Report: Texas A&M football team set to hire Wesley McGriff from Auburn as co-defensive backs coach

Per Billy Lucci of TexAgs, Mike Elko is set to hire Auburn defensive backs coach Wesley McGriff to join his staff alongside Ishmael Aristide.

With so many versatile playmakers in college football, and especially the SEC, having dependable defensive backs is key to having a great team.

The Texas A&M football program now reportedly has two coaches to lead their speediest defenders. Mike Elko is set to hire Auburn defensive backs coach Wesley McGriff to join his staff, per Billy Liucci of TexAgs.

McGriff will work alongside Ishmael Aristide, who was hired earlier this month to coach cornerbacks. Aristide followed Elko from Durham after coaching on his Duke staff for one season.

As Liucci pointed out on X, McGriff comes to College Station with more than just SEC coaching experience, he is also a talented recruiter who has developed elite prospects into dependable NFL players.

McGriff had three separate stints with the Tigers in 2016, 2019 to 2020 and in 2022. He served as the secondary coach at Lousiville in 2021. McGriff also has previous experience at Florida and Ole Miss.

Contact/Follow us @AggiesWire on X and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Texas A&M news, notes and opinions. Follow Shaun on Twitter: @Shaun_Holkko.

Invoking horror films? Anonymous SEC Coaches once again comment on the Jimbo Fisher, Bobby Petrino alliance

Ahead of the first season of Jimbo Fisher/Bobby Petrino, the Aggies have become the target of baseless criticisms from anonymous SEC coaches.

It wouldn’t be the college football offseason without drumming up news concerning the still unscathed marriage between Texas A&M Head Coach Jimbo Fisher and new offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino. Again, these two have yet to take the field together outside of April’s Maroon and White Spring Game, but that won’t stop anonymous SEC coaches from throwing out their verbal haymakers ahead of the Aggies’ critical 2023 season.

Lindy Sports’ 2023 preseason magazine featured several firmly held opinions from various coaches regarding every team in the SEC, with a clear focus on Texas A&M after finishing the 2022 camping in underwhelming fashion at 5-7 and 2-6 in conference play.

So, out of all the hot takes presented, which stuck like a sore thumb? Think Freddy Krueger.

“The Jimbo Fisher/Bobby Petrino marriage: Sounds like a Nightmare on Elm Street scenario, doesn’t it? I know ’em both and they’re both single minded,” one SEC coach stated. “It’ll be interesting to see if Jimbo will keep his butt out of the way. Petrino is not a feel good, Mr. Happy type of guy, but he’s a great offensive mind.”

Jimbo Fisher’s ego, like every head coach in the country, of course, played a part in his inability to relinquish the play-calling duties until poor results on the field continued to pile up, leading to what many consider a “boom or bust” hire in Bobby Petrino, most recently the head coach at FCS Missouri State.

But let’s be honest and forthright with every reader out there whenever this relationship is brought up during the 2023 season: The quarterback position, most notably sophomore signal caller Conner Weigman’s development under Petrino’s guidance will ultimately make your break the future of this coaching tandem, especially when the roster is as talented and experienced as it has been during Jimbo Fisher’s tenure with the program.

Contact/Follow us @AggiesWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Texas A&M news, notes, and opinions. Follow Cameron on Twitter: @CameronOhnysty.

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Via Athlon Sports, SEC football coaches provide their opinions on Texas A&M ahead of the 2023 season

From Athlon Sports, Various SEC football coaches provide honest opinions on Jimbo Fisher and Texas A&M ahead of the 2023 CFB season.

Since Jimbo Fisher arrived in College Station, Texas A&M has slowly become a favorite team to hate among fan bases outside the Texas Longhorns. After the Aggies signed what is still considered the most significant recruiting class of all time in 2022, the hatred grew tenfold.

Well, usually, the reason a program is historically disliked is due to their consistent success on the field, so after the Aggies’ 5-7 (2-6 SEC) 2022 season, all Fisher could hear, both literally and figuratively, was laughter based in ridicule outside of the fanbases utter disbelief, so heading into what a pivotal 2023 season, all eyes will be on the Maroon and White this fall.

This week, a portion of Athlon Sports’ 2023 preseason preview focused on the collective voice of various SEC football coaches’ thoughts and opinions on every one of the 14 conference teams ahead of the season, and for Texas A&M, nothing, and I mean nothing was left out concerning A&M’s enormous potential to either succeed or fail once again in the always brutal SEC schedule.

Texas A&M’s immensely talented roster featured notable returned veterans on offense and defense. Yet, the slightly controversial hiring of Bobby Petrino as the new offensive coordinator has remained the primary talking point of most of the media and, apparently, every SEC coach.

“The (Bobby) Petrino experiment (at offensive coordinator) is absolutely a must-watch in the coaching community. We’re all dying to see how those two dudes work together. Or not. Jimbo (Fisher) told all the candidates for the OC job they’d actually be play-calling, so let’s see if he can hold off and not try to manage the book. Offensively, they were awful last year when you think about the talent have. … Defensively, they’re really strong. DJ (Durkin) is really impressive and has built a really strong unit there, and even with the turnover, we think they’ll be strong. This is a roster where everyone talks about NIL as a bad thing. They have culture issues and it shows on their sideline in games.”

Where I agree: Jimbo Fisher’s assumed transition to more of a game manager role while handing off most (hopefully all) of the play-calling duties to Petrino is the right move and should result in consistent offensive production.  And yes, Durkin’s new role as linebacker coach should do wonders for a group that woefully underperformed last season, while the defensive line and secondary are highly competent units.

Rising sophomore star safety Bryce Anderson’s post-Maroon and White Spring quote completely squashed the “rotten culture” argument. Anderson eloquently stated that certain members who disrupted the program’s positive team philosophy have left through the transfer portal.

“Cause I feel like that this team is committed… like last year some of the young guys were kind of like ‘loose in the head’ they weren’t really focused. But I feel this year, we coming out, everybody’s ready to practice, everybody wants to practice like it’s a whole different mindset this year.”

Trust the players who play the game, and know that before the 2022 season’s rollercoaster ride, they made us all sick; culture was never an issue, and from everything we’ve seen so far in the offseason, this team is ready to prove every doubter wrong from start to finish.

Contact/Follow us @AggiesWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Texas A&M news, notes, and opinions. Follow Cameron on Twitter: @CameronOhnysty.

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Greg McElroy ranks Brian Kelly as the 3rd-best coach in the SEC

Are McElroy’s rankings fair?

LSU fans have become familiar with Greg McElroy.

Between his playing days at Alabama and his commentator role with ESPN, which saw him call several LSU games in 2022, there’s been a solid dose of McElroy in Baton Rouge.

He recently ranked the best coaches in the SEC, where he placed Brian Kelly third. You can probably guess his top two — Nick Saban and Kirby Smart.

On Kelly, McElroy said, “To see how much that teams improved throughout the course of the season was remarkable.”

It’s a fair ranking for Kelly, a proven winner that has yet to reach the same heights as Saban and Smart. But that’s why Kelly came to LSU. He felt working with SEC resources will allow him to compete at the highest level. Kelly knocked off Saban in Year 1 but fell short in the SEC title against Georgia.

Behind Kelly, McElroy rounded out his top five with Lane Kiffin and Josh Heupel.

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Contact/Follow us @LSUTigersWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Louisiana State news, notes, and opinions.

Follow Tyler to continue the conversation on Twitter: @TylerNettuno

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Ranking the SEC coaching jobs following the Texas and OU move

The SEC is home to some of the best coaching jobs in college football.

The Southeastern Conference is considered the premier college football conference in the country, and as a result, coaching jobs in the SEC are highly coveted.

Texas and Oklahoma are transitioning to the SEC for the 2024 season, adding two more excellent coaching jobs to the conference. Both schools hold proud transitions of success and a strong passion for college football.

Steve Sarkisian and Brent Venables are early in their careers with Texas and Oklahoma but are thrown into a new challenge in the SEC.

Expectations in the SEC are higher than any other conference in the nation. SEC teams have won six of the nine national championships in the College Football Playoff era. Texas and Oklahoma want to take part in the SEC’s championship pedigree.

Here is a look at a ranking of all 16 SEC football coaching jobs into four tiers, based on factors such as the prestige of the program, the resources available and the recent success of the team.

Brian Kelly would support an expanded SEC schedule

“The more SEC games, the better for me,” Kelly said.

Things are about to change considerably in the SEC.

What exactly those changes will be, we can only speculate at this point. But with Oklahoma and Texas joining the conference — by 2025 at the latest but likely sooner — we could see a shakeup to the conference’s entire structure.

It has been assumed that the league will choose to scrap the division format, likely replacing it with some sort of pod system, not entirely dissimilar to the scheduling model the ACC will move to starting next fall. With the scheduling revamp, it seems likely the SEC will look to add a ninth SEC contest to the schedule, a move that has already been made in the Big Ten and Big 12.

Speaking on the SEC coaches teleconference call on Wednesday, LSU coach [autotag]Brian Kelly[/autotag] said he would welcome an expanded conference slate.

“I came to the SEC to play SEC games,” Kelly said. “The more SEC games, the better for me. That’s just my personal opinion, I want to play SEC teams. The more we can play SEC-caliber teams, the better it is for me.”

If the conference chose to add an extra game, it would mean more frequent contests against cross-divisional opponents. Tennessee, for example, comes to Tiger Stadium this Saturday for what will be just its second contest against LSU since 2011.

Meanwhile, the Tigers have played Florida every season since 1971, and that is their only current protected cross-division rivalry.

With the SEC set to expand to 16 teams, it seems like an inevitability that the league will look to add one more conference game to the mix. If/when that happens, that move will have at least one supporter in Kelly.

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Contact/Follow us @LSUTigersWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Louisiana State news, notes, and opinions.

Follow Tyler to continue the conversation on Twitter: @TylerNettuno

SEC Coaches Against The Spread: Ranked From Best To Worst. Who Covers?

SEC Football Coaches Against The Spread: Who are the best and worst SEC coaches when it comes to covering?

How good are all of the SEC head coaches against the spread? Going from best to worst, here’s who covers and who doesn’t.


Contact/Follow @ColFootballNews & @RichCirminiello

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Nick Saban might be the greatest college football coach of all-time – or close to it – but do his teams cover the spread?

How do all the SEC head coaches do against the spread, and on the road ATS, and going over on the point total?

If you like to invest, here’s everything you need to know about all 14 current SEC head coaches and how they do against the lines.

One important note, all of these stats only reflect how all the coaches have done on their current SEC teams. Two exceptions for the new guys – Billy Napier’s time at Louisiana and Brian Kelly’s era at Notre Dame are counted.

Who covers – and sometimes more importantly – who doesn’t?

1. Sam Pittman, Arkansas

ATS Record (since 2020)

ATS Overall: 15-7-1 (67.4%)
On Extra Rest: 4-1
vs. Ranked: 8-3
After Win: 7-3-1
After Loss: 6-4
Home: 7-5
Road: 6-2-1
Favorite: 4-3-1
Underdog: 11-4
Home Favorite: 3-3
Home Dog: 4-2
Road Favorite: 0-0-1
Road Dog: 6-2
vs. Conference: 11-6-1
Non-conference: 4-1

Over/Under (to the over)

Overall: 11-12
On Extra Rest: 3-2
vs. Ranked: 6-5
Home: 5-7
Road: 6-3
Favorite: 4-4
Underdog: 7-8
Home Favorite: 4-2
Home Dog: 1-5
Road Favorite: 0-1
Road Dog: 6-2
Conference: 8-10
Non-conference: 3-2
Arkansas Preview | Top 10 PlayersSchedule Analysis

2. Jimbo Fisher, Texas A&M

ATS Record (since 2018)

ATS Overall: 29-19 (60.4%)
On Extra Rest: 4-6
vs. Ranked: 9-8
After Win: 18-12
After Loss: 7-6
Home: 17-8
Road: 10-6
Favorite: 23-14
Underdog: 6-5
Home Favorite: 14-7
Home Dog: 3-1
Road Favorite: 7-2
Road Dog: 3-4
vs. Conference: 17-16
Non-conference: 12-3

Over/Under (to the over)

Overall: 21-26-1
On Extra Rest: 3-7
vs. Ranked: 8-8-1
Home: 14-10-1
Road: 5-11
Favorite: 14-22-1
Underdog: 7-4
Home Favorite: 10-10-1
Home Dog: 4-0
Road Favorite: 2-7
Road Dog: 3-4
Conference: 13-19-1
Non-conference: 8-7
A&M Preview | Top 10 PlayersSchedule Analysis

3. Kirby Smart, Georgia

ATS Record (since 2016)

ATS Overall: 47-34 (58%)
On Extra Rest: 7-5
vs. Ranked: 22-13
After Win: 35-27
After Loss: 8-4
Home: 15-20
Road: 18-8
Favorite: 40-30
Underdog: 7-4
Home Favorite: 13-20
Home Dog: 2-0
Road Favorite: 17-6
Road Dog: 1-2
vs. Conference: 32-23
Non-conference: 15-11

Over/Under (to the over)

Overall: 35-45-1
On Extra Rest: 4-7
vs. Ranked: 12-22-1
Home: 13-22
Road: 15-11
Favorite: 30-39-1
Underdog: 5-6
Home Favorite: 12-21
Home Dog: 1-1
Road Favorite: 14-9
Road Dog: 1-2
Conference: 25-29-1
Non-conference: 10-16
UGA Preview | Top 10 PlayersSchedule Analysis

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4. Billy Napier, Florida

*ULL ATS record since 2018

ATS Overall: 29-23-1 (55.7%)
On Extra Rest: 4-5
vs. Ranked: 2-3
After Win: 20-18
After Loss: 6-4-1
Home: 12-10-1
Road: 15-10
Favorite: 17-18-1
Underdog: 12-5
Home Favorite: 9-10-1
Home Dog: 3-0
Road Favorite: 7-6
Road Dog: 8-4
vs. Conference: 17-17-1
Non-conference: 12-6

Over/Under (to the over)

Overall: 21-31-1
On Extra Rest: 2-6-1
vs. Ranked: 3-2
Home: 6-17
Road: 12-13
Favorite: 13-22-1
Underdog: 8-9
Home Favorite: 5-15
Home Dog: 1-2
Road Favorite: 7-6
Road Dog: 5-7
Conference: 10-25
Non-conference: 11-6-1
UF Preview | Top 10 PlayersSchedule Analysis

6. Lane Kiffin, Ole Miss

ATS Record (since 2020)

ATS Overall: 12-10-1 (54.3%)
On Extra Rest: 1-5
vs. Ranked: 3-5
After Win: 7-4-1
After Loss: 4-3
Home: 6-5-1
Road: 4-4
Favorite: 7-6-1
Underdog: 5-4
Home Favorite: 4-3-1
Home Dog: 2-2
Road Favorite: 2-2
Road Dog: 2-2
vs. Conference: 8-9
Non-conference: 4-1-1

Over/Under (to the over)

Overall: 9-14
On Extra Rest: 3-3
vs. Ranked: 3-5
Home: 6-6
Road: 3-5
Favorite: 6-8
Underdog: 3-6
Home Favorite: 4-4
Home Dog: 2-2
Road Favorite: 2-2
Road Dog: 1-3
Conference: 7-10
Non-conference: 2-4
Ole Miss Preview | Top 10 PlayersSchedule Analysis

7. Brian Kelly, LSU

*Notre Dame ATS record since 2010

ATS Overall: 81-70-3 (53.6%)
On Extra Rest: 15-13
vs. Ranked: 26-23
After Win: 57-48-3
After Loss: 18-16
Home: 39-36-2
Road: 27-23-1
Favorite: 59-55-3
Underdog: 22-15
Home Favorite: 33-33-2
Home Dog: 6-3
Road Favorite: 17-17-1
Road Dog: 10-6
vs. Conference: 0-0
Non-conference: 81-70-3

Over/Under (to the over)

Overall: 67-86-1
On Extra Rest: 11-17
vs. Ranked: 20-29
Home: 32-45
Road: 24-26-1
Favorite: 51-65-1
Underdog: 16-21
Home Favorite: 30-38
Home Dog: 2-7
Road Favorite: 17-17-1
Road Dog: 7-9
Conference: 0-0
Non-conference: 67-86-1
LSU Preview | Top 10 PlayersSchedule Analysis

T8. Shane Beamer, South Carolina

ATS Record (since 2021)

ATS Overall: 6-6-1 (50%)
On Extra Rest: 2-0
vs. Ranked: 1-1
After Win: 1-4-1
After Loss: 4-2
Home: 4-3
Road: 1-3-1
Favorite: 2-1-1
Underdog: 4-5
Home Favorite: 2-1
Home Dog: 2-2
Road Favorite: 0-0-1
Road Dog: 1-3
vs. Conference: 3-5
Non-conference: 3-1-1

Over/Under (to the over)

Overall: 6-7
On Extra Rest: 2-0
vs. Ranked: 2-0
Home: 1-6
Road: 4-1
Favorite: 0-4
Underdog: 6-3
Home Favorite: 0-3
Home Dog: 1-3
Road Favorite: 0-1
Road Dog: 4-0
Conference: 5-3
Non-conference: 1-4
USC Preview | Top 10 PlayersSchedule Analysis

T8. Clark Lea, Vanderbilt

ATS Record (since 2021)

ATS Overall: 6-6 (50%)
On Extra Rest: 1-0
vs. Ranked: 1-2
After Win: 0-2
After Loss: 6-3
Home: 2-5
Road: 4-1
Favorite: 0-2
Underdog: 6-4
Home Favorite: 0-2
Home Dog: 2-3
Road Favorite: 0-0
Road Dog: 4-1
vs. Conference: 5-3
Non-conference: 1-3

Over/Under (to the over)

Overall: 5-7
On Extra Rest: 0-1
vs. Ranked: 1-2
Home: 4-3
Road: 1-4
Favorite: 1-1
Underdog: 4-6
Home Favorite: 1-1
Home Dog: 3-2
Road Favorite: 0-0
Road Dog: 1-4
Conference: 3-5
Non-conference: 2-2
Vandy Preview | Top 10 PlayersSchedule Analysis

T8. Mike Leach, Mississippi State

ATS Record (since 2020)

ATS Overall: 12-12 (50%)
On Extra Rest: 2-4
vs. Ranked: 6-4
After Win: 6-4
After Loss: 5-6
Home: 4-8
Road: 7-3
Favorite: 4-6
Underdog: 8-6
Home Favorite: 2-4
Home Dog: 2-4
Road Favorite: 1-1
Road Dog: 6-2
vs. Conference: 9-9
Non-conference: 3-3

Over/Under (to the over)

Overall: 10-14
On Extra Rest: 2-4
vs. Ranked: 6-4
Home: 4-8
Road: 5-5
Favorite: 4-6
Underdog: 6-8
Home Favorite: 3-3
Home Dog: 1-5
Road Favorite: 0-2
Road Dog: 5-3
Conference: 7-11
Non-conference: 3-3
Miss St Preview | Top 10 PlayersSchedule Analysis

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11. Mark Stoops, Kentucky

ATS Record (since 2013)

ATS Overall: 53-58-1 (47.8%)
On Extra Rest: 7-11-1
vs. Ranked: 16-12-1
After Win: 32-22-1
After Loss: 18-30
Home: 30-33
Road: 20-22
Favorite: 23-25-1
Underdog: 29-33
Home Favorite: 20-19
Home Dog: 9-14
Road Favorite: 3-4
Road Dog: 17-18
vs. Conference: 34-40
Non-conference: 19-18-1

Over/Under (to the over)

Overall: 57-55
On Extra Rest: 7-12
vs. Ranked: 13-16
Home: 39-24
Road: 15-27
Favorite: 29-20
Underdog: 28-34
Home Favorite: 26-13
Home Dog: 13-10
Road Favorite: 2-5
Road Dog: 13-22
Conference: 31-43
Non-conference: 26-12
UK Preview | Top 10 PlayersSchedule Analysis

12. Bryan Harsin, Auburn

ATS Record (since 2021)

ATS Overall: 6-7 (46.2%)
On Extra Rest: 1-1
vs. Ranked: 3-4
After Win: 3-3
After Loss: 2-4
Home: 4-3
Road: 2-3
Favorite: 3-3
Underdog: 3-4
Home Favorite: 3-2
Home Dog: 1-1
Road Favorite: 0-1
Road Dog: 2-2
vs. Conference: 4-4
Non-conference: 2-3

Over/Under (to the over)

Overall: 5-8
On Extra Rest: 0-2
vs. Ranked: 1-6
Home: 4-3
Road: 1-4
Favorite: 4-2
Underdog: 1-6
Home Favorite: 4-1
Home Dog: 0-2
Road Favorite: 0-1
Road Dog: 1-3
Conference: 2-6
Non-conference: 3-2
Auburn Preview | Top 10 PlayersSchedule Analysis

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13. Eli Drinkwitz, Missouri

ATS Record (since 2020)

ATS Overall: 9-14 (39.1%)
On Extra Rest: 4-2
vs. Ranked: 3-5
After Win: 4-7
After Loss: 3-6
Home: 6-7
Road: 2-7
Favorite: 3-7
Underdog: 6-7
Home Favorite: 2-5
Home Dog: 4-2
Road Favorite: 1-2
Road Dog: 1-5
vs. Conference: 8-10
Non-conference: 1-4

Over/Under (to the over)

Overall: 12-11
On Extra Rest: 3-3
vs. Ranked: 3-5
Home: 8-5
Road: 4-5
Favorite: 7-3
Underdog: 5-8
Home Favorite: 5-2
Home Dog: 3-3
Road Favorite: 2-1
Road Dog: 2-4
Conference: 9-9
Non-conference: 3-2
Missouri Preview | Top 10 PlayersSchedule Analysis

14. Josh Heupel, Tennessee

ATS Record (since 2021)

ATS Overall: 5-8 (38.5%)
On Extra Rest: 1-1
vs. Ranked: 1-4
After Win: 1-6
After Loss: 4-1
Home: 3-5
Road: 2-2
Favorite: 4-3
Underdog: 1-5
Home Favorite: 3-2
Home Dog: 0-3
Road Favorite: 1-0
Road Dog: 1-2
vs. Conference: 3-5
Non-conference: 2-3

Over/Under (to the over)

Overall: 10-3
On Extra Rest: 2-0
vs. Ranked: 3-2
Home: 6-2
Road: 3-1
Favorite: 6-1
Underdog: 4-2
Home Favorite: 4-1
Home Dog: 2-1
Road Favorite: 1-0
Road Dog: 2-1
Conference: 6-2
Non-conference: 4-1
UT Preview | Top 10 PlayersSchedule Analysis

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2022 College Football Schedules: All 131 Teams

Sam Pittman is the seventh best coach in SEC? That’s what Barrett Sallee says at CBS

Sam Pittman has a chance to climb the rankings further if Arkansas duplicates last year’s success.

Maybe let’s chalk it up to just two seasons on the job.

But otherwise, it’s hard to imagine Arkansas coach Sam Pittman as being only the seventh best coach in the SEC.

That’s where Pittman was slotted, though, in CBS Sports analyst Barrett Sallee’s power rankings of the league’s 14 coaches. It’s a step up of four spots from Sallee’s placing of Pittman last year and it ranks Pittman 22nd overall in FBS.

Pittman is headed into his third season as head coach of the Razorbacks after taking over for Chad Morris after the 2019 season. Arkansas went 3-7 in Pittman’s first year, then 9-4 last year, which included an Outback Bowl win over Penn State.

Arkansas is expected to be ranked in, or near, the preseason Top 25 when the season begins in September.

Here is Sallee’s complete list.

Does Bryan Harsin survive the 2022 season? Anonymous SEC coaches weigh in

Harsin’s odds to return as Auburn’s coach in 2023 aren’t high says a trio of his SEC coaching peers.

The start to [autotag]Bryan Harsin[/autotag]’s tenure at Auburn began promising but took a wild turn halfway through the 2021 season.

After starting the season with a 6-2 record, Auburn would finish the season with five straight losses, which included a 17-13 loss to Houston in the Birmingham Bowl.

The rough end to the season carried over to the offseason, as Harsin battled a coup by Auburn boosters who aimed to remove him from his position.

He survived the attempt, and everyone seemed to move past it. But, how much longer does Harsin survive? A trio of SEC coaches weighed in.

In the Athlon Sports College Football Preview Magazine, anonymous coaches spoke on the drama surrounding Harsin, and what he will have to do this season to remain the Tigers’ head coach in 2023.

One coach says that the offseason spectacle has hurt, and will continue to hurt the program in the world of recruiting.

“You could argue a lot of the wounds they’re nursing are self-inflicted by both the head coach and the people around the program,” said one anonymous coach. “It certainly drove coaches and players out of the program, and it absolutely made it easier to recruit against them.”

While Harsin’s back is against the wall from the recruiting standpoint, another coach says that the current on-field product will suffer this season as well.

“As far as the football, they need a quarterback, they need a much better offensive line, they need to replace a ton of guys in the secondary and receiving corps, and they’ve bled a lot of Gus Malzahn’s guys in the portal because of all the off-field stuff.”

Harsin looks to rebuild his image, as well as the Auburn football program in 2023 by getting a fresh start with the addition of five new coaches, including two new coordinators.

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Where does Brian Kelly rank among SEC coaches in 2022?

On3’s Jesse Simonton ranked Kelly as the league’s third-best coach this fall.

Normally, you would expect that a first-year SEC coach would fall near the bottom of any preseason coaching rankings list.

This is the most difficult league in the country, and it chews up and spits out more coaches than you can count. The average coach generally faces a significant learning curve.

But [autotag]Brian Kelly[/autotag] is not your average first-year SEC coach. With a head coaching career spanning decades, Kelly is the third-winningest active coach in the FBS. He came to LSU to win a national title, and he’s proven that he’s one of the best coaches in the country.

That’s why in these recent SEC coaching rankings from On3’s Jesse Simonton, Kelly ranked third — just behind [autotag]Nick Saban[/autotag] and [autotag]Kirby Smart[/autotag] while sitting one spot ahead of a national championship-winning coach in [autotag]Jimbo Fisher[/autotag].

Here’s Simonton’s take.

Considering just four active head coaches in all of college football have a national championship on their resume, it may seem blasphemous to slot Kelly ahead of Fisher, but this is a what-have-you-done-for-me-lately set of rankings. Kelly bolted South Bend for Baton Rouge for a better chance to win his own ring, but he did win at least 10 games the last five years with the Irish — something Fisher hasn’t done once yet with the Aggies. Kelly does enter Year 1 with the Tigers in an interesting spot, though, as the talk of titles (re: the reasoning he left Notre Dame) has overshadowed LSU’s actual expectations in 2022.

Kelly certainly orchestrated an impressive run over the last few years in South Bend, and now that he’s inheriting a program with a wider talent pool to choose from, it’s natural that expectations are high.

The Tigers may have some growing pains in Year 1, but they should have a coach who is well equipped to manage those challenges.

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