The first few months of a new coaching job is busy to say the least.

From assembling a staff, getting to know your colleagues, introducing yourself to the community and more often than not building a whole new team, there’s a seemingly endless to-do list for new head coaches in college sports.

That’s no different for new Auburn women’s basketball coach Larry Vickers, who was hired in March to replace former head coach Johnnie Harris. He arrived on the Plains after a successful nine-year tenure at Norfolk State, finishing with an overall record of 174-91 and an 83-17 record since 2022.

Since his arrival, Vickers has had to put together a staff and rebuild the roster from scratch. Every single scholarship player under Harris entered the transfer portal after she was fired, and only Syriah Daniels and Kaitlyn Duhon will return next season.

Despite the whirlwind of the first two months, Vickers says there has been a lot of excitement in and around the program since he was hired.

“Everybody’s been extremely supportive in the department,” Vickers told AL.com at SEC spring meetings. “Everybody understands that certain elements look a little different. I think for me, it was just putting a quality staff together, understanding that everybody can’t go with you.”

Vickers’ staff at Auburn doesn’t include any of his former assistants at Norfolk State, meaning that it will be a whole new group for him, not just for Auburn.

The same is true for the roster, as none of Vickers’ players from Norfolk State followed him south to the Plains. As mentioned earlier, only two players from last season’s Auburn team will return, creating an entirely new look program.

“Coach Johnnie had some terrific players on the team that were willing to stay it might didn’t necessarily fit with what we’re looking to do with Auburn moving forward,” Vickers said. “So, that’s helping them find a new home, and then that’s us finding new players to kind of fit that style of play. I felt like in in the full six weeks we were able to do that.

“Now it’s just a matter of, because we don’t necessarily have, that A-level, putting those Cs and Bs in places to win, and just doing it with our depth.”

Auburn signed six players out of the portal and one JUCO transfer since Vickers was hired, while retaining two others and bringing in three freshmen.

When asked about the type of players Auburn wanted to add in the portal, Vickers said they didn’t want to take many risks with the players that could build a new foundation for the program in his first season.

“In Year 1, you don’t wanna bring any problems into administration,” Vickers said. “We wanted to know what exactly we’re getting out of the portal, one from a statistics standpoint, but also from a personality standpoint.”

Peter Rauterkus covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @peter_rauterkus or email him at[email protected]m