Vanessa Gonzalez joined the Auburn football staff in December 2025. She currently serves as the Director of Player Engagement.

In her role, Gonzalez is responsible for designing and implementing programming that supports the personal, academic and professional development of the student-athletes.

Prior to her arrival at Auburn, Gonzalez served as the Director of Football Academics under head coach Alex Golesh at USF since Sept. 2024.

Before joining USF, she spent parts of six years at Tennessee, starting as an assistant academic counselor in May 2018 and ultimately finishing as the assistant director of academic services for football and women’s soccer in Nov. 2024.

Gonzalez also spent time as a football recruiting intern at Virginia Tech from Aug. 2017-May 2018.

She earned her bachelor's degree in human development and family studies from Virginia Tech in 2017 and her master’s degree in recreation and sport management from Tennessee in 2020.