Auburn head football coach Alex Golesh is already hard at work building his inaugural staff on the Plains.
As he continues meeting with current players and hits the high school recruiting trail, assembling a staff is equally important. After all, it makes the other two tasks much more manageable.
“We have an incredible support staff that helped put this plan together, but when I tell you minute-by-minute, we get close,” Golesh said. “Minute by minute, we have mapped out the entire first six months as we go forward. These first seven days are as critical as anything else. You’re right, hiring a staff, recruiting for signing day Wednesday, I think more important than any of that is meeting with our current players here.”
Golesh wasted no time making his first wave of hires, including former Auburn wide receiver and national champion Kodi Burns, who will be associate head coach while controlling the wide receiver room. He also added a handful of personnel staffers from USF, including director of scouting Alex Fagan and director of recruiting Harding Harper.
The biggest announcement came on Tuesday when defensive coordinator DJ Durkin decided to return to Auburn for a third year. Durkin, who served as interim head coach after the Tigers parted ways with Hugh Freeze midseason, elevated Auburn’s defense to a top-35 unit nationally in scoring defense and total defense, while boasting a top-15 unit defending the run.
Golesh’s offensive coordinator, Joel Gordon, was announced earlier in the process. The two have worked together at multiple stops, including their time as assistants at Iowa State. Gordon served as USF’s offensive coordinator and quarterback coach for the last three seasons under Golesh, and is expected to be the primary playcaller on the Plains.
Golesh tabbed Tyler Hudanick as his offensive line coach early on in the process as well. Hudanick worked with Golesh as a graduate assistant at UCF and Tennessee before spending the last three seasons as offensive line coach at USF.
Demarcus Van Dyke will work alongside Durkin as the cornerbacks coach. A former third-round draft pick by the Oakland Raiders in 2011, Van Dyke earned his first on-field assistant role in 2023 as Florida International’s cornerbacks coach before joining Golesh at USF in the same role in 2024.
A big key in retaining Auburn’s young defensive talent fell into place when Golesh announced he would retain Auburn’s defensive line coach, Vontrell King-Williams. King-Wiliams will enter his third year alongside Durkin as they continue to build on Auburn’s disruptive front seven from last season.
Rounding out Golesh’s initial hires is strength coach George Courides. Courides makes the trek to the Plains after spending the last three seasons in the same role at USF. He also worked with Golesh as an assistant strength coach at Iowa State.
Golesh has yet to announce hires for running backs coach or tight ends coach. Defensively, there are still openings for outside linebackers/edge coach and an additional defensive backs coach. He also has not yet named a special teams coordinator.
Nonetheless, Auburn fans can expect Golesh to fill those roles with coaches who align with his philosophy – one he laid out clearly at his introductory press conference.
“What you’re going to get from me, from our staff, and as we get rolling, our players, is the hardest-working, toughest, grittiest program in the entire country. We’re going to work day in and day out,” Golesh said. “We’re going to find wins at every single margin we can find. We’re going to build a process-driven program.” TG
