REPORT: Familiar Face Returning to Coach Auburn Tigers

The Auburn Tigers struggled in a variety of areas last season as they limped to a 5-7 finish. Special teams was one of the facets of the game where Auburn fell short.

Field goal kicking was the most visible of problems the Tigers had. Their paltry 54.5% field goal rate was dead last in the nation. While kicking was the most glaring of deficiencies, Auburn's problems on special teams went beyond their shoddy conversion rate.

Auburn allowed 20.5 yards per kickoff, 69th in the nation, however their punt return defense was solid at just 3.75 yards per attempt, good for ninth nationally. One might argue that there weren't many returns, because the punts were so short. The Tigers' 42.5 yards-per-punt was 13th in the conference.

Head coach Hugh Freeze has already put in work to remedy the kicking game. He got kicker Connor Gibbs from Southern Miss and punter Hudson Kaak from Oklahoma State in the transfer portal.

He's also made a bigger move to hire a new special teams coach in the form of former Auburn director of player personnel Chad Lunsford according to multiple reports. Lunsford worked as the director of scouting for Auburn from 2009 through 2012 before taking over as personnel director in 2013.

Lunsford is a former head coach of the Georgia Southern Eagles and had success with the team starting in 2018.

From his Georgia Southern bio:

Lunsford was promoted from assistant head coach to interim head coach on Oct. 22, 2017.

He was named the 10th full-time head coach in the modern era on Nov. 27, 2017. He enters his fourth full season as the head coach of the Eagles with a 27-18 record after leading the Eagles to three bowl appearances - and two victories - in his first three full seasons at the helm.

All he did in his first full season was lead the Eagles to 10 wins, a win in the Raycom Media Camellia Bowl and engineer the nation’s largest turnaround with a 7.5-game improvement. For his accomplishments, he was named the Sun Belt Coach of the Year by Southern Pigskin. Twelve of his players earned all-conference honors and he even had two All-Americans.

In year two, the Eagles overcame a 1-3 start, along with a slew of injuries and adversity, to win six of their final eight regular season games and qualify for a bowl game. Georgia Southern finished with seven wins, a win over No. 20 Appalachian State on the road and an appearance in the FBC Mortgage Cure Bowl. In all, 10 players earned all-conference honors and two players - Kindle Vildor and Tyler Bass - were selected in the NFL Draft and Donald Rutledge Jr. signed a free agent deal with Indianapolis.

In 2020, the Eagles won eight games, including a victory over Louisiana Tech in the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl. Nine Eagles earned all-conference honors with two of them being named All-Americans.

After working with the wide receivers in 2013, Lunsford worked two seasons with the tight ends and served as recruiting coordinator in 2014 and 2015. In 2017, Lunsford coached the Eagle slot receivers and H-backs and served in the role of special teams coordinator, a title he added in 2016, until his promotion to interim head coach. He was named the program’s assistant head coach in 2017.

Over the previous four seasons, his tight ends contributed to the option ground game which led the FBS in rushing yards per game in both 2014 and 2015 and also led the FBS in rushing touchdowns in 2015. In 2016, Lunsford was named a Broyles Award nominee, given to the nation’s top assistant coach, as the Eagles blocked seven kicks and featured a Lou Groza Award finalist in Younghoe Koo, who earned Pro Bowl honors with the Atlanta Falcons in 2020.

On the recruiting side, Lunsford helped engineer signing classes which featured 22 players and ranked in the top half of the Sun Belt in 2015, also ranked near the top of the Sun Belt in 2014 and in 2016. The Class of 2018 was rated as the best in the Sun Belt by 247Sports. He was named the Sun Belt’s Best Recruiter in 2016 by Scout.

Georgia Southern’s wide receivers in 2013 led NCAA Division I with most yards per completion, averaging 19.3 yards per catch. Fourteen catches ranked among Georgia Southern’s big plays as the Eagle receiving corps contributed to one of the nation’s top offenses.

Lunsford returned to Statesboro as wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator in June 2013 after four years in an administrative position with the Auburn football program. He served in consecutive roles as the Tigers’ Director of Scouting and Director of Player Personnel, assisting with the day-to-day operations of Auburn football, with an emphasis on recruiting, organizing and prospect evaluation.

Credited with making advancements in technology and introducing new concepts to help the Tigers win recruiting wars, Lunsford assisted with and organized numerous other aspects of Auburn’s recruiting process. The Tigers boasted three of the nation’s top recruiting classes in 2010, 2011 and 2012, and that success translated to the field where Auburn claimed the 2010 BCS national championship, 2010 Southeastern Conference Championship and made appearances in two other bowl games.

Lunsford coached the slotbacks in his previous three seasons (2003-05) on the Georgia Southern staff, including the Eagles’ eventual all-time receptions leader Raja Andrews, who finished his career with 127 catches and as the record holder for receiving yards in a single season with 873. Armed with the ability to run and deliver blocks as well as catch passes in the option offense, his slotbacks provided physical and statistical support to three-straight NCAA Division I rushing titles to go along with a Southern Conference championship in 2004.

After departing Georgia Southern in 2006, Lunsford spent a year at Griffin High School as a special education teacher and served as the outside linebackers coach. The Bears posted an overall record of 11-2 that season for a winning percentage of .917, highest in the program history to that point, and advanced to the second round of the state playoffs.

Two years back at Georgia Military College followed his time at Griffin with Lunsford taking a familiar place as linebackers coach and adding responsibilities as special teams coordinator.

Lunsford played at Elbert County High School for legendary coach T. McFerrin. During his high school career, Elbert County made four-straight appearances in the state playoffs and posted a 20-3 record in his junior and senior years.

He graduated from Georgia College in May 2000 with a degree in biology and minor in mathematics, and earned a master’s of sport science degree from the United States Sports Academy in 2002.

While at Georgia College as an undergraduate, he served as a student assistant with Georgia Military College, beginning his career coaching the tight ends. In February 1997, he was hired as the running backs coach and handled several of the program’s administrative areas. The Bulldogs would play in three straight Golden Isles bowl games, capture the 1998 National Junior College Athletics Association (NJCAA) rushing title with an average of more than 300 yards per game, and bring home the 1999 Golden Isles bowl championship. Lunsford moved to the defensive side of the ball for the 2000 season and his coaching efforts helped GMC rank second nationally in total defense that year.

An opportunity to coach on the offense again prompted him to accept an assistant coaching position at Appalachian State where he would coach the tight ends for the 2001 and 2002 seasons.