Auburn's newest offensive coordinator has been with Bryan Harsin for a while now. He was with him for four seasons at Boise State and eventually rose to offensive coordinator for the Broncos.

But when Harsin departed for Auburn, there wasn't a direct opportunity to follow him in an on-the-field role. Kiesau would have to go from the top, as Boise's OC, down to the bottom as an off-the-field analyst for Auburn.

Not exactly the progression you want to make, but Kiesau believes in Harsin's vision and was willing to follow him after some conversations with him.

"It was a lot of — at that point, when I was at Boise getting ready to make the transition and move here, there were a lot of conversations between myself and Coach Harsin, very private conversations, and nothing bad, nothing negative. Because it's a hard transition to make," Kiesau said. "But like I said, if you really dig in, you really get to know what Coach Harsin's all about, as a person, as a father, as a head coach, as a human being, you want to be a part of that."

Just as Kiesau was getting adjusted to an analyst role, WR coach Cornelius Williams was fired after four games and Kiesau was elevated.

Back into an on-the-field role in Harsin's staff.

Auburn's receivers progressed under Kiesau last year and he was prepared to come into the 2022 season in the same role. The OC job came open, and Kiesau was an option, but Auburn opted to hire the young Austin Davis from the Seattle Seahawks. Well, Davis only lasted a few weeks on the Plains before resigning and Auburn was again without an OC.

Late into the offseason, the choice of elevating Kiesau was an easy one, and within a year Kiesau had climbed his way right back to the top and is back as an offensive coordinator.

"I will say when I got here to where I am now, that evolution of how it all happened, it's an exciting time," Kiesau said. "It really is. And I hope people see, because everyone can say a lot of words and lot things, but you look at people's actions and so — if me coming from Boise State as the offensive coordinator, now me coming here as an analyst — so basically going from one of the top guys in the program really to coming in as a bottom entry-level guy.

"If that doesn't show people that I believe in the vision and structure and what we're doing as a program with Bryan Harsin, because everybody can say it. But I actually showed it. And I'm not trying to pat myself on the back at all. I'm saying that's how much I believe in this program. That's how much I believe in Coach Harsin. I believe in his vision. I believe in what we're doing."

Now that Kiesau is back as offensive coordinator, he'll work closely with Harsin on the gameplans and drawing up plays. Something that Kiesau thinks will go smoothly thanks in large part to the two's familiarity with each other.

"That's the beauty of me coming from Boise and having worked with Coach Harsin in the past: I know his direction and his core beliefs, and what we want to do offensively," Kiesau said. "The direction we want to go, it's not necessarily going to be two different philosophies. It's more of me just kind of putting it all together, moving forward, things we did at Boise.

"And also, we're going to grow on that, as well, and continue to add new things we need to implement to help our personnel we have year — because the personnel is very different, obviously. But I think you'll see a lot of similarities, and that's why it was an easy transition going from receivers to coordinator with Coach Harsin — because we do have that background."