Four assistants hired to Auburn track and field coaching staff
Two hires are still to be made for new head coach Ken Harnden as he quickly puts together his first staff.
Most newly hired coaches have a bit more time before their first season starts.
For example, Auburn gymnastics coach Ryan Roberts was hired April 21, and his first teams won’t step onto the competition floor until next January. Football coach Alex Golesh was hired all the way back in November, and in just now about to start his first fall camp on the job.
But for new Auburn track and field head coach Ken Harnden, he was hired in July, and in August the season will start for the cross country teams under his purview.
To that end, Harnden has already made four hires to his new-look Auburn staff, with just two more openings left to fill.
Harnden told Andy Burcham on a new Talking Tigers podcast released Monday that he’s hired the husband-and-wife duo of Ryan and Kara Foster from Penn State to coach distance running, and that he’s hired Jenna Gearing, their director of operations at Penn State, to be Auburn’s new director of operations and to work as an assistant distance coach.
He also said Auburn’s retaining jumps coach Richard Fisher, who joined Auburn’s staff in 2025 and is now set to return for a second season on staff for 2026-27.
Harnden said he’s “super excited” about all four.
On getting the new staff put together quickly and in a timely fashion, he said: