Rodney Garner happy to come home

AUBURN – The chance to come back to the place where it all began was too good to pass up for Rodney Garner. The former Auburn captain and All-SEC offensive lineman who played for the Tigers from 1984-88 had coached at Georgia for 15 years but the opportunity to return to his and his wife Kim’s alma mater and be a member of Gus Malzahn’s coaching staff proved enough to pry Garner from Athens.

“I’ve had opportunities, and I know I had probably gotten the label that I would never leave Georgia, and I probably wouldn’t leave Georgia if it wasn’t for Auburn,” Garner said at his introductory press conference Friday afternoon. “I can tell you this is a very surreal moment for me just to have this opportunity to be back here at a place that has meant so much to my life both personally and professionally. (…) Auburn was calling me home. It felt like it was a time of need.”

Garner was hired as Auburn’s defensive line coach, assistant head coach and recruiting coordinator – the same positions he held at Georgia – on Thursday night and introduced Friday with more than 20 of his former teammates in attendance. Terms of his contract were not available.

“I’m an Auburn man. I think everybody in this room would sit there and tell you they’re Auburn men,” Garner said. “When I left here before, I said I may not coach at Auburn, but I’ll always be an Auburn man. I paid the price to do that, and my blood, sweat and tears are out there in Jordan-Hare Stadium.

“I’m so excited about having the opportunity to come back to Auburn and try to teach these young men about what it is to be an Auburn man because an Auburn man is a special man. It is an unreal fraternity. It’s a very real fraternity. All my brothers, whether I saw them last week or 10 years ago, we have the same love for one another as we had when we played here back in the 80s. It’s just an honor, and I’m just so humbled by this opportunity. I can’t wait to roll my sleeves up and go to work.”