Auburn close to hiring Bryan Harsin
Now this is an outside the box hire I can get behind.
Harsin was 69-19 in 7 seasons at Boise State.
Commence comments...
https://theathletic.com/news/bryan-harsin-auburn-coach-reports/WMOuT3QGgiio
December 22nd, 2020 at 6:25 PM ^
Would he have crawled there?
December 22nd, 2020 at 6:25 PM ^
Good for Auburn?
December 22nd, 2020 at 9:31 PM ^
Apparently so, because the hiring has been confirmed.
December 22nd, 2020 at 6:25 PM ^
That’s an interesting choice. I’m excited to see how it unfolds
December 22nd, 2020 at 6:26 PM ^
I cannot wait for Auburn fans to immediately hate him
December 22nd, 2020 at 6:27 PM ^
Well the last Boise coach who moved to a bigger location did OK.
December 23rd, 2020 at 4:18 AM ^
And the one before that did not.
December 22nd, 2020 at 6:27 PM ^
I like it because the program/football culture shock sounds entertaining.
December 22nd, 2020 at 6:28 PM ^
Your move Warde.
December 22nd, 2020 at 6:46 PM ^
He made it. See the Don Brown thread for details.
December 22nd, 2020 at 6:55 PM ^
Harbaugh hasn't been fired yet so the move hasn't been made yet.
December 22nd, 2020 at 7:12 PM ^
I would shocked if Harbaugh is not back and he will NOT get fired.
December 22nd, 2020 at 7:41 PM ^
Seriously. If he was getting fired, it would have happened two weeks ago. Can't figure out the thought process's of some people.
December 22nd, 2020 at 7:51 PM ^
You think they have one...
December 22nd, 2020 at 7:53 PM ^
Why would he have been fired before signing day without a replacement hired? The only thing worse for recruiting than having a coach with a cloud hanging over his head is having no head coach at all.
December 22nd, 2020 at 10:16 PM ^
Because Michigan doesn't do scummy things like keep a coach publicly on board until day after signing day. And I hope that continues.
December 23rd, 2020 at 12:19 AM ^
....but apparently we do for DCs.
December 23rd, 2020 at 11:48 AM ^
Yeah, fair. I'm a little torn on that one, but literally everyone expected him to be gone, even the recruits (at least most of them).
December 22nd, 2020 at 6:29 PM ^
So Auburn got their 9th choice as HC. Congrats?
December 22nd, 2020 at 7:28 PM ^
Hugh Freeze is somewhere on that list too
December 22nd, 2020 at 6:29 PM ^
Fun fact: he succeeded Gus Malzhan at Arkansas State in 2013.
December 22nd, 2020 at 7:19 PM ^
So he has experience with a very similar transition in a way.
December 22nd, 2020 at 6:33 PM ^
Get behind it then...
December 22nd, 2020 at 6:37 PM ^
Que Bryan Harsin getting a raise...
December 22nd, 2020 at 6:37 PM ^
Need to know about his politics since he may be a congressman or senator someday.
December 22nd, 2020 at 6:37 PM ^
Seems like a fine hire for a place like Auburn.
Not sure you pay Gus to go away and then make a move like this. But the Harsin seems like he’ll be a safe bet. Just hard when your next door neighbor is your rival and overlord of CFB.
December 22nd, 2020 at 8:48 PM ^
This wasn’t the plan for auburn, although saying Auburn has a plan for football coaching is a stretch.
December 22nd, 2020 at 6:41 PM ^
Boise? Not sure he can bag at Auburn levels
December 22nd, 2020 at 6:47 PM ^
All he has to do is look the other way.
December 22nd, 2020 at 6:51 PM ^
Good luck to him; Auburn can be a tough place for coaches. He's no Chris Petersen and his Boise St teams were a step behind those teams, but he's a good coach.
December 22nd, 2020 at 7:02 PM ^
Does he fit the culture down south?
December 22nd, 2020 at 7:22 PM ^
This has a bit of Joe Moorhead to Mississippi State feel to it, I agree. He's worked at Arkansas State and Texas but the rest of his life was spent in the Pacific Northwest.
I'm more stunned that this was the candidate the myriad power brokers at Auburn could all agree on.
December 22nd, 2020 at 7:56 PM ^
Yeah, and he was on at Texas and Ark St. for a couple of years total; it's hard to tell how much of a culture shock he had to deal with, if any existed. I do think he'll be reasonably successful, but Gus Malzahn was also reasonably successful and they canned him, so who the hell knows.
December 22nd, 2020 at 7:08 PM ^
Like the hire, and it’s important for AD to scout up and coming coaches. Find value and opportunity.
December 22nd, 2020 at 7:37 PM ^
He's in for a slight step up in the level of competition . . .
December 22nd, 2020 at 7:41 PM ^
No interest in Campbell? Why?
December 22nd, 2020 at 7:58 PM ^
Maybe Campbell or other likely suspects weren’t interested. Real question is if Auburn’s AD did his due diligence before buying out Malzahn.
December 22nd, 2020 at 7:59 PM ^
MGoBlog is the only place interested in Campbell.
December 22nd, 2020 at 8:08 PM ^
December 22nd, 2020 at 8:41 PM ^
I don't think that's a fair comparison. There are a lot of hot MAC coaches, and some of them do well and some of them don't.
Iowa State has had exactly one other coach with a winning record since the forties (former Ohio State coach Earle Bruce at 36-32). Iowa State, like Kansas, has been a football wasteland.
I'm not convinced he's going to turn the program into an instant national title contender, but at absolute worst he's got a high floor.
December 23rd, 2020 at 1:32 AM ^
What's a high floor? 8-5?
December 22nd, 2020 at 7:54 PM ^
SEC is certainly not the MWC.
That is all.
December 23rd, 2020 at 12:23 AM ^
Exactly, Urban struggled mightily when he went to Florida.
December 22nd, 2020 at 8:21 PM ^
Shoulda stuck with Gus
December 22nd, 2020 at 9:14 PM ^
He better find asst coaches and support staff with recruiting expertise in the SEC / Deep South - or he can do everything extremely well with culture and Xs & Os but they will not make headway with talent. It’s a tangled mess of coaches and boosters, and the Auburn fans will give him no honeymoon.
December 22nd, 2020 at 9:25 PM ^
Idle thought: when the day arrives that Harbaugh leaves AND if Michigan then lures Hardin away from Auburn, you'll need to update your MGoUserName to "YoOoBoMoLloRoHoHaHa".
December 22nd, 2020 at 9:26 PM ^
So they weren’t able to get anyone from within the SEC footprint (except Hugh Freeze, who they didn’t want) because all the coaches with contacts in that world wanted to be able to hire their own staff. Harsin was pissed off enough at the mountain west + willing to keep auburn grads on staff so they got him.
December 23rd, 2020 at 9:06 AM ^
This is exactly how I didn't want Michigan's coaching search to end up. Fire your coach after an anomaly of a season with no clear candidate to replace them. And then you scramble to get someone in and end up with a B level hire that is likely to be replaced in 5 years. I'm good with replacing Harbaugh, I just want them to do it when we have a candidate that we love that has mutual interest in us.