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If you didn’t hear the news late on Thursday night, a report began making the rounds suggesting a change at the head of the Auburn Football program. Just one season on The Plains might be enough for head coach Bryan Harsin. While no move has been made as of yet, we’re just spit ballin’ some ideas about who could replace him if a change is made.
When it was speculated that Jim Harbaugh might make the jump from the Michigan Wolverines to the Minnesota Vikings, Carolina Panthers head coach Matt Rhule was mentioned. Prior to his current stint in the NFL, he was the head coach at Temple and Baylor. He turned both programs around before moving on to bigger and better things.
Rhule took Temple to back-to-back 10-win seasons in 2015 and 2016. He left for the Baylor Bears of the Big 12, where Rhule finished that first season 1-11. In year two the Bears finished 7-6 and won the Texas Bowl. In his final season in Waco, Rhule finished 11-3 with a trip to a New Years Six bowl appearance. Unfortunately, they lost the Sugar Bowl in 2019 to the Georgia Bulldogs, 26-14.
In both of his college stints as a head coach, Rhule took over programs that achieved two or fewer wins in the first season and by the end of his tenure won double-digit games in the final season. He may not be the sexy pick but Rhule has proven to win wherever he has been at the collegiate level. Perhaps after two lackluster seasons at the NFL level, he realized the grass isn’t always greener.
Rhule has never worked in the SEC but neither did Harsin. At least with the former, he was an AP Coach of the Year and led a Power Five program. Back in October, Fox College Football analyst Joel Katt stated that perhaps Rhule isn’t “all in” on the NFL.
“I’ve been told that Matt Rhule is not… all the way in on the NFL moving forward”, Klatt said. “He could potentially come back down to college and take one of these jobs.”
With the jobs that were open, you could see why Rhule might have been interested. There was also speculation that Penn State could become open if James Franklin opted for another program. He inked a new deal to stay in Happy Valley. That would have been intriguing for Rhule since he once played and coached for the Nittany Lions.
Could Auburn entice him to leave Charlotte? I guess we will have to wait and see if the Tigers do move on from Harsin. It is something to keep on the backburner for now.