It is no secret that the end of [autotag]Bryan Harsin[/autotag]’s Auburn tenure — the whole era for that matter — will forever be a dark chapter in the history of Auburn football.
He began his Auburn career as the “out of left field” hire. He was not the most popular name of the search, as he came to The Plains from Boise State with minimal experience coaching football in the south. In his first season, the Tigers began 6-2 with a win over a top-10 Ole Miss team. However, following that game on Halloween weekend, the season took an ugly turn. Auburn lost its final five games.
During the offseason, he was the target of a coup attempt. Though he survived, the issues within the program remained. In Year 2, Auburn lost to Penn State at home in blowout fashion and had lengthy winning streaks against Arkansas and Ole Miss end.
In addition to the on-field product, Auburn fell behind in recruiting.
Harsin was dismissed on Halloween, two days after Auburn’s 41-27 loss to Arkansas at Jordan-Hare Stadium.
His time in Auburn was anything but pretty, which is why he takes the top spot of an undesirable year-end list.
On3 recently released its assessments of second-year coaches, from worst to first. Several coaches received a good grade, including Tennessee‘s Josh Heupel and Kansas’ Lance Leipold. Harsin kicked off the rankings by having the worst performance of any second-year coach.
Jesse Simonton of On3 sympathized with Harsin, but also wrote Auburn was more motivated to play following his departure.
For more than a year, Auburn essentially treated Bryan Harsin like the kid in “Toy Story” who tortures Woody with a magnifying glass. It was wholly unfair to Harsin.
But setting aside all the ugly and unfounded rumors surrounding Harsin and his family, the former Boise State head coach did an awful job at one of the premiere programs in the country.
Harsin lost five straight games to end a disappointing Year 1, and things only got worse this fall. After a pair of victories over cupcakes — including a way-too-close for comfort 24-16 win against San Jose State — the Tigers lost 6-of-7, with their lone win a Yakety Sax overtime victory against Missouri.
Harsin was poor recruiter (Auburn wasted a historic set of prospects from the state of Alabama in 2022), motivator and leader. It said a lot that the second he was gone, the Tigers suddenly started playing inspired and united.
Harsin’s Auburn career ended 9-12. After his dismissal, interim head coach [autotag]Cadillac Williams[/autotag] led Auburn to a 2-2 record, which ended its season 5-7.
[mm-video type=playlist id=01eqbyzb4ahnasj2m3 player_id=01f5k5y2jb3twsvdg4 image=]
[listicle id=59329]