While Bruce Pearl has the Auburn men’s basketball team on the verge of locking down a No. 1 seed, the talk on the Plains is still surrounding the Tigers football coach.
In a recent panel of national pundits, ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg chose the Auburn head coach when asked who is under the most pressure.
Uh, hello, Bryan Harsin? I can’t believe I’m the first to select the embattled Auburn coach, who survived a weeklong university (read: booster-led) inquiry into his program. Harsin must feel emboldened to still have his job, but he absolutely must deliver in a big way to keep the gig for 2023 and beyond.
I think it is pretty clear that Harsin would be under the most pressure for the 2022 college football season. In most cases, and I want to emphasize most, second-year head coaches aren’t usually looking over their shoulders. Harsin was put on notice when his job security came under question in early February.
You can point to a plethora of reasons why Harsin is under fire. The board likely wanted someone else when athletic director Allen Greene made the hire choosing someone who doesn’t fit the “good ole boy” system. Harsin doesn’t do the glad-handing that the boosters want, so the former Boise State head coach is under immense pressure.
There are some concerns on the roster, but Harsin probably has the coordinator tandem — Jeff Schmedding (defense) and Eric Kiesau (offense) — that he should have selected from the start. Both coordinators worked with Harsin at Boise State and know what he wants schematically.
Maybe Harsin will never be “SEC enough” to win at Auburn, but he gets another chance to win with a structure that generated success at Boise State. I’m fascinated to see how players respond to him, and whether Auburn overcomes a tough schedule to surprise people in the SEC, or regresses and leads the school to make an easy (albeit expensive) coaching change. -Rittenberg
There are plenty of concerns when it comes to this staff and the roster. Much the reason why I am a bit more “pessimistic” when it comes to my record predictions. Kiesau and Schmedding were likely the right picks for Harsin, in terms of surrounding himself with coordinators that he trusts.
I am just not quite sure it will work out the way he or the fan base wants, but there is work to be done. It could all come together for Harsin and the staff. Or the boosters could get what they want and a new head coaching search will begin in 2022.