With Alex Golesh, the former USF head coach and Josh Heupel’s first Tennessee offensive coordinator, landing the Auburn job, the next task was filling out his staff. One of the names that quickly popped up as a candidate was Vols’ defensive line coach Rodney Garner. He worked on the staff with Golesh at UT and has a long history on The Plains.
However, the Tigers have gone in a different direction. On Tuesday, it was announced that Golesh was going to retain DJ Durkin as defensive coordinator. Just after, he retained defensive line coach Vontrell King-Williams, according to a report from Justin Hokanson.
Vontrell King-Williams was named the defensive tackles coach at Auburn ahead of the 2024 season after serving as a defensive line analyst the year prior. He previously worked on Hugh Freeze’s staff at Liberty, as well.
Vontrell King-Williams will remain at Auburn and coach DL under retained defensive coordinator DJ Durkin, sources tell @AuburnOn3
Huge news.
More at https://t.co/qbhoJ6G0uK pic.twitter.com/dkdqWGFdiF
— Justin Hokanson (@_JHokanson) December 2, 2025
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Golesh has added one former Tennessee assistant to his staff already, though. He hired Kodi Burns as an assistant, who worked alongside Golesh and Heupel in 2021 as a wide receivers coach. He left after that year for the same role with the New Orleans Saints. However, New Orleans let Burns go following the 2024 season, and he reunited with Golesh in Tampa as South Florida’s receivers coach and co-offensive coordinator.
USF had its best season in nearly a decade this past year, going 9-3 with a win over Florida, which helped Golesh get the Auburn job.
Burns also played at Auburn from 2007 to 2010, beginning his career as a quarterback but eventually moving to receiver. He was a part of Auburn’s 2010 National Championship team and even caught a touchdown in the title game against Oregon.
Burns and Golesh will take a return trip to Knoxville next fall when Tennessee hosts Auburn in an SEC matchup at Neyland Stadium. The exact date of the game is not yet set.
