Tag: auburn coaching search

Opinion: No, Auburn should not hire former Texas head coach Tom Herman

Tom Herman has more to prove before taking another elite coaching job.

The Auburn Tigers are looking for a new football coach after firing former Texas offensive coordinator Brian Harsin. Tom Herman is one name circulating, despite his failed culture and tenure at The University of Texas.

Despite Herman’s unimaginative offense, poor game management skills and immaturity, his name has been brought up as a possible replacement for Auburn. In my opinion, the move would be a terrible one for multiple reasons.

The last time we saw Tom Herman lead a team, he displayed unearned bravado, lack of humility and lack of introspection. On top of that, his antics indicated he lacks the maturity to coach at a championship level.

There are plenty of other worthy candidates that Auburn should target. Here are a few coaches they might consider.

Lane Kiffin named early favorite to become Auburn’s next head football coach

The former #USC head coach and national championship assistant under Pete Carroll is @theauburnwire’s early favorite to land the job. #WarEagle

Oh, what a plot twist this would be.

Imagine Lane Kiffin, former USC head coach and assistant coach, making the jump from Ole Miss to Auburn.

After Auburn hired a new athletic director and fired head football coach Bryan Harsin on a very busy Monday, the Tigers are officially searching for a new coach.

Our friends at Auburn Wire get to follow a head coaching search. We did this last year with Clay Helton, though Helton was fired much earlier in the 2021 season than Harsin was in 2022.

Now that Auburn is looking for a coach, who is at the top of the list?

Auburn Wire thinks it’s Lane Kiffin.

Keep in mind that Kiffin coached at Tennessee for one year. This would therefore be his third SEC head coaching job, and that doesn’t include his stint at Alabama under Nick Saban.

How many SEC teams will Kiffin coach before his career is over?

Anyway, let’s go through Kiffin and the other candidates mentioned by Auburn Wire:

WATCH: New Auburn coach Bryan Harsin introduced at halftime of basketball game

New Auburn head coach Bryan Harsin was introduced to a limited capacity crowd at Auburn Arena on Wednesday night.

Welcome to the Plains, Bryan Harsin.

The new Auburn football head coach was introduced to the limited crowd at halftime of the Tigers basketball game against Arkansas on Wednesday night.

Opinion: Press conference over, the real work begins now for Bryan Harsin at Auburn

New Auburn head coach Bryan Harsin said all the right things at his introductory press conference but his real work begins now.

There have been very few coaches in the history of college football that have lost an introductory press conference. Bryan Harsin said all the right things, injecting some energy into the room at times and, in quite an opening statement, spent 30-plus minutes outlining why he came to Auburn, his plans for the program and other notes that he felt important to point out.

The pictures of him holding an Auburn jersey with Allen Greene were taken along with I’m sure pictures of him and his family grasping the same navy blue photo prop. Everyone smiled and his entrance gained applause from everyone in the room.

Yet now the hard part of the job begins and a bunch of difficult questions will be answered in both the short term and in the years to come.

First off, the matter of who will be on his coaching staff will certainly be followed extremely closely. Maybe even more closely than normal. There are some beloved Auburn men on the current coaching staff that have paved their way as excellent recruiters and ambassadors for the university. However, a new coach might want a clean slate for many reasons, foremost the fact that there would be no ill feelings toward himself for taking the job from their previous boss.

It’s imperative that Harsin learns the SEC and the Southeast quickly. While he stated in the press conference that he understands Auburn and that he understands the Iron Bowl, there’s a matter of thinking you know it and then actually living it. It might be a wake-up call for Harsin when he starts going to the supermarket or to dinner with his family and he is continually bombarded with questions about the future of the program and how the Tigers can overtake Georgia and Alabama, You know, typical questions that a coach at a major program can’t escape.

Harsin talked about patience in the presser, something that the Auburn fan base and especially trustees/boosters haven’t been known to have in the past. For all the good things that came out of 2013 for Gus Malzahn, the only negative might have been that expectations rose to a silly level immediately due to the magical season. Building a roster fit for his offensive schemes and the ideals of whoever he hires as defensive coordinator might take more time than people want, but from the success he has had at every stop along the way, he deserves the chance to prove what he’s worth.

While Harsin said that Auburn will be recruiting throughout the nation, there will be the case of also developing relationships within the key states of Georgia, Florida, Alabama and Mississippi. This will prove extra difficult if he brings an entire staff full of coaches not familiar with the territory, something opposing coaches will pounce on in a mini-second.

So while the honeymoon isn’t quite over yet and Harsin will have his opportunity to win over the fan base, alumni and everyone else involved with Auburn with his “War Damn Eagle” and “no days off,” the hard work already is about to settle in.

Twitter reacts to Bryan Harsin’s introductory press conference at Auburn

New Auburn head coach Bryan Harsin held his introductory press conference on Thursday after arriving on the Plains.

Bryan Harsin formally introduced himself to Auburn fans everywhere on Thursday as he held his first press conference as the Tigers head coach.

Here is how Twitter reacted to Harsin’s debut on the Plains.

WATCH: Bryan Harsin arrives at Auburn airport to welcoming crowd

New Auburn head football coach Bryan Harsin was greeted by a crowd at the Auburn airport upon his arrival.

Bryan Harsin has arrived on the Plains for the first time as the head football coach of the Auburn Tigers.

Despite it being Christmas Eve, a crowd was waiting to see the new coach as the he arrived at the Auburn airport in a private plane from Boise, Idaho.

Jay Gogue issues statement, takes not-so-subtle shot at UAB’s Bill Clark

Auburn University President Jay Gogue issued a statement regarding the coaching search and the hiring of Bryan Harsin.

Auburn University President Jay Gogue let it be known that some of the rumors and reports that spread throughout the coaching search were false. In fact, he seemed to go after a candidate or two with a not-so-subtle statement.

In an email sent out to Auburn alumni and fans on Wednesday night, Gogue held nothing back.

It is also important to remember that not everything that is reported or posted on social media is accurate when it comes to coaching searches. In fact, some of it is disruptive, inaccurate and malicious. In our coaching search for example, no candidate was told that there were stipulations on who would serve on his coaching staff – not one. Only one trustee, who actually served on the search advisory group, had any part in the search process. Some candidates who reportedly “turned down” the Auburn job were never even offered the job. One candidate that made these statements never even had an interview, much less an offer.

That last line is especially specific toward UAB’s Bill Clark who claimed that he turned down the offer from Auburn because he would not have full autonomy of the coaching staff.

Per a report by AL.com, Clark was never offered the position but did have some talks with Auburn while Louisiana’s Billy Napier reportedly turned down the position to stay with the Ragin’ Cajuns.

The search ended with the hiring of Boise State’s Bryan Harsin. Gogue and Harsin appear to have already spoken on what evolved during the search.

Coach Harsin and I agree on many things and one thing is that much of what you see and read on social media are opinions or statements that are simply not based on fact. I regret that these comments hurt our university and many good Auburn people. Free speech is a treasured American right, but the Auburn family should also have the right to know the facts.

Report: Bryan Harsin to meet Auburn team for first time on Saturday

New Auburn head coach Bryan Harsin is expected to meet with the Tigers for the first time on Saturday.

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Current Auburn players will get their first impression of new head coach Bryan Harsin on Saturday as he is expected to meet with the team when they return to campus to began prep for the Citrus Bowl against Northwestern, Auburn Undercover reported.

Harsin was named the 27th head coach at Auburn on Tuesday night after an eight-day search following the dismissal of Gus Malzahn. His introductory press conference will also take place on Saturday with the time to be announced.

In seven season at Boise State, Harsin led the Broncos to a 69-19 record, three Mountain West conference titles and three bowl wins. Given the freedom to control who is on the staff, it will be intriguing over the next week or so to find out who, if any, of the current coaches left over from the Malzahn staff will continue with the Tigers.

Twitter goes crazy as Bryan Harsin is named Auburn’s 27th head coach

Twitter went crazy after Auburn hired Boise State’s Bryan Harsin as head coach.

Ladies and gentlemen, we’ve got a new head coach. Auburn hired Boise State’s Bryan Harsin on Tuesday making him the 27th head coach in Auburn history. Harsin leaves Boise State with a 69-19 head coaching record and three Mountain West championships.

Needless to say, Auburn fans everywhere were relieved and 99% are pretty excited about the hire. Let’s go to Twitter for the reactions:

And last but certainly not least, a thread reaction gif for your enjoyment.

New energy. New head coach. War eagle!

Plane tracking Auburn football’s quest for Bryan Harsin at Boise State

Plane tracking the Auburn football coaching search upon reaching an agreement with Boise State’s Bryan Harsin

Tuesday, news broke that the Auburn football program would look to Boise State’s Bryan Harsin as the successor to Gus Malzahn at head coach.

After a week filled with drama and headlines for the Tigers, the program appears to finally have a candidate interested in taking the available position on ‘The Plains.’

UGAWire decided to fire up the ‘ole planetracker for a variety of Alabama airports upon hearing the news.

Coincidentally, it looks as though a plane is currently headed to Prattville, Alabama out of Boise, Idaho.

Now, before you jump to conclusions that this could be any regular delivery jet, a rental plane arrived in Boise at 1:00 ET this afternoon.

Within the hour of the news breaking on Harsin to Auburn, a new plane took off headed back to Prattville.

Of course, this isn’t 100% confirmed to be related to Auburn, but who else is traveling to Boise, Idaho out of a private airport in the Alabama countryside  where several boosters for the school reside, on a NetJet.

Let’s speculate for a minute. The plane that went out to Boise likely delivered powerful members of the Auburn search committee and or boosters to work out a contract with Harsin.

Upon reaching an agreement, the Auburn people out in Boise are headed back East and now have two destinations tonight.

First, the returning NetJet plane is scheduled to arrive in Prattville at 10:30 ET. Then, the jet will take off again for Atlanta at Peachtree Dekalb Airport, with a scheduled arrival of midnight ET.

What does all this mean?

Well, it could very well be powerful members of the Auburn board/boosters arriving in Prattville tonight, with the remaining members of the search committee going back to Atlanta.

Remember, the Tigers announced last week that they would use a committee headed out of the Peach State capital for their hiring process.

Stay tuned, folks… We might be onto something here… (wink, wink)

Oh and if you feel up to a little plane tracking yourself… click the link shown here: