AUBURN — Vontrell King-Williams is back for his fourth season with the Auburn Football coaching staff in 2026, and head coach Alex Golesh adds strategic hires in football performance, recruiting and administration.
After originally joining the Auburn Football staff in 2023, King-Williams has been retained by Golesh as the program’s defensive line coach. Last season, the Auburn defense finished with 31 sacks, one of the 10 best totals in program history, and posted 79 tackles for loss – the most since 2021.
King-Williams is a native of Chicago, Illinois. He previously spent time on the staffs at Eastern Michigan (2018-109; 2022), Liberty (2020-21), and UTSA (2017). He graduated from UTSA in 2016.
Harding Harper III is Auburn’s new Executive Director of Recruiting. The Alabama native returns to his home state after spending 2025 in a similar role at USF. He also has had stints in recruiting/personnel roles at his alma mater Vanderbilt, Houston, Colorado and Alabama.
John-Allen “Slick” Stone serves as Director of Football Administration. A native of Columbia, Tennessee, Stone spent the last three seasons as Special Assistant to the Head Coach at USF and Football Operations Coordinator. He also worked under Golesh and Auburn Football General Manager Andrew Warsaw as a graduate assistant at Tennessee from 2021-22.
Golesh has also added George Courides as Director of Football Performance. He follows from USF where he led football performance efforts from 2023-25. Courides was at the helm of South Florida’s strength and conditioning efforts that helped prepare the Bulls for their high-octane offensive playing style and fast and physical defensive playing style.
He also recently spent time at Iowa State (2017-22) and in the NFL with the New York Jets (2015-16).
Also joining the staff are Director of Applied Science Terrence “TK” Kennell and Associate Director of Football Performance Frank Failace. Both served in similar roles at USF from 2023-25.