Connections between Alex Golesh's Auburn coaching staff, Tennessee football

It will feel like a family reunion when former Tennessee football offensive coordinator Alex Golesh leads Auburn into Knoxville.

The No. 17 Vols (3-1, 0-1 SEC) host Auburn (3-1, 1-1) on Oct. 3 (3:30 p.m. ET, ESPN) at Neyland Stadium.

Golesh’s program is rife with connections to UT after his three seasons working with coach Josh Heupel. Here are the former coaches, staffers and players who joined Golesh when he moved from Tennessee to USF to Auburn.

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Golesh and Heupel began working together in 2020. Heupel was the coach at UCF and hired Golesh on Jan. 6, 2020 as the co-offensive coordinator and tight ends coach alongside Anthony Tucker. Current Vols offensive coordinator Joey Halzle and offensive line coach Glen Elarbee were both on the same coaching staff as well.

Golesh followed Heupel to Tennessee in 2021 and served as the offensive coordinator for two seasons before being named coach at USF in 2023. After three seasons with the Bulls, Auburn hired Golesh.

Up until this season, Tim Banks had been Heupel’s only defensive coordinator at Tennessee, joining the program in 2021. The Vols defense finished seventh nationally in scoring during the 2024 season, allowing only 16.1 points per game. But the unit regressed in 2025, ranking 92nd in scoring defense at 28.8 points allowed per game

Banks was fired by UT on Dec. 8, 2025, but he wasn’t without work for long. Golesh quickly hired Banks to fill a co-defensive coordinator and position coach role alongside D.J. Durkin on Dec. 12.

A four-year letter winner at Auburn in his playing days, Kodi Burns is the associate head coach, co-offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach for the Tigers.

Burns coached wide receivers at Tennessee during Heupel’s first season coaching the Vols in 2021, took a job with the NFL’s New Orleans Saints for three years and reunited with Golesh at USF in 2025.

Jacob Bronowski was a special teams quality control coach under Heupel at UCF in 2020. He followed Heupel to Tennessee in 2021, spending one season with the Vols as a special teams analyst.

Bronowski earned his first special teams coordinator job at Miami (Ohio) in 2022 and spent two seasons at Pittsburgh before reuniting with Golesh at Auburn.

Tyler Hudanick’s FBS coaching career began as a quality control coach for Heupel at UCF in 2019. He spent three more seasons as a graduate assistant at UCF and Tennessee before getting his first position coaching job at USF when Golesh was hired in 2023. He took on run game coordinator duties for the Bulls in 2024 and carried them over to his new job at Auburn.

Micah James first worked with Heupel in 2023 as an offensive analyst at Tennessee. He spent the 2023 and 2024 seasons coaching running backs for Golesh at USF before making the move to Auburn.

Parker Ball played 39 games on the offensive line for Tennessee from 2019-23. Twenty six of his appearances came while Golesh was the Vols’ offensive coordinator. He was a graduate assistant for UT during the 2024 season and took an assistant offensive line coach at USF in 2025.

Earnest Thomas III was on the Tennessee coaching staff for five years from 2021-25. He started as a graduate assistant and was promoted to assistant secondary coach in 2022. He worked closely with All-American corner Jermod McCoy and All-SEC selection Colton Hood.

Jack Taylor was an offensive quality control specialist for two seasons at UCF under Heupel. When Heupel was hired by Tennessee, Taylor followed to serve as an offensive analyst. When Golesh was named coach at USF in 2023, he brought Taylor in to fill an offensive quality control analyst job and eventually promoted him to tight ends coach in 2024.

Chas Nimrod, now tied for Auburn’s lead in receptions, started his career at Tennessee. He caught 29 passes for 315 yards and a touchdown over 25 games with the Vols before transferring to USF for the 2025 season.

Nimrod was limited to seven games last season for the Bulls but accounted for 23 receptions, 466 yards and three touchdowns while leading the team with 20.3 yards per catch. In four games for the Tigers this season, Nimrod’s accounted for 22 catches, 240 yards and two touchdowns.

The Tennessee connections within Auburn football extend beyond the coaching staff and the roster.

Tigers general manager Andrew Warsaw worked as the Vols’ director of football operations for three seasons from 2020-22. Director of football administration John-Allen Stone worked in football operations at UT from 2021-22.

Director of nutrition Ethan Baurer was the director of sports nutrition at Tennessee from 2021-25. Director of player personnel and scouting. And Alex Fagan was a student assistant at both UCF and Tennessee from 2018-22 and earned his bachelor’s degree in communications from UT in 2022.

Vanessa Gonzalez and Keyton Kinley, both assistant directors of player engagement, worked for Tennessee athletics in support staff roles. Kinley was a recruiting coordinator for the football program during the 2023 and 2024 seasons. And Gonzalez spent six years at UT as an academic counselor and assistant director of academic services from 2018-24.