In a college football season where numerous coaches have already been felled by their lack of prowess, the Auburn Tigers stand firm.
Head Coach [autotag]Bryan Harsin[/autotag]’s seat has been burning since the beginning of the year but despite blowout losses to Penn State and Georgia, a heart-stopping moment against Missouri and a blown lead against LSU, he remains on the throne in Auburn, Alabama — for now. But in the game of college football hirings, you win or you settle, and the longer Auburn keeps Harsin around, the less opportunity there will be for the right hire if they wait for the end of the season.
So far, there have been quite a few teams who have cut ties with their head coach: Nebraska, Wisconsin, Arizona State, Georgia Tech and Colorado will all have a new leading man next year, but the important thing is that those teams already have the jump in finding the right candidate for the job. So if Bryan Harsin will certainly be fired as many suspect, why hasn’t it happened already?
First, it was a blowout to Penn State that was supposed to do him in, and then a comeback by LSU, followed by another blowout loss to Georgia. What exactly is Auburn waiting for?
Some may say that Georgia was too high-ranked of an opponent to fire Harsin after losing, but is No. 9 Ole Miss too high as well? What about No. 17 Mississippi State? A Texas A&M team that went toe-to-toe with No. 1 Alabama, who the Tigers will play at the end of the year? The simple truth is this — almost every team Auburn will face from here on out (aside from Western Kentucky) will be among college football’s top competition, and it’s still the Tigers’ expectation to beat those teams every year.
While Wisconsin and Nebraska and Arizona State are busy searching for the top head coaching candidates for 2023 — such as the newly fired Matt Rhule or the ever-present Deion Sanders —the Tigers remain steadfast in keeping a coach that everyone knows they plan on firing anyway. Whatever the point or reason, all retaining Bryan Harsin does is put the team in a worse spot for the future.
I’m unsure why Auburn remains so committed to Harsin’s doomed campaign, but the longer the administration allows him to stand on the sidelines, the more likely it is that the Auburn Tigers will be fighting for scraps when it’s time to appoint a new head coach for the football program.
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