GO WEST YOUNG MAN

"Go west young man", well it appears that Auburn athletic director Allen Greene did just that to complete the search for a new head football coach on the plains. Greene went all the way to Idaho and Boise State University to get Bryan Harsin as Auburn's new coach. It was an absolute surprise to me and I think to most people. The truth be told I have been glued to this search since it started picking up speed and yesterday morning I was convinced the whole thing was just not serious and Kevin Steele would still end up being our head coach. I have not been a fan of Steele as defensive coordinator. I have always thought he was vastly overrated so I certainly was not in favor of him becoming head coach. Therefore considering that and where the search was yesterday, I was absolutely ESTATIC when I heard Harsin.

I guess though I need to get a few thoughts off my chest about Gus Malzahn and this search before we THANKFULLY TURN THE PAGE ON ALL OF IT. I actually got my review of Auburn's final game against Mississippi State done on time and posted early the Sunday after. I did not think Gus would be fired, I just did not think Gogue would do it and I was wrong. I did not update that post, it was the final chapter on Gus and I wanted to leave it. Several times during this search I wanted to write a post as I had some real rants ready but things were changing so fast that I wanted to wait till it was over. I also thought about doing a summary post on Gus' career but after reviewing every game in the Malzahn era I have had enough of writing about his games. 

I will give two more paragraphs to Gus Malzahn and then frankly I never want to talk about him again. Gus did some good things at Auburn. Nobody will ever forget 2013 especially the Georgia and Bama games. The "Miracle at Jordan Hare" against Georgia was just that. The "Kick Six" is the greatest play in college football history and one of the greatest games.  Gus led Auburn to destroying #1 Georgia and beating Bama, who was also #1 at the time, by more than ten points for the first time since 1969 in 2017. Those are also unforgettable games. Auburn was the best team in the country for three weeks. Finally I will never forget the Iron Bowl last season, it was an incredible game and the last one I will get to watch with my parents at Jordan Hare as they retired their season tickets. GREAT MEMORIES.

Thank you Gus for your part in those tremendous games. Thank you for the winning seasons. He is the only modern Auburn football coach to not have a losing season and that is an accomplishment. Unfortunately though I believe he was also the only modern Auburn football coach to NEVER beat Bama, Georgia or LSU on the road or win a significant bowl game. There were too many poorly coached games especially on offense. Gus could never adjust after they changed the substitution rules and defenses caught up to him. He refused to ever really adjust or change his offense regardless of whoever was supposedly calling the plays. He just never seemed to have a clue about or add any modern passing concepts. He did it his way till the end.

And it was definitely time for his Auburn career to end as I wrote in the last two game reviews. I would also like to take this time to also correct something I hear over and over during times like this but is not true, Auburn has NEVER fired a coach early. Auburn has NEVER had an itchy trigger finger. Auburn may not pick the new ones right but they have ended each coach exactly when they had to be ended. Pat Dye resigned at the right time considering his health and other issues. Terry Bowden had the worst recruiting class in Auburn history in 1998. He absolutely had to go. Tommy Tuberville's last recruiting class was also a disaster and he obviously was not ready to go head-to-head with $aban. Finally Gene Chizik turned in the worst season in Auburn history before being let go. 

That brings us to ten days ago and the beginning of this search. There is another famous saying "all is well that ends well" and I think that is true here but whew this truism was certainly tested by this coaching search. I mean what a complete disaster before yesterday. I will cover most of my angst with this search by stating two things, in this day and age you cannot do public coaching searches or use committees without making an already tough process worse. I think you have to empower your athletic director to find a candidate and use all methods at his disposal privately as possible and then present that candidate to the people who will approve the hire. Auburn may have done some of this but it just seemed too much was public regardless of all the disinformation that was out there.

There are many things about this search that still do not make sense. Did the power brokers behind-the-scenes at Auburn really think they would be able to just pop Kevin Steele in there as head coach initially? If so they are really out of touch with reality. The whole #StopSteele campaign was a PR disaster. After that exactly what happened with Billy Napier? I will say that I still think Napier was the best candidate. He grew up in Georgia and had spent time on both $aban and Dabo's football staffs and had then done a top job at Louisiana. Did Auburn offer him the job? Did they put limitations on him? What happened there? I guess we will never know but I would like to. Honestly why did we even talk to Bill Clark at UAB? The timing of that also made Auburn look really bad. 

I also got sick of hearing about coaches that get way more attention than they deserve. Hugh Freeze did some good things at Ole Miss and while I believe in forgiveness and restoration I do not think you can put him in charge of a major football program after what he did in Oxford. If I ever hear Lane Kiffin's name again it will be too soon. Folks, Lane Kiffin has to be the most overrated coach ever. He has frankly never done anything as a head coach. He was a failure with the Raiders, he quit on Tennessee and then he failed at USC and he had plenty of time. I mean enough with Lane Kiffin. I think Brent Venables is a good coach but Auburn definitely did not need another defensive head coach who would be completely dependent on a big expensive offensive coordinator hire.

There was definitely a lot of misinformation out there, some were the media and fans scrambling after anything and I am sure some was put out by Auburn's enemies. However I do think Auburn was talking to these coaches in the order the information came out and it looked really bad. It really does look like the only initial plan after firing Gus was hiring Steele and that was a really bad plan. It sure appears that Auburn has been scrambling since then. The whole committee deal and hiring process seemed hastily thrown together and nobody knew who was really in charge of the search. I guess they do now and frankly he should have been in charge the whole time. The athletic director is now like the general manager of a pro sports franchise and I believe he has to be the man.

It really does appear Auburn athletic director Allen Greene at some point did take the lead on this search and he delivered to Auburn president Jay Gogue, the board of trustees and the Auburn family as a whole an excellent candidate. I honestly did not think this could happen at Auburn but am certainly happy it did. Greene it appears finally led Auburn to THINK OUT OF THE BOX rather than concentrating on who someone had coached for and where he lived or had ties to. I have said it so many times about any search whether it be Auburn or Bama or whoever, just hire a good football coach. You have to start there. I believe Auburn has done that here. I am sure that Gus Malzahn and the Bammers were all laughing there heads off this week but I do not think they are laughing any more...

Bryan Harsin is 76-23 as a head coach leading his Boise State teams to three Mountain West conference titles and bowl games every season. The Broncos have won ten games five times under Harsin. During Harsin's tenure as offensive coordinator Boise State went 61-5 and won two New Year's six major bowl games. He also served as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for Texas under Mack Brown in 2011 and 2012. This guy is a proven winner and good football coach. This differs greatly from Auburn's previous hires. Gus Malzahn had only head coached in high school and one year at Arkansas State. Gene Chizik was 5-19 as a head coach at Iowa State. Tommy Tuberville did a good job helping Ole Miss dig out from harsh NCAA sanctions but nothing like this. Terry Bowden came from Samford.

The biggest question about Harsin so far is his lack of recruiting experience in the south. I am not going to argue that, it is a big question. However Harsin's experience is very similar to Urban Meyer when Florida hired him out of Utah. Urban Meyer was looked at like Harsin at that time. It worked out. Also Tennessee was in the same spot Auburn is a couple of years ago searching for a coach. They went with the Jeremy Pruitt and his southern experience. He was considered one of the best recruiters in the country and had worked extensively for $aban at Bama along with a stint at Georgia and helping Florida State win the national championship as defensive coordinator. However his recruiting greatness has not translated to Tennessee. My point is that no ties to the south is not a death knell here.

Auburn also desperately needed an offensive coach. We thought we had it in Gus but he was a one-trick pony that again could never adapt. I think I can state as fact that Harsin is a proven good offensive coach. Boise State has long been known for offensive innovation and he has been there in one position or another for all of it. They have had great running and passing games. I think if Harsin gets the players he can have some very good offenses in the SEC. I also think he can have a great defense as well. Boise has put plenty of players into the NFL on both sides of the ball. Also after reading and listening to a lot of information about Harsin, I hear good things like: serious, focused, will not back down... I like what I hear and cannot wait to watch this guy go to work.

There are no guarantees, I definitely understand that. You have to get the players, you have to get them at every position. The timing and combination of players has to be right to even compete for a title. Auburn has some serious holes in their roster that have to be fixed and Auburn is surrounded by great teams. It is a serious challenge. Harsin could fail... but on the other hand he could also succeed. Did anyone think Boise State would stay a great football program for fifteen years when he started there in 2006? That was certainly a challenge that took a lot of great recruiting and coaching. Harsin obviously wants the increased challenge of competing in the hardest conference. The facts say he is a good coach and has a good chance of succeeding at Auburn.

The next question everyone has after recruiting is what his staff will look like. Many people want a clean sweep of our staff and I am not opposed to that. However I do think many powerful Auburn people want some of the current staff to stay. At this point, I am not opposed to that either. I do think Harsin agreeing to keep some of the current staff maybe one of the things along with his low buyout that made him attractive to Auburn and got this done. He will need the help of some experienced coaches who know the recruiting areas. This might be a concern to some people but after learning about Coach Harsin, I do not think this is a concern. This guy appears to be a strong leader and again an experienced his coach. He is going to run this football program his way. I do not think we have to worry about that.

Personally I am so happy that somehow some way Auburn was able to hire a good football coach. Things looked bleak yesterday. I came home completely convinced that this search was doomed to failure. I have watched so many games in stony silence the last few years. It just has not been fun and yesterday around 5:00pm I thought I was in for years more of that but then my phone buzzed... Bama and the rest of the college football world continue to always count Auburn out  and hey I had counted us out as well. Auburn has a lot of issues and messes up a lot but it is still a special place that has always been about comebacks. I think we just made another one. I think somehow some way Auburn picked the one guy that could unite everyone and bring us back again. Lets get started!!!

WAR BRYAN HARSIN AND WAR DAMN EAGLE. 

GAME 10 REVIEW: FATIGUE

Auburn 24  Mississippi State 10.  The Auburn football team mercifully closed out their 2020 season Saturday night with a win over a really bad Mississippi State team. The game itself was the worst I had seen all season through three quarters but Auburn finally made some plays and finished the Bulldogs off. I still think it is good that the SEC played football and frankly most teams did a great job including Auburn getting a full or close to full season in. Unfortunately the yearning for football as a relief from an awful year only goes so far, it is still not much fun to watch bad football and this game was again really bad. I think most SEC football fans outside of Tuscaloosa are glad to have the season over with. I am definitely glad it is over with after watching Auburn the last three weeks.

I also could care less about watching Bama and the same cast of characters from last year play for their "championship". I mean do that many people outside these schools enjoy watching the same teams play every year? The college football system in my opinion is just broken. The governing body appears to have completely lost control of the two major sports and there is absolutely no real enforcement of any rules outside the façade of  "secondary violations" and occasionally doling out stiff penalties to schools who are not part of the "blue bloods" of football or basketball. Kansas has broken how many rules in basketball now and nothing happens? Bama is going to hit what twenty years of #1 recruiting classes without ever committing a major violation. PLEASE. 

Fatigue has definitely set in. I love Auburn football and basketball but hate the system both play in. Is it just sour grapes because my team is not that good now? Maybe but when I watch a game and am bombarded for four hours with all this play off bull***, I am going to react. When I see a rebuilding Auburn basketball team beat Memphis before the football game (a feat that never would have happened pre-Bruce Pearl) and I know these kids cannot play any postseason ball I get mad. Again Chuck Person committed a felony trying to make money himself off Auburn basketball players leaving early for the NBA. How is that an NCAA violation? How did Auburn profit from that? If he had burglarized one of their houses do we get probation for that? The blue bloods never do!

OK ok back to the game and the current Auburn situation, fatigue has definitely set in here too. I cannot adequately describe how tired I am of watching Gus Malzahn offenses flounder around. I honestly do not think I can take another year of it. I know I have said that before but now more time has passed and I think as I wrote last week that everyone affiliated with Auburn has had enough now. I have completely documented the Gus Malzhan era on this blog. I have written time and again about how bad he coaches the passing offense. Many people have written how every single quarterback under Gus gets WORSE. Nick Marshall got worse, Jarrett Stidham got worse and now Bo Nix has gotten worse. Nix, a rising star last season, finished 15 of 32 for 125 yards against a bad State team he LIT UP last season.

Frankly, I am scared to think about the type of regression we might see next season if Nix becomes the first quarterback to play three straight seasons under Gus Malzahn. Except for a few plays, Nix was just awful last night, awful. I will say a lot of it is because his offensive line is even worse and cannot pass block to save their lives but still he was really bad. It was a real mess but one guy and one play turned it around enough to win the game. The one guy is Tank Bigsby who came back with a vengeance rushing for almost 200 yards on 26 carries. As the offense was falling apart around him, Bigsby would not quit, would not go down and was definitely the MVP of the game for Auburn on offense. Bigsby's balance is unbelievable, he will get hit and grabbed and he does not go down.

However even with Bigsby's heroics the game in my opinion came down to one play. Bo Nix and Seth Williams who for awhile looked to be disconnected and mad at each other again like the South Carolina game rallied and made this play and one more as well. The first one again in my opinion was the difference in Auburn winning or losing the game. The fourth quarter started with Auburn only up 9-3 and the momentum clearly shifting to State. State had just pinned Auburn deep on a punt and it was 3rd and 7 for the Tigers at the Auburn eight yard line. State gets a stop and they get good field position with momentum and could take the lead with one touchdown. Bo Nix who as stated above has been horrible all day drops back... every Auburn fan including me is already shaking their head...

Nix then threw his best pass of the day hitting Williams in stride for a 25 yard game. That play completely turned the momentum. Tank Bigsby tore off a run for 27 yards the next play. The drive would later stall outside the State 30 yard line and Auburn would be faced with 3rd and 14. The cameras also caught State defensive back Shawn Preston Jr. talking some serious trash to Seth Williams the play before... and that was a big mistake. Nix must have saw the commotion and with the game on the line again he threw another beauty that Williams went up and GOT for a touchdown. Williams was up in Preston's face immediately letting him have it. It was the one absolutely classic play from this terrible game. I am glad we got to see Nix to Williams for two more big plays.

It could be the last time as I think Williams declares for the NFL and might not play in a bowl game if there is one. Kudos to this combination that has made some huge plays for Auburn the last two seasons starting with Oregon through the Iron Bowl last season and from Kentucky through this game this season. I was also glad to see the defense absolutely dominate State. Now State's offense does not have a lick of talent but Auburn's defensive guys have hung in all year and they needed that. Despite some of the bad things you have to give kudos to the coaches and players for working hard to stay healthy and complete a winning season of 6-4 in this crazy year. It definitely took a lot of work to do it and it is an accomplishment. These guys have definitely earned some time off.

The question now is where does Auburn go from here? As I wrote last week I think Gus' time is over at Auburn but also as I said last week I think Auburn's weak administration will not do anything this season. I have not seen anything yet that makes me think that has changed. Yes Auburn's coaches and players just completed a great effort to complete the season and get a winning record but big-time college football is a 365-day grind and the all important early signing day is in THREE DAYS. Auburn looks to be way behind at the moment with no significant immediate help in the trenches. Can the coaches at least bring in a half decent recruiting class?  Who on the current roster is leaving?  Will Auburn get any significant transfers? There are many more questions than answers for Auburn.

GAME 9 REVIEW: IT IS TIME

Texas A&M 31  Auburn 20.  Another game against a good team and another loss... I am sure many on the resident Auburn sites will point to the spots in the game Auburn could have made a play that might have won them the game. However I believe those people are deluded. Texas A&M was the better team and they absolutely dominated Auburn for the most part. Frankly it should not have been as close as it was. Auburn has some really good guys with strong character playing for them but they simply do not have enough upper echelon talent especially on the lines. Auburn's defensive line is just not good. They are good men but are simply not SEC-caliber players. The same is true on the offensive line. There is a little talent at guard but not enough. Auburn simply does not have an offensive tackle on the roster.

The quarterback play is sporadic along with the coaching. Tank Bigsby looks to be a good prospect but he is not an upper-echelon SEC running back yet and none of the other running backs are even close. Auburn has All-SEC talent at wide receiver but the line play and coaching minimize the impact they can have. Auburn as it has been most of Gus Malzahn's tenure remains above the half line in the SEC but not in the top three which has also been true over the same time period. Auburn is a decent show, a mediocre meal, a lukewarm shower... it is not bad but it just does not satisfy either. Auburn football has in some way become monotonous or boring, other than a few big wins it has been the same for a decade. Those wins have been big but over time people and teams either get better or worse.

As I and many other Auburn fans have remarked, Auburn's recruiting though ranked high has slipped over the last few years and looks really bad right now. Auburn as always has NO offensive tackles currently in the class and not enough impact players for the defensive line. As I heard an analyst for one of the Auburn sites say and write this week, Gus Malzahn's offensive tackle recruiting the past few years is completely unacceptable. It will be an incredible accomplishment for this class just to be in the top twenty. There does not appear to be anyone coming in  that is going to immediately help turn this team around. Right now from everything I am hearing is that Auburn's fate next season depends on this probable upcoming one-time immediate transfer window.

I am not buying it. I mean the only thing that is going to really make a difference is an elite offensive and defensive tackle and I just do not see Auburn being the school that gets those few guys. That brings us to my point, Auburn, while not bottoming is getting worse under Malzahn. It appears there will be no championships won with last year's recruiting class or this upcoming one. I hate to keep repeating myself but YOU CANNOT WIN AN SEC CHAMPIONSHIP WITHOUT ELITE LINEMEN. Auburn had no chance this year and it does not appear they will have a chance next year either. I am tired of reading about how much Auburn does with low rated recruits. That may be true but you name me a championship Auburn team and I will name you a group of elite highly recruited linemen.

Auburn is getting worse under Malzahn and with it being eight years in with two years of declining recruiting classes the answer seems clear. It is time to for Auburn to move on from Gus Malzahn. It is not about the ongoing fight between supposed "optimists" and "pessimists", it is simple truth. History has proved that nowadays other than a few rare exceptions even a good coach can only last around a decade at a school or a professional sports team. The team then just needs a new voice. This fact has been stated by many great coaches. I have called for Malzahn's head a few times on this blog and I think my reasons were valid but now I do not think it is a debate. Gus Malzahn is about to finish his eighth season at Auburn plus three as a coordinator. He has done some good things but it is time to go.

Auburn is obviously not a championship contender and with the recruiting declining things could deteriorate quickly. Gus delivered one of the great seasons in Auburn history and three really big wins since then in 2017 Georgia and Bama plus 2019 Bama. However that is pretty much it. He also has lost EVERY big away and bowl game he has coached at Auburn. He has kept his teams working hard and has done a good job with keeping good character and academic achievement in the program. HOWEVER he has been well and I mean WELL COMPENSATED for everything he has done for Auburn. In fact he has been paid more money than every head coach in Auburn football history combined. He has attained generational wealth at Auburn and has gotten to live his dream as a big-time college coach.

He should see it is time now. Do not let the bottom fall out like Terry, Tommy and Gene did. Right now he could leave the program better than he found it. However if he is as stubborn about this as he is about his offense then Auburn needs to step up and do the right thing for the program. Why should Auburn make this change now? The biggest reason is recruiting, this season is already lost and the last few have not been good. You will put the program further behind by wasting another recruiting class if you wait till after another mediocre to bad season to end. The next reasons are fans, boosters, and money as those are all inextricably tied together. Malzahn has lost the majority of them I believe, if not by the losses then by the lukewarm product on the field most of his tenure at Auburn.

Malzahn will probably continue as coach and it is an obvious prediction that next year will just be more of the same. There is a complete vacuum of leadership from the board of trustees to the president to the athletic director at Auburn. There does not appear to be anybody capable of dynamic leadership. I have no confidence that these people can bring in a better coach. Auburn could get someone worse than Malzahn and turn into Tennessee. However that fear is no longer the reason to keep Malzahn, his time is simply up. They can put it off or live in fear but another head football coach will have to be selected soon whether anyone likes it or not. It is better to do it now.