AU assistant Charles Kelly chats about returning to alma mater during Wiregrass Auburn Club visit (2024)

JON JOHNSON

Charles Kelly is back home, so to speak, as the new co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach of the Auburn football team.

The Ozark native, who played high school football at G.W. Long and in college at Auburn during the late 1980s under Pat Dye, had strong success as an assistant at Georgia Tech, Florida State, Tennessee, Alabama and most recently last year at Colorado before returning to his alma mater.

Before speaking to the Wiregrass Auburn Club at KT’s Tavern in downtown Dothan on Wednesday, Kelly spent some time discussing why he felt the timing was right to come home to Auburn.

“You want to make sure when you come home, you come home at the right time,” Kelly said. “It’s good being back seeing a lot of familiar faces.

“Auburn has grown a lot … they have done an unbelievable job with the campus and the facilities. But the feel of Auburn is the same. To me, Auburn has always been about the people. Like Coach Dye used to say, ‘Auburn people love Auburn.’ And there’s no truer statement than that.”

While serving as a defensive coordinator at Florida State (2014-2017), Kelly was at one time approached about possibly assuming that same role at Auburn under then coach Gus Malzahn.

“At that time, I was at FSU and my daughters were in school," Kelly said. "It absolutely wasn’t anything against coach Malzahn or Auburn … for he and I the timing wasn’t right at that point.

“But one of my main goals when I got into college coaching was to have an opportunity to coach at Auburn. I mean, I think it’s an honor to be able to coach at your alma mater. There have been a lot of great coaches there; a lot of great players a lot of tradition.”

So why now did Kelly believe the timing was right this time in taking a job offer from Auburn coach Hugh Freeze after spending one season at Colorado as defensive coordinator for Deion Sanders?

“I coached against him when I was at FSU and followed his career,” Kelly said of Freeze. “I was very impressed with how he runs a program. Listen, Auburn has had some really good football coaches. I mean, Gus did a great job, Tommy Tuberville and of course me playing for Coach Dye.

“I just felt like Coach Freeze has a vison for Auburn that can make it be successful. When he gave me an opportunity to be a part of that, it was just hard to turn down.”

Kelly doesn’t regret in the least the time he spent at Colorado.

“You know, I love Deion Sanders,” he said. “Deion is a good man – a very smart man. When I took the job, I honestly wanted to go help him build that program.

“When we got there, it was in bad shape as most people know that are familiar with college football. I felt he did a great job last year, because we were competitive in all but two games.

“But for me, I have two daughters back here in the state of Alabama. My dad (Lavon) is still living – he is 85 years old. I just felt like being closer for my family, and then again the opportunity to coach at Auburn. But it was certainly nothing against Deion.”

Kelly was asked about the Woltosz Football Performance Facility which formally opened in January of 2023 now houses the Auburn football team.

“When I walked on at Auburn, we actually dressed in the coliseum and we walked across the road to the practice field where the old bubble (inside practice field) was,” Kelly said. “My senior year in 1989 was the first year we were in the Auburn Athletic Complex. We were the first ones to be in that facility.

“At that time, it was one of the nicest. But this place is amazing, and it’s really functional. It’s a good football facility – good for teaching, good for recruiting. Everything is so centrally located.”

Kelly is regarded as one of the best recruiters in the nation. With the transfer portal being such an important piece to the puzzle now, Kelly understands changing with the times is crucial.

“It definitely is different,” Kelly said. “I know this, you have to be able to adapt or you die. The only thing that’s constant is change. I do believe recruiting is still about relationships. What we want to be able to do at Auburn is recruit the right kind of people – the people who want to be at Auburn.”

Kelly believes the Auburn defense and team in general made strides during the spring.

“I do feel like we got closer to the way we want to play,” Kelly said. “I just believe this … when you’re successful at Auburn, it’s not about what you do, it’s about how you do it. The really great teams at Auburn played with an edge. We might not have been the most talented, but we played with an edge and we found a way to win. At the end of the day it’s still football.

“I go back to what Coach Dye said every week. There are going to be four or five plays that affect the outcome of the game. The thing about football, is you never know when they are going to come, so you have to play your ass off for 60 minutes. And that’s what we’ve got to be able to get back to.

“I think we got closer to that. Do we have a long way to go? Absolutely.”

It’s on the football field coaching that Kelly continues to love most and he hasn’t lost the hunger for teaching the game.

“Daddy always told me, he said, ‘Listen, this is a young man’s game, so you’ve got to stay ahead,’” said Kelly, whose father was a legendary high school coach in the Wiregrass. “I don’t feel old and I think I’ve got a lot of years of coaching in me. I think the players keep me young.

“It will always be about the development of that player. When it’s not about that, that’s when I’ve got to get out.”