Ken Harnden has liked to say that he’s just a bus driver.

For the athletes who win medals under his coaching, he’d say that they did all of the work, and that all he did was drop them off at the meet. He just drove the bus. He just got them to the place.

But look at the Instagram comments after he was named Auburn’s head coach earlier this week, and you’ll see his athletes have flipped that notion upside down:

Harnden is not just a bus driver, they’d say: He’s the bus driver. He’s the driving force behind so much of their success.

“He’s definitely a big mentor in my life,” said Auburn standout hurdler Ja’Kobe Tharp, just after Harnden’s introductory press conference Wednesday in Neville Arena. “He’s teaching me to be sound and calm in high-pressure situations. For example, the world record, he was the one that kept me as calm as possible throughout that whole crazy thing that was going on. He definitely means a lot to my process and he’s definitely more of a father figure than a coach, for sure.”

Tharp is forgoing his senior season and has signed a professional contract with Adidas, but attended Harnden’s press conference in a show of support. Tharp is now a full-time pro with the 2028 Los Angeles squarely in sight, but when he asked if he’s still going to call on Harnden as he reaches for lofty goals, Tharp insisted: “He’s going to be my coach until me or him leaves this planet.”

As for Harnden:

Read more

Here’s the dive from earlier in the spring into Ken Harnden:

Subscriptions make the Auburn Torch possible! If you haven’t subscribed yet, you can do so with the button below:

Subscribe now

The all-sports calendar will be back in August! If you haven’t heard, the Torch Talk podcast will probably be less regular until Auburn sports pick back up again. But the Torch will continue to be updated with new articles.

With track and field concluding, Auburn’s sports are done for the schoolyear.

Up next: Auburn soccer preseason exhibition Aug. 5 at Georgia.

Auburn has promoted Ken Harnden to head coach of its track and field program, the school announced Monday morning.

Harnden just completed his fourth season on Auburn’s staff as sprints coach, and, this past season, he was the coach who worked most closely with national champions Ja’Kobe Tharp and Kayinsola Ajayi.

He has also been the architect of Auburn’s 4x100-meter relay team, which won at nationals two years in a row in 2024 and 2025 and which set an NCAA record in the preliminaries of this year’s national meet before falling in the final.

Harnden for three years running has earned national Assistant Coach of the Year honors for men from the USTFCCCA.

Ajayi wrote ‘IN KEN WE TRUST’ on the back of his bib before the SEC Indoor Championships this spring — then flashed it to the broadcast camera after winning the conference 60-meter dash title and equaling an NCAA record time in the process.

It’s been the motto of several Auburn sprinters that have found huge success at Auburn in recent seasons: Now, it may as well be the motto of the entire track and field program.

Harnden replaces former head coach Leroy Burrell, who served as Auburn head coach for four seasons before his departure last week to Texas A&M.

“We trust in him, like, ‘OK, if Coach Ken said do this, then if you do that, trust me, everything is going to work out good for you,’” Ajayi said, back in March shortly after the SEC Indoor Championships. “If you trust in him and believe in him — then, yeah.

“If he tells me, ‘OK, Ajayi, do this,’ and then I do that, then everything is going to go perfect for me.”

That proved true enough this season for Ajayi:

Read more

That’s always going to be the case for a gymnastics coach hired in the aftermath of a season. Roberts was named Auburn’s new head coach on April 21 — and coaches around the country had been recruiting class of 2027 kids since the previous June. The vast majority of the nation’s top prospects in the class verbally committed in the weeks and months after that, either last summer or last fall.

So, for Roberts to make something out of that Year 0 signing class, he was going to have to either flip some verbal commits, or find an uncommitted gem.

He and his staff have done both with their first two pickups:

Read more

The two of them join defender Kendra Kates out of Texas, bringing Auburn’s commitment total up to three for 2028.

Auburn’s first commitment of the two came from Emily Hoellrich from the metro Atlanta area — who said Auburn has been her dream for as long as she can remember. She posted a photo of herself as a little girl with Aubie after announcing her commitment.

Read more

It’s full speed ahead for Ja’Kobe Tharp.

And it’s a full-time focus on track and field now, with the 2028 Olympics just two years away.

Tharp, Auburn’s all-world hurdler and multi-time NCAA champion, announced Wednesday afternoon that he has signed a professional contract with Adidas. He will be forgoing his senior year of NCAA eligibility.

Tharp closed his junior season at Auburn with a national title in the 110-meter hurdles June 12 at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships.

Between indoor and outdoor seasons, that win marked his fourth consecutive national championship in the hurdles.

“I’m beyond grateful to announce that I’m officially taking the next step and pursuing my professional track and field career with adidas,” he said in his announcement.

Tharp collegiate championships

• 2024 SEC Outdoor Champion (110-meter hurdles)

• 2025 SEC Indoor Champion (60-meter hurdles)

• 2025 NCAA Indoor Champion (60-meter hurdles)

• 2025 NCAA Outdoor Champion (110-meter hurdles)

• 2026 SEC Indoor Champion (60-meter hurdles)

• 2026 NCAA Indoor Champion (60-meter hurdles)

• 2026 SEC Outdoor Champion (110-meter hurdles)

• 2026 NCAA Outdoor Champion (110-meter hurdles)

As for the Auburn side of the move:

Read more

Here’s the column on Leroy Burrell’s move:

Subscriptions make the Auburn Torch possible! If you haven’t subscribed yet, you can do so with the button below:

Subscribe now

The all-sports calendar will be back in August! If you haven’t heard, the Torch Talk podcast will probably be less regular until Auburn sports pick back up again. But the Torch will continue to be updated with new articles.

With track and field concluding, Auburn’s sports are done for the schoolyear.

Up next: Auburn soccer preseason exhibition Aug. 5 at Georgia.

Leroy Burrell didn’t have to share.

He certainly didn’t need to explain himself to anyone, back when he made the move from Houston to Auburn, and he certainly didn’t owe it to anyone to bear his wounds, or to dig into them by talking about them.

But he did it anyway, to try to help.

As soon as Burrell got to Auburn in 2022, he was honest, even with people he was just getting to know in his new city, even with reporters he hadn’t met before: Burrell came to Auburn less than a year after his son died by suicide. He had coached 23 years at Houston, his alma mater. His son grew up there. Then his son ran track there, and won NCAA titles there, all at Houston.

In grieving the unimaginable, Burrell sought out some solace at Auburn. He sought out a clean slate, a fresh start, new scenery — scenery that maybe didn’t tug and pull on his heart and soul, any more than his heart and soul were already being tugged, and pulled, and stretched, and mangled.

And in the process he spoke about all of it, to try to help someone else out there by raising awareness to mental health struggles, by talking about expectations and shadows cast and how society treats accomplishments, and to maybe help another grieving parent out there not feel so alone. He bore all. He opened up. He tried to help.

He didn’t owe anyone that, but he gave anyway.

Now — as Burrell makes the jump to Texas A&M — the man should get a break. He may well explain it all anyway in the coming days, but since he’s already given so much, how could anyone feel owed? Shouldn’t he be rewarded for opening up, with understanding? Shouldn’t he be rewarded for speaking, by being heard?

It’s been clear from the beginning of his tenure at Auburn that Burrell is on an atypical coaching journey — an impossible journey, to try to heal as much as he can from something he’ll never fully heal from. It might just be that the next step for him and his family is to get back to Texas, to get to College Station 90 minutes from Houston, that it might be good for them — and the fact that possibility even exists is explanation enough.

And it’s even explanation enough for Auburn — and, yes, athletics director John Cohen and his administration. Every Auburn fan has every right to criticize every decision they make, but when it comes to Burrell, this isn’t one of those things. This ain’t losing Lane Kiffin to LSU. It ain’t getting lockered for a recruit, and it ain’t as simple as getting little brothered on money. Texas is track and field hotbed, and Texas A&M is a prestigious job, but it just isn’t that simple. It’s different.

Burrell already explained why. He should be heard. He should be understood.

Here are a couple of questions posed after the announcement of Burrell’s departure, and a couple of answers:

When was the last time Auburn lost any head coach to another SEC school?

— Sam, on Instagram

There’s only one other instance that stands out:

Read more

Texas A&M has hired away former Auburn track and field head coach Leroy Burrell, the school announced Sunday in a bit of a surprise for the college track community.

Burrell’s tenure at Auburn ends after four seasons. He led the Auburn men’s team to a runner-up finish at the NCAA Outdoor Championship in 2024.

He replaces legendary former Texas A&M coach Pat Henry, who won eight outdoor national championships for Texas A&M in 22 seasons there, and who announced his retirement on June 17.

Burrell first came to Auburn in 2022 after spending 23 seasons as head coach of Houston, his alma mater. He won Olympic gold in 1992 as part of Team USA’s 4x100-meter relay team in Barcelona.

This year, the Auburn men didn’t finish as high in the team standings at the outdoor championships, but still enjoyed historic success: Ja’Kobe Tharp won the national title in the 110-meter hurdles and broke the world record in a shocking feat in the process, and Kayinsola Ajayi won the national title in the 100-meter dash. Israel Okon earned silver in the 200-meter dash.

As surprising as Burrell’s jump is, here are three demystifying facts Auburn fans should know about this move, and about this moment for Auburn track and field:

Read more

Here’s the news on DJ Bennett joining the Auburn staff:

Subscriptions make the Auburn Torch possible! If you haven’t subscribed yet, you can do so with the button below:

Subscribe now

The all-sports calendar will be back in August! If you haven’t heard, the Torch Talk podcast will probably be less regular until Auburn sports pick back up again. But the Torch will continue to be updated with new articles.

With track and field concluding, Auburn’s sports are done for the schoolyear.

Up next: Auburn soccer preseason exhibition Aug. 5 at Georgia.

Here’s the news on DJ Bennett joining the Auburn staff:

Subscriptions make the Auburn Torch possible! If you haven’t subscribed yet, you can do so with the button below:

Subscribe now

The all-sports calendar will be back in August! If you haven’t heard, the Torch Talk podcast will probably be less regular until Auburn sports pick back up again. But the Torch will continue to be updated with new articles.

With track and field concluding, Auburn’s sports are done for the schoolyear.

Up next: Auburn soccer preseason exhibition Aug. 5 at Georgia.

Auburn women’s tennis all-timer DJ Bennett is joining the Tigers coaching staff and she’s soon putting her full focus into her new coaching career, Auburn head coach Jordan Szabo said.

Szabo told the Auburn Torch that he and Auburn offered Bennett the option to pursue opportunities as a professional player while also coaching the squad, but that Bennett wants to coach full-time starting in July.

Auburn’s most accomplished player in program history is staying on to try to help the next generation of Tigers reach even higher.

“She wants to be all in on the coaching and she’s excited for the next phase, and she feels very accomplished with her tennis career,” Szabo said. “So, yeah, she’s excited to be doing it full-time.”

Bennett as co-captain of the team this past year helped lead Auburn women’s tennis to a Final Four victory and a runner-up finish at the NCAA Championship, as well as the SEC Tournament championship and a share of the regular-season SEC title.

Bennett and her Auburn doubles partner Ava Esposito last week qualified for the main draw of doubles at the U.S. Open this September, winning the American Collegiate Wildcard Playoff in Orlando.

Szabo said she still plans to play with Esposito there — but the current plan is for that to be just about the end of her competitive playing career.

It’d be quite a fitting final bow, at a Grand Slam major.

“In July she’ll start full-time with us,” Szabo explained. “She’s going to play the U.S. Open and then that’s going to be it. Unless she, like, makes a deep run in New York, I think, you know, she’s kind of done playing.

“Even though I offered it to her — I spoke to the administration and stuff and they were open to her doing both and scratching both itches — but she said that when she does something that she wants to be all in and she doesn’t feel like she’d be able to do either the right way if she’s kind of dipping her toes in both.”

The outlook for next season

Read more

Here’s the hour-long special episode recorded with Ferg:

Subscriptions make the Auburn Torch possible! If you haven’t subscribed yet, you can do so with the button below:

Subscribe now

The all-sports calendar will be back in August! If you haven’t heard, the Torch Talk podcast will probably be less regular until Auburn sports pick back up again. But the Torch will continue to be updated with new articles.

With track and field concluding, Auburn’s sports are done for the schoolyear.

Up next: Auburn soccer preseason exhibition Aug. 5 at Georgia.

The summer checklist for Auburn volleyball can be put pretty succinctly — though putting items on a list is always easier than doing them.

This upcoming season, Auburn will be looking to replace the production of departed senior Liz Markovska — an instant-impact standout for the Tigers last year who’s now on the coaching staff. That’ll top the to-do list for Auburn going into the regular-season opening ETSU tournament Aug. 28, and the preseason exhibition before that against Georgia Tech on Aug. 20 at home.

For the summer, in June and July, getting healthy is also on the docket.

And, for rising junior and team leader Lauren Dreves, so is plenty of voluntary work in the gym by the players.

“I think it’s just all about getting reps,” Dreves said, back after Auburn’s final exhibition of the spring, when asked what would be important for the team in the summer months. “It’s reps after reps after reps, you know? It’s about making what you’re good at better. So I think that’s what’s going to be really important in the gym, is just — you know, we may be good at attacking, we may be good at offense, but, like, we want it to be better. I think it’s just all about getting reps and making everything better.”

Auburn was close to getting back in the NCAA Tournament last year. The Tigers made the NCAA Tournament in 2022 and 2023 in some of their first years under Brent Crouch — marking only the program’s second and third trips to the tournament ever. After a rough year in 2024, Auburn was close to getting back in in 2025, finishing the regular season as one of the teams squarely on the bubble, and just missing out.

Auburn isn’t blowing anything up and plans to build on that near miss instead. The roster’s been built with Dreves as its centerpiece — and maintained by three power-conference signees out of the transfer portal — and these arms are competing to take some of swings Markovska took last year:

Read more

All eyes have been on Ja’Kobe Tharp after his paradigm-shifting world record run at the NCAA Championships — including the eyes of the Olympic champion.

Reigning gold medalist Grant Holloway, also owner of the previous NCAA record which Tharp broke, penned an open letter to Tharp published Friday on Instagram.

Holloway ran hurdles at Florida from 2017 to 2019 and at that time set the previous NCAA record time of 12.98 seconds in 2019 in Austin, Texas. Tharp broke that record with his run of 12.75 in the preliminaries at the NCAA Championships in Eugene, Ore. — simultaneously breaking the world record.

“From a collegiate record to a world record is absolutely insane,” Holloway opened his writing. “I’m truly excited, honored and blessed to have been able to pour into you, even if it was only for a short amount of time. You soaked up every bit of knowledge like a sponge and turned it into something special.

“I still remember in 2024 when we had a brief conversation after a race we both competed in. You were a young phenom, hungry and ready to conquer the world. Fast forward to 2025 we exchanged a few words in the call room at the World Championships and now you’re sitting on top of the mountain as the king of the hill.”

Holloway closed his statement with some words of advice:

“There will always be a target on your back, but not the kind you’re thinking of,” Holloway wrote. “The target is the standard you’ve now set. The next generation will be chasing it, just like you chased those who came before you and it’s up to them to raise the bar even higher.

“Congratulations, champ. Enjoy the moment, you earned every bit of it.”

It’s a graceful passing of the torch — at least for now. Holloway will be among the top contenders for Team USA gunning for gold at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. Holloway was ostensibly still the top dog in the event with Tharp being among the top contenders chasing him — until that record-breaking run in Eugene.

Holloway won gold in the 110-meter hurdles at the Paris Olympics in 2024. He won silver at the Tokyo Olympics, competed in 2021.

Give a gift subscription

Here’s the hour-long special episode recorded with Ferg:

Subscriptions make the Auburn Torch possible! If you haven’t subscribed yet, you can do so with the button below:

Subscribe now

The all-sports calendar will be back in August! If you haven’t heard, the Torch Talk podcast will probably be less regular until Auburn sports pick back up again. But the Torch will continue to be updated with new articles.

With track and field concluding, Auburn’s sports are done for the schoolyear.

Up next: Auburn soccer preseason exhibition Aug. 5 at Georgia.

Read more

Auburn announced it has signed Illinois transfer Tyler Bowers, a rising redshirt senior who shined on the doubles court this past season for an Illini team which finished the year with a top-15 seed in the NCAA Tournament and a run to the Super Regional round.

Bowers is the brother of Auburn women’s tennis standout Ashton Bowers.

He’ll come to Auburn with one year of eligibility remaining, and plugs into a gap of experienced veteran players on the 2026-27 roster.

“Auburn was definitely a spot that was on my mind,” Bowers said, of going into the transfer portal. “I mean, being that my sister was here, I had been over to Auburn at least. I’d seen the facilities, I’d seen the campus. I’d seen the whole city in itself. … Then getting to know the coaches through the whole process, I really, really felt like I had a strong connection with the coaches, and their outlook on where the team is going to go, and just the outlook next season — being that I only have one year — was really good. And it’s something that I wanted to be a part of.”

Bowers was rated as a four-star prospect by Tennis Recruiting coming out of the class of 2022.

He was a regular starter for Illinois on Court 1 in doubles in each of the past two years, racking up 30 doubles wins in two seasons. His entrance into the transfer portal came after his his number of singles starts drop from 28 to four from two seasons ago to this past season.

And his arrival at Auburn comes after the Tigers lost several key players who were upperclassmen or rising upperclassmen:

• Senior Billy Blaydes departs to graduation;

• Fourth-year player Nicholas Heng has a year of eligibility remaining but departed Auburn amicably to play it at Michigan and pursue a Master’s degree there that Auburn doesn’t offer;

• Rising junior Hamza Nasridinov entered the transfer portal and has signed with Texas A&M.

Before Bowers signed, Auburn had just one player who’d be a senior on the 2026-27 roster in Freddy Blaydes. Now the Tigers have two seniors for next year.

Auburn’s other newcomers for next season are signees Duje Markovina, from Croatia by way of Australia, and Patrik Munkhammar, Sweden’s top-ranked junior. They’ll be freshmen next season in their first years of collegiate tennis.

“From what I’ve seen from the guys that we have coming in and the guys that are staying, I think we have an incredible base in terms of the talent we have,” Bowers said.

Here’s more of what Bowers had to say about committing to Auburn, how he describes his game, what he hopes to gain from joining the Tigers, and what Auburn hopes to gain from adding him:

Read more

Read more

It’s also, evidently, the time to get existential.

In this very candid podcast episode, Justin Ferguson joins and we discuss how the Auburn Torch can get better, how Lee can connect better on Torch Talk, and what could be next for the new schoolyear coming up. It might not be an e…

Read more