AUBURN — For all the familiarity among Auburn football‘s latest staff, it’s hard to find a coach with more of it than Kodi Burns.
The associate head coach and co-offensive coordinator helming wide receivers for head coach Alex Golesh, Burns has worked alongside Golesh at two different stops, and he’s now in his third stint as a coach on the Plains. It’s technically his fourth time adorning Auburn threads, as he played for the program from 2007-10 and won a national championship.
Advertisement
“This is home — always has been, always will be,” Burns said Tuesday, Feb. 10. “Phenomenal place, phenomenal town, everything about Auburn. What you learn is that football is a real thing, but it’s also about all of the sports. It’s about the university and that logo you put on your chest. It just means a lot to be at a place like Auburn. I’m blessed to be here once again.”
Burns was the first addition to Golesh’s staff, joining him at his introductory news conference in December. Burns was also Golesh’s first call after taking the job, at 2 a.m. the day Auburn made the head coach’s hire official.
“Being able to come back with somebody I really respect and believe in, in Coach Golesh, I’m at a loss for words,” Burns said. “To be able to come back to my university, my alma mater, and really help us get the program back to winning championships again, because every time I have been here, that’s what I have done.”
Burns does know what it takes to win on the Plains. When he was a player, Auburn went 36-16. In his six combined years as an Auburn assistant, the Tigers went 53-25. This return coincides with a new circumstance, coaching alongside someone he’s risen with in the coaching ranks.
Advertisement
“He has that it factor about him,” Burns said of Golesh. “There’s some people that, when they walk in the room, you see it, and you know it. He’s one of those guys, right? In my short time that I had at the University of Tennessee, me and Coach Golesh were like this really quick, because we’re like-minded. We see the game in the same sense. … We’re just on the same page when it comes to football.”
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 subscribe to the Montgomery Advertiser.
This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Kodi Burns details Auburn football return | ‘This is home’
