff works on roster retention ‘every day’
By Jacob Moss
Published:
One of the biggest challenges facing college football coaches today is keeping their current players happy enough to stay with the program come season’s end.
The transfer portal has made it easier than ever for players to find a new home when things aren’t going the way they planned, forcing coaching staffs across the country to make roster retention a top priority.
First-year Auburn head coach Alex Golesh became the latest name to address growing challenge, telling reporters on Wednesday that he works “every day” to retain his players.
“The retention piece, recruiting of your own roster piece, I know I’ve said this before, but that’s what you do every day,” said Golesh. “You’re real on the front end, you’re real when they’re here, you’re constantly communicating. I think if the guys know where they stand and I think they know what they have to do to improve, that’s the retention piece.”
The fact that coaches must now actively recruit their own players just to keep them in the building speaks volumes to just how much the landscape of the sport has changed in the past few years.
In today’s environment, roster management doesn’t stop when a player signs, and coaches like Golesh must continually communicate with their players in order to keep them happy or risk seeing their roster fall apart at the end of the season.
