After just over two seasons, Auburn decided to pull the plug on the Hugh Freeze era on The Plains back in early November.
Freeze put together a 15-19 record leading the Tigers, who were never able to duplicate the success offensively that Freeze had become known for over a career that included previousy head coaching stops at Arkansas State, Ole Miss, and Liberty prior to taking over the Auburn program.
Per his contract, Auburn is on the hook to pay Freeze $15.8 million as part of his buyout, with no mitigation. Freeze inked a six-year $49 million deal to take over Auburn back in 2022 when he took over for Bryan Harsin.
On the final day of November, Auburn announced they had completed their search, and finalized a deal with Alex Golesh. Golesh had been a candidate at multiple other high profile openings, and had an offer to take over at Arkansas before deciding on the Auburn job hours after they had led the Bulls for a final time.
Golesh inked a six-year deal worth $7.4 million per season and the contract is heavy on incentives.
The former Tennessee offensive coordinator under Josh Heupel, Golesh quickly rebuilt the program at USF, taking them to back-to-back bowl games after a pair of 7-6 finishes his first two seasons before a breakout 9-3 campaign that saw them open the 2025 season with back-to-back ranked wins against Boise State and Florida to open the season.
On this Staff Tracker page, we will keep track of who Golesh is bringing to Auburn to fill out his staff.
OFFENSE
ROLE | COACH | PREVIOUS STOP |
| OC / QBs | Joel Gordon | USF OC |
| WRs | Kodi Burns | USF Co-OC / WRs |
| OL | Tyler Hudanick | USF OL |
| RBs | Larry Porter | West Virginia |
| TEs | Larry Scott | Howard (FCS) HC |
DEFENSE
ROLE | COACH | PREVIOUS STOP |
| DC / LBs | DJ Durkin | Auburn DC |
| CBs | DeMarcus Van Dyke | USF CBs |
| Bucks / Edges | Coleman Hutzler | Mississippi State DC |
| DL | Vontrell King-Williams | Auburn DL |
| Safeties | Tim Banks | Tennessee DC |
SPECIAL TEAMS
| SPECIAL TEAMS COORDINATOR | Jacob Bronowski | Pitt STC |
SUPPORT STAFF
ROLE | PERSON (PREVIOUS ROLE) |
| TBA | Andrew Warsaw (USF Associate AD / Chief of Staff / NIL GM) |
| TBA | Alex Fagan (Director of Scouting) |
| Director of Football Performance | George Courides (USF head S&C) |
| Director of logistics | Jeremy Lees |
| Director of advance scouting | Ephi LEvy |
| Advance scouting coordinator | Dylan Douglas |
| Football operations coordinator | Cheney Sibley |
| Assistant OL | Parker Ball |
| Assistant WRs | Parker Carmichael |
| Assistant ST | Tyler Majewski |
| Executive director of recruiting | Harding Harper III |
| Director of applied science | Terrence Kennell |
| Director of football administration | John-Allen Stone |
| Associate director of football performance | Frank Failace |
| Defensive Assistant | Brad Wilson |
2024 STAFF
| HEAD COACH | HUGH FREEZE |
| OFFENSIVECOORDINATOR / RUNNINGBACKS | DERRICK NIX |
| DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR / LINEBACKERS | DJ DURKIN |
| SPECIAL TEAMS COORDINATOR | CHAD LUNSFORD |
| TIGHT ENDS | Ben Aigamaua |
| QUARTERBACKS | Kent Austin |
| WIDE RECEIVERS | Marcus Davis |
| OFFENSIVE LINE | Jake Thornton |
| OUTSIDE LINEBACKERS | Roc Bellantoni |
| DEFENSIVE LINE | Vontrell King-Williams |
| CORNERS | Wesley McGriff |
| SAFETIES | TJ Rushing |
| HEAD S&C | Dom Studzinski |
| Director of Scouting | Tim Baggett |
| Assistant director football technology | Ben Barron |
| Director of HS relations | Brendt Bedsole |
| Associate AD / Chief of Staff | Matt Bevins |
| Director of player development | Jorrell Bostrom |
| S&C Assistant | Sam Brenner |
| STARS Coach | Buddy Brosky |
| Recruiting Assistant | Haylee Brown |
| Director of football creative video | Tyler Cole |
| Defensive analyst | Jack Curtis |
| Offensive Skill QC | Heath Dedeaux |
| Assistant OLBs | Wayne Dorsey |
| Football Technology assistant | Ryan Fitzpatrick |
| Director of Football Equipment | Tyler Fondren |
| S&C Assistant | Matt Gebert |
| Player Development GA | Greer Gilbraith |
| Director of football nutrition | Danielle Gillen |
| Director of football technology | Matt Hard |
| Director of football recruiting and relations | Maurice Harris |
| S&C Assistant | BJ Hayes |
| Assistant director of player development | Terrance Head |
| Assistant OL | Darren Hiller |
| S&C Intern | Russ Howard |
| Offensive Intern | Sean Jackson |
| Defensive GA | Jake Jiannoni |
| Senior director of recruiting and development | Ethan Johnson |
| Defensive GA | Lawrence Johnson |
| S&C Assistant | Caleb Jones |
| S&C Assistant | Davasia Jones |
| Assistant AD of Football Creative | Alex Keller |
| Assistant DL | Brett Kulka |
| Assistant director of operations | Tucker LaGrone |
| Assistant director player personnel and scouting | Grant Miller |
| Associate AD / GM | John Miller |
| Special Team Analyst | Paxton Montgomery |
| Assistant director of player personnel | Aaron Pittard |
| GM of Player Personnel | Will Redmond |
| Director of football video | Will Reid |
| Defensive analyst | Antwaine Richardson |
| Director of football operations | Mikel Riggs |
| LBs Analyst | Braden Sheldon |
| Director of player personnel | Ryan Smith |
| Assistant RBs | Michael Spurlock |
| Assistant QBs | Jesse Stone |
| Offensive line QC | Kam Stutts |
| Director of player engagement | Evan Tyler |
| Assistant TEs | Leander Wallace |
| Director of recruiting research and strategy | Kenyatta Watson |
| Director of recruiting operations and football events | Bianca Webb |
| On-Campus recruiting coordinator | Reilly Wooten |