AUBURN, Alabama (EETV)- Auburn football announced on Friday that wide receivers coach Eric Kiesau will be promoted to the offensive coordinator role. Kiesau will replace Austin Davis who was coordinator for a little over a month.
Roc Bellantoni will be promoted from defensive analyst to edge linebackers coach after Bert Watts left for a position in the NFL.
“One of the biggest things our players and program needs going from year one to year two with us is consistency - consistency with the system, the coaches and our plan for success,” said head coach Bryan Harsin.
Kiesau served as a senior offensive analyst for Auburn before taking over as the receivers coach in 2021. Before that, Kiesau spent four seasons at Boise State with head coach Bryan Harsin. In that time he spent two seasons in the offensive coordinator role and two seasons working as receivers coach.
“I’ve been fortunate enough to work with some really good coaches in my career, but very few have the offensive mind, the attention to detail and the overall plan for execution like Coach Harsin,” said Kiesau. “I’m fired up to work in a collaborative offensive environment like we have, from the head coach to the coordinator and position coaches to the analysts and all the way down to the graduate assistants. This gives you an opportunity to be successful, and our players feel that chemistry.”
Bellantoni posses 28 years of coaching experience with 15 of those years spent as a defensive coordinator. Some of his most recent stops as a coach are at Utah State as a special teams coordinator and defensive analyst.
“Coach Kiesau and Coach Bellantoni are excellent football coaches and teachers of the game with 44 years of Division I experience between them, including 22 combined years in coordinator roles. Both have been part of the relationship building process over this past year here at Auburn, with the team and staff. They understand fully and are bought in on our goal and process," Harsin said.
Cornerbacks coach, Zac Etheridge, has been promoted to associate head coach in the wake of Watt's departure for the NFL. Etheridge is in his second year as a coach at Auburn and was recently named a top-25 recruiter for the 2022 cycle by 247sports.
