What does Auburn need at head coach?
The Auburn Tigers have won two National Championships and played for two this century. What's the upside for this program in the next era?
One of the biggest questions from this season of college football is what Auburn will do next.
Since they hired Gus Malzahn to be offensive coordinator in 2009 the Tigers have played for two National Championships and won one and played for three SEC Championships and won two. In the previous decade of the 21st century the Tigers played for six SEC Championships under Senator Tommy Tuberville and won it once in an undefeated 2004 season in which they were left out of the National Championship. Similarly undefeated Oklahoma and USC played for all the marbles in 2004 and the Trojans manhandled the Sooners 55-19.
War Eagle has obvious upside and we’ve seen them touch their potential. They also have serious challenges. They are currently positioned in the SEC West, the toughest division in college football, where their rival is Alabama. They’re also the other half of the “Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry” which they play annually against Georgia. In other words, their schedule has included arguably the two strongest programs in the country and Auburn gets a focused shot from each every year. They also tend to have a premier non-conference game and have to recruit against Alabama, Georgia, Clemson, and anyone who’s anyone in the richest recruiting turf in the South (Atlanta and the surrounding region).
All of their challenges have been compounded by the bizarre power struggles around the program. Years of going 8-5 against this schedule lead to a lot of discontent at Auburn in Gus Malzahn and he always seemed to be up against it in terms of holding onto his job.
At the end a remarkable sequence occurred in which he brought in a 5-star quarterback savior named Bo Nix and promoted him over a redshirt freshman named Malik Willis. After Nix won, Willis transferred to Liberty and proved to be exactly the sort of quarterback who’d propelled Malzahn’s best teams in the past. A powerful dual-threat who could run with power and do so often.
Auburn’s consistently good defenses under Kevin Steele appeared to be going to waste as the Nix offense struggled, and Steele apparently convinced Auburn boosters that he might as well be in charge. So they pooled the money to buy out Malzahn’s contract at $21.45 million. Then some other Auburn boosters got involved, preferring along with the fans to not make Steele the next head coach, and out he went as well.
There was little consensus on a replacement so Boise State’s Bryan Harsin got the gig, despite a lot of pushback, and quickly found himself embattled as well. He went 6-7 in his first year and found himself the target of allegations and investigations after the season. He hung on long enough to go 3-5 in year two before also being fired.
Quite a lot for the program to go through, they’ve been an absolute mess. Yet if they can get things right now, the future could be very bright.
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