Harsins future

[AUght2win 6,833]

21 minutes ago, woodford said:

They need to win 8 games AND make great strides in recruiting. 
 

Unless something drastic changes I just don’t see it. Hope I’m wrong. 

Don’t think he needs 8. Just 7 in regular season with a shot at 8 in the bowl. 

[AuCivilEng1 11,000]

1 minute ago, AUght2win said:

Don’t think he needs 8. Just 7 in regular season with a shot at 8 in the bowl. 

Agree with this and he needs to be in the top 10 recruiting and have 3 or more olineman that aren’t 3*

[AUght2win 6,833]

12 minutes ago, AuCivilEng1 said:

Agree with this and he needs to be in the top 10 recruiting and have 3 or more olineman that aren’t 3*

He won’t be top 10. I’ll take top 15 with needs met.

[AuCivilEng1 11,000]

2 minutes ago, AUght2win said:

He won’t be top 10. I’ll take top 15 with needs met.

If he’s not top 10 then he’s middle of the sec and he’s just never going to have the talent he needs to beat Alabama, Georgia, A&M, Florida and LSU. Which means we need to get used to Gus like mediocrity. Auburn needs to set tue bar high and commit to providing the resources or we aren’t ever going to do better and middle of the pack.

[Strychnine 1,802]

44 minutes ago, woodford said:

They need to win 8 games AND make great strides in recruiting. 
 

Unless something drastic changes I just don’t see it. Hope I’m wrong. 

 

To me, recruiting and the how/why of W/L, are more important than the 2nd year W/L itself.  The differences between 5-7, 6-6, and 9-3 can consist entirely of flukes, but recruiting tells us where he really has the program at, and where it is going.  A significant recruiting improvement is an absolute requirement, in order to build what he claims to want to build.  I can live with another 6-6 (or even worse) regular season, if the team was competitive, and there is an excellent recruiting class behind it.  Show me that the foundation for a program that competes for championships has been laid, and I can be patient.

[cbo 7,835]

If Harsin wins the national championship and only recruits one OL, I want him fired. 

I'm not completely sure if I'm kidding. 

[woodford 3,655]

1 hour ago, AUght2win said:

Don’t think he needs 8. Just 7 in regular season with a shot at 8 in the bowl. 

7-5 would suck. I know that’s best case at the moment but still. Blowout losses in Athens and Tuscaloosa. Probably a fat L when PSU comes to town. Horrible for recruiting. 

[woodford 3,655]

1 hour ago, Strychnine said:

 

To me, recruiting and the how/why of W/L, are more important than the 2nd year W/L itself.  The differences between 5-7, 6-6, and 9-3 can consist entirely of flukes, but recruiting tells us where he really has the program at, and where it is going.  A significant recruiting improvement is an absolute requirement, in order to build what he claims to want to build.  I can live with another 6-6 (or even worse) regular season, if the team was competitive, and there is an excellent recruiting class behind it.  Show me that the foundation for a program that competes for championships has been laid, and I can be patient.

You’re more patient than I. If Auburn is stumbling in November with 5 wins why would 4 and 5 stars even look our way?

If Auburn’s losses are all by a point or so maybe but I don’t see how a losing program pulls in a top 10-15 class when it wasn’t great to begin with in his first year. 
 

The math doesn’t check out. We just need to hope to God we get some OL transfers so we have a prayer running the ball. 

[DAG 33,977]

8 wins. We left a couple of wins on the field big time last year and I think with a healthy Bo we get to that threshold. Let’s not become prisoners of the moment. There is no excuse to not get to 8 wins. The mulligan was last year 

[AuburnNTexas 7,140]

3 hours ago, W.E.D said:

Recruiting has to be taken into account. 

If he's 5-7 with a top 10 class and looking to close strong, we can look to the future. 

If we have a poor record and shut out of the loaded Alabama class, we'll have issues.

I agree with most of this but I think a top half of the SEC recruiting class and it doesn't matter to me if we get any of the top players from Alabama. That doesn't mean I don't want them but with what just happened plus how strong bama always recruits Alabama I think any we beat bama for instate is gravy.  If we have 5-7 record we need to be in top 10. if we win 7 or more games we might be able to live with top 12 recruiting class in the nation. 

[AUght2win 6,833]

1 hour ago, AuCivilEng1 said:

If he’s not top 10 then he’s middle of the sec and he’s just never going to have the talent he needs to beat Alabama, Georgia, A&M, Florida and LSU. Which means we need to get used to Gus like mediocrity. Auburn needs to set tue bar high and commit to providing the resources or we aren’t ever going to do better and middle of the pack.

I don’t think top 10 is a fair expectation after all that’s happened. It’s at least possible Harsin could and should one day recruit at that level. But it won’t happen this year in the wake of this mess. He was top 20 this year, needs to be top 15 next year, and then Top 10 in year 3.

[AUght2win 6,833]

1 hour ago, Strychnine said:

 

To me, recruiting and the how/why of W/L, are more important than the 2nd year W/L itself.  The differences between 5-7, 6-6, and 9-3 can consist entirely of flukes, but recruiting tells us where he really has the program at, and where it is going.  A significant recruiting improvement is an absolute requirement, in order to build what he claims to want to build.  I can live with another 6-6 (or even worse) regular season, if the team was competitive, and there is an excellent recruiting class behind it.  Show me that the foundation for a program that competes for championships has been laid, and I can be patient.

He used up all his how’s and why’s last year. Enough excuses used on Bo’s injury and targeting calls. We need a guy who can overcome adversity and not let games come down to flukes. Seven wins or it’ll prove that Harsin can’t win regardless of talent. 

[W.E.D 11,070]

2 hours ago, AUght2win said:

Don’t think he needs 8. Just 7 in regular season with a shot at 8 in the bowl. 

Gus live high off 8-5

[W.E.D 11,070]

41 minutes ago, DAG said:

8 wins. We left a couple of wins on the field big time last year and I think with a healthy Bo we get to that threshold. Let’s not become prisoners of the moment. There is no excuse to not get to 8 wins. The mulligan was last year 

I fight internally over our actual record last year vs what next year can be.  Agree with you, a healthy QB and we have 3 more wins and were 9-4.  But at the same time everyone around us got better and it seemed we bleed out with transfers.  UGA/Bama are out of our class, everyone else is probably "winnable".  1 #1 recruiting class doesn't make the aggies some perennial power house.  They still went 8-4 and not much better than our season if we had a healthy QB.

[Strychnine 1,802]

43 minutes ago, woodford said:

You’re more patient than I. If Auburn is stumbling in November with 5 wins why would 4 and 5 stars even look our way?

If Auburn’s losses are all by a point or so maybe but I don’t see how a losing program pulls in a top 10-15 class when it wasn’t great to begin with in his first year. 
 

The math doesn’t check out. We just need to hope to God we get some OL transfers so we have a prayer running the ball. 

 

I am patient, if I see signs that things are moving in the right direction.  I am currently on the fence.  If his 2nd year shows that the players are buying in, and there is a significant recruiting improvement, then I would be fine with letting him continue as Auburn's head coach.  That would be showing us signs that things are moving in the right direction, and the actual W/L would not be very important to me.  That said, does 8 wins make him safe, with continued mediocre recruiting?  I am definitely not certain that it does.  That is why I said that I think recruiting and the how/why of W/L, are more important than the actual W/L.  Without significant results on the recruiting trail, I am not sure that anything makes him safe.

[JerryAU 1,658]

4 hours ago, W.E.D said:

Recruiting has to be taken into account. 

If he's 5-7 with a top 10 class and looking to close strong, we can look to the future. 

If we have a poor record and shut out of the loaded Alabama class, we'll have issues.

5-7 just won't cut it, especially after a 6-7 season last year.  Back to back losing season at a place like Auburn will not get you a guaranteed top 10 recruiting class (which wouldn't be inked) when it's all said and done.  

Nope, there has to be a marked improvement and it better show up in the W/L column if there's any chance Auburn can pull a top 10 class. It would take 4*'s almost across the board with a 5* to tally up a top 10 class, and those guys would want no part of a crumbling Auburn team with the coaching staff on the hot seat and struggling to log a winning season. 

 

[JerryAU 1,658]

34 minutes ago, Strychnine said:

That is why I said that I think recruiting and the how/why of W/L, are more important than the actual W/L.  Without significant results on the recruiting trail, I am not sure that anything makes him safe.

The problem is that by the time the final W/L record for the regular season is done the recruiting class will still have not been inked and there would be no guarantee he'll actually sign that top 10 class.  When the W/L record looks mediocre to poor by the time the season finishes I just don't see why top recruits would want to come here.  Unless of course we've hit the ground running and are now offering NIL packages that top aTm's recent class.  Offer every linemen more than $50,000/yr guaranteed and we might pull a top class regardless of the W/L record.  Other than that scenario, I just don't know why a top recruit would want to even risk playing here for these coaches? 

[JTFazz 386]

He can have the worst recruiting class in the history of collegiate sports, but if he beats Alabama and goes to a decent bowl game, he will stay. Precious few fans outside these internet forums really know enough about recruiting to care one way or another. They only see the scoreboard and record.

[AUght2win 6,833]

1 hour ago, W.E.D said:

Gus live high off 8-5

This is year 2 with unprecedented circumstances. Harsin just needs to focus on staying alive. We don’t need to compare any of this to Gus.

[AUght2win 6,833]

5 minutes ago, JTFazz said:

He can have the worst recruiting class in the history of collegiate sports, but if he beats Alabama and goes to a decent bowl game, he will stay. Precious few fans outside these internet forums really know enough about recruiting to care one way or another. They only see the scoreboard and record.

That’s so untrue. Recruiting is a mainstream and well covered aspect of the game in the age of the internet. It’s not some niche thing like it was if you followed it in the 80s. Auburn fans know whether or not we are recruiting well now.

[Hank2020 3,199]

8 minutes ago, AUght2win said:

This is year 2 with unprecedented circumstances. Harsin just needs to focus on staying alive. We don’t need to compare any of this to Gus.

Plus we gave Gus 8 years before bailing.

[Hank2020 3,199]

7 minutes ago, AUght2win said:

That’s so untrue. Recruiting is a mainstream and well covered aspect of the game in the age of the internet. It’s not some niche thing like it was if you followed it in the 80s. Auburn fans know whether or not we are recruiting well now.

Media makes it well known.

[JTFazz 386]

8 minutes ago, AUght2win said:

That’s so untrue. Recruiting is a mainstream and well covered aspect of the game in the age of the internet. It’s not some niche thing like it was if you followed it in the 80s. Auburn fans know whether or not we are recruiting well now.

Agree to disagree. The majority of fans simply don't follow recruiting as close as you think. Some of them can't even tell the different between intentional grounding and an illegal forward pass. While there may be some cursory awareness, but following recruiting to the degree most do here just doesn't excite the average fan. .

Edited February 23, 2022 by JTFazz

[Hank2020 3,199]

1 minute ago, JTFazz said:

Agree to disagree. The majority of fans simply don't follow recruiting as close as you think. Some of them can't even tell the different between intentional grounding and an illegal forward pass. While there may be some cursory recognition, following recruiting to the degree most do here just doesn't excite the average fan. .

They certainly understand ranking. Mostly about where Bama/UGA is ranked vs. where AU is. My experience is in lower Alabama local media calls specific attention to it.

[AUght2win 6,833]

1 minute ago, JTFazz said:

Agree to disagree. The majority of fans simply don't follow recruiting as close as you think. Some of them can't even tell the different between intentional grounding and an illegal forward pass. While there may be some cursory recognition, following recruiting to the degree most do here just doesn't excite the average fan. .

Doesn’t have to be to the degree people do here. When fans see headlines like “Auburn is 13th in recruiting in the SEC” (like for a period last year) or “Auburn has its lowest rated class in years” they pay attention. He has to succeed in both or he will be gone.