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.
How’s the AU kicking game looking this year? WDE
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