Jimmy Rane going to give Auburn football's Alex Golesh 'every opportunity' for success

For any head coach, at any level, recruiting goes well-beyond prospects. It's their own locker room, or a fanbase, or — certainly for someone in Alex Golesh's circumstance — donors.

Few donors are more synonymous with Auburn football than Jimmy Rane, who founded Great Southern Wood Preserving and is responsible for YellaWood.

On Thursday, May 14, Rane spoke in advance of his annual Jimmy Rane Charity Golf Tournament at the Renaissance Hotel in Montgomery, expressing support for his alma mater's latest head coach.

"I've met him. Seems like a really nice fellow," Rane said. "He's very passionate, very committed, and I certainly wish him nothing but the best. I think he's really going to do a good job, I hope. But I guess we'll have to wait and see how the product looks on the field."

Rane admitted, as a member of Auburn's Board of Trustees, he's been "in the education business." Now, with revenue-sharing and name, image and likeness ruling college athletics, he feels the university is "in the professional sports business, and it's taking some adjustment."

It was all Rane said on the topic, but he doubled down with support of Golesh, saying: "I believe our leaders did a good job in trying to find the right coach, and I'm going to give him every opportunity to be successful."

Adam Cole is the Auburn athletics beat writer for the Montgomery Advertiser. He can be reached via email at acole@gannett.com or on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, @colereporter. To support Adam's work, please