After Hugh Freeze‘s Auburn football staff was seemingly set for the 2025 season, another change has come.
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Chad Lunsford, who was previously an administrative assistant at Auburn, is returning to the Plains to coordinate Freeze’s special teams unit this fall, the program announced Friday.
“Chad has not only been a successful special teams coach, but has also been a college head coach and brings a lot to the table,” Freeze said in a release. “His experience and expertise will bolster our special teams. We are happy to welcome Chad and his family back to Auburn.”
The details of Lunsford’s Auburn contract have yet to be released.
Lunsford’s arrival comes with the departure of Tanner Burns, who was Freeze’s special teams coordinator the past two seasons. While it’s yet to be formally announced by the program, Texas State reportedly added Burns to GJ Kinne’s 2025 staff in early January. Burns has since changed his personal profile on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, to reflect his new destination, listing himself as Texas State’s associate head coach and special teams coordinator, as well as a defensive assistant.
Burns’ departure comes in the aftermath of a dismal season of Auburn’s special teams. That was highlighted by ever-present place-kicking struggles, with All-SEC kicker Alex McPherson sidelined for most of the season dealing with an illness.
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Towns McGough, an Auburn High School product and MaxPreps All-American, replaced McPherson but struggled mightily to find consistency. Eventually, McGough was replaced by Ian Vachon, who walked on with the program in the fall. He previously kicked at now-defunct Birmingham Southern.
““My family and I are super excited to be coming back to Auburn,” Lunsford said in a release. “We are very thankful to Coach Freeze and the Auburn family for this opportunity. We understand what an honor it is to be a part of Auburn University, the Auburn football program, and the Auburn community. We look forward to seeing old friends and making new friends back on the Plains.”
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Auburn will be Lunsford’s eighth stop as an on-field assistant in a coaching career that spans 29 years. He’s coached college football for all but one of those years, beginning his career as a student assistant at Georgia Military College in 1996.
Lunsford spent four seasons with the Bulldogs before heading to Appalachian State for the next two seasons. After that, he spent two years at Georgia Southern, a year at Griffin (Ga.) High School, another two seasons at Georgia Military, then four years as Auburn’s director of scouting before returning to Southern for eight consecutive seasons.
In that eight-year tenure, Lunsford coached linebackers, running backs, tight ends, special teams and wide receivers in varying capacities, as well as coordinating recruiting. In 2017, he was named the program’s interim head coach before being hired to the full-time role in 2018.
Lunsford spent three full seasons at Georgia Southern’s head coach, compiling a 25-14 record with three bowl appearances. After a 1-3 start in the 2021 campaign, he was fired. He’d wind up at Florida Atlantic in 2022, spending three seasons with the Owls, which concluded with him, again, being named an interim head coach after Tom Herman’s firing in 2024.
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.
This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Auburn football: Chad Lunsford hired as Tigers’ special teams coordinator
