Huddle with Hars

[Randman5000 4,226]

Hars released an episode for his podcast...

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/huddle-with-hars/id1626521863?i=1000564443097

[toddc 13,194]

 

[auburnphan 6,050]

This is a great listen, can’t wait for the rest of them to be released.

[JDUBB4AU 5,112]

Great idea . Hopefully it’s a great way for the fans and recruits to get to know him. is it football only or just bros chilling etc? 

[TJRanger175 209]

Combination of football stories, getting to know coaches, leadership/success philosophy.

It was a great listen.

[AuCivilEng1 11,000]

I’m listening right now enjoying it. This whole idea has one purpose imo. To introduce fans and recruits to the Boise guys, because nobody knows anything about them. And it’s a great idea! I like that they’re thinking outside the box here. Now if only we could get Momma G’s or Yellawood to put together a huge OLINE Nil package. 

[toddc 13,194]

 

[Beaker 2,457]

I had a missed call today....I am wondering if Harsin was calling to see if I would be a guest on his podcast.

Honestly, if he interviews most of his coaches and maybe a couple of players here or there - this thing will great for recruits!  And fans.

 

 

[AuburnNTexas 7,140]

This was a great listen. If you wonder if Kiesau is qualified to be our OC he has great pedigree based on the guys he has worked for. I liked his story about playing video games to set himself apart and beat out USC for a hometown kid. I also loved them talking about what sets the elite players apart from the rest.  They have a drive that even with their natural talent you are not going to outwork them. 

I think we have a really strong defense this year and if Kiesau can improve each offensive player a little bit and a QB steps up we might actually have a solid team. 

[Timbeaux38 299]

Pretty good show- Really gives you more insight into the personalities around the program.

[oracle79 3,569]

Finally finished listening. I think some people are going to be surprised this fall.

[AuburnNTexas 7,140]

4 minutes ago, oracle79 said:

Finally finished listening. I think some people are going to be surprised this fall.

I agree

[AUx 3,001]

Surprise!!!!

[steeleagle 2,945]

How often are the podcasts going to be?

[Hank2020 3,199]

1 hour ago, AUx said:

Surprise!!!!

Trying hard to get this one out of my head.

[toddc 13,194]

 

[toddc 13,194]

7 minutes ago, toddc said:

 

 

[GT2AU 12]

Hello AU Family,

I enjoyed listening to both episodes of the HuddleWithHars.  Not to derail this thread, but I'm new here and wanted to introduce myself.  I'm a brand new Auburn fan and I had a question I wanted to ask about the football program.  Since, I can't start a new topic yet I hoped this would be an ok place to ask.  First, here's a super brief summary of my story:  I've been a Georgia Tech fan since I was 14 years.  I became a season-ticket holder on my own at 16 and was a regular season-ticket holder every year until just last season.  When I was in my 20s and unmarried, I went to most games home and away.  I've always been a super fan.  However, over the last 4-5 years the program support has really declined.  Going to games was miserable and nobody around us even cared. I came to the conclusion that the GT program was doomed because there just isn't enough fan support to dig it out of the hole its in.  I made the decision to look for a new team as crazy at that sounds.  I hope GT turns it around but I don't see it happening. I think they are doomed to be just like Vandy and Duke with no fan support.

I love college football a lot and still wanted to keep it in my life so I decided I could enter the fan transfer portal.  Why not, it's a new era.  I've always kind of liked Auburn and felt that Auburn fans were the best in the south.  Plus my son is starting at Auburn as a freshman this fall.  So, here I am a brand new Auburn fan.  Trying to learn more about the program.

Listening to HuddleWithHars and other interviews, I've heard a lot of comments about needing to the change the culture.  Obviously, all new coaches come in talking about changing the culture, but often a change is needed.  My question is what was the culture under Malzahn and what changes needed to be made?  As an outsider, it always looked like Auburn played hard under Gus and liked playing for him.  What were the issues, what were the culture things that AU thought Harsin could improve?

[Didba 5,256]

1 minute ago, GT2AU said:

Hello AU Family,

I enjoyed listening to both episodes of the HuddleWithHars.  Not to derail this thread, but I'm new here and wanted to introduce myself.  I'm a brand new Auburn fan and I had a question I wanted to ask about the football program.  Since, I can't start a new topic yet I hoped this would be an ok place to ask.  First, here's a super brief summary of my story:  I've been a Georgia Tech fan since I was 14 years.  I became a season-ticket holder on my own at 16 and was a regular season-ticket holder every year until just last season.  When I was in my 20s and unmarried, I went to most games home and away.  I've always been a super fan.  However, over the last 4-5 years the program support has really declined.  Going to games was miserable and nobody around us even cared. I came to the conclusion that the GT program was doomed because there just isn't enough fan support to dig it out of the hole its in.  I made the decision to look for a new team as crazy at that sounds.  I hope GT turns it around but I don't see it happening. I think they are doomed to be just like Vandy and Duke with no fan support.

I love college football a lot and still wanted to keep it in my life so I decided I could enter the fan transfer portal.  Why not, it's a new era.  I've always kind of liked Auburn and felt that Auburn fans were the best in the south.  Plus my son is starting at Auburn as a freshman this fall.  So, here I am a brand new Auburn fan.  Trying to learn more about the program.

Listening to HuddleWithHars and other interviews, I've heard a lot of comments about needing to the change the culture.  Obviously, all new coaches come in talking about changing the culture, but often a change is needed.  My question is what was the culture under Malzahn and what changes needed to be made?  As an outsider, it always looked like Auburn played hard under Gus and liked playing for him.  What were the issues, what were the culture things that AU thought Harsin could improve?

So I'm well known on this board for not being a Gus fan but I'll try to give you my objective take on it.

Gus was a major players coach in every sense of the phrase. He was buddy-buddy with players and would be very arbitrary in who received punishments for breaking team rules and who wouldn't. If you were a star player it seemed most issues would get swept under the rug unless they were so glaring he had to address them. 

With the buddy-buddy stuff, I think some players would joke around alot and Malzahn didn't really mind the lack of seriousness. That changed with Harsin and at least one player transfered out due to the culture change from relaxed to serious.

Further, there were claims that certain players wouldn't get punished for showing up late to meetings, practice, workouts, etc and these claims appeared to be validated when harsin arrived. Harsin made several comments about player discipline for things like accountability/punctuality.

And then there was Gus's blatant favoritism for certain starters. It was most obvious with Bo Nix but when he came in, Bo was crowned starter at the outset and from then on could do no wrong in Gus's eyes. It was painful to watch talent leave the QB room bc it simply was never gonna get a shot no matter how bad Bo played.

Add that to Gus's other flaws in roster management, play design, route tree complexity, play calling, player development... things were on a major downward trend IMO.

Any posters that disagree or want to add onto this feel free.

[Proud Tiger 4,261]

24 minutes ago, GT2AU said:

Hello AU Family,

I enjoyed listening to both episodes of the HuddleWithHars.  Not to derail this thread, but I'm new here and wanted to introduce myself.  I'm a brand new Auburn fan and I had a question I wanted to ask about the football program.  Since, I can't start a new topic yet I hoped this would be an ok place to ask.  First, here's a super brief summary of my story:  I've been a Georgia Tech fan since I was 14 years.  I became a season-ticket holder on my own at 16 and was a regular season-ticket holder every year until just last season.  When I was in my 20s and unmarried, I went to most games home and away.  I've always been a super fan.  However, over the last 4-5 years the program support has really declined.  Going to games was miserable and nobody around us even cared. I came to the conclusion that the GT program was doomed because there just isn't enough fan support to dig it out of the hole its in.  I made the decision to look for a new team as crazy at that sounds.  I hope GT turns it around but I don't see it happening. I think they are doomed to be just like Vandy and Duke with no fan support.

I love college football a lot and still wanted to keep it in my life so I decided I could enter the fan transfer portal.  Why not, it's a new era.  I've always kind of liked Auburn and felt that Auburn fans were the best in the south.  Plus my son is starting at Auburn as a freshman this fall.  So, here I am a brand new Auburn fan.  Trying to learn more about the program.

Listening to HuddleWithHars and other interviews, I've heard a lot of comments about needing to the change the culture.  Obviously, all new coaches come in talking about changing the culture, but often a change is needed.  My question is what was the culture under Malzahn and what changes needed to be made?  As an outsider, it always looked like Auburn played hard under Gus and liked playing for him.  What were the issues, what were the culture things that AU thought Harsin could improve?

You are going to find out that Auburn fans, including those in here are pretty much polarized in their opinions of Gus, including his time here and his departure.  My advice, FWIW, is forget the recent past, and form your own opinions. Welcome aboard!

[GT2AU 12]

28 minutes ago, Proud Tiger said:

You are going to find out that Auburn fans, including those in here are pretty much polarized in their opinions of Gus, including his time here and his departure.  My advice, FWIW, is forget the recent past, and form your own opinions. Welcome aboard!

Thanks, yes I don't want to stir up old arguments but I was curious to better understand the challenges that Harsin faced upon arrival.  Not a knock on the prior staff, there are obviously different ways to approach running your program.   Hopefully Harsin will get the chance to build the program on a firm foundation built for sustained success.   

[gravejd 3,270]

53 minutes ago, GT2AU said:

Hello AU Family,

I enjoyed listening to both episodes of the HuddleWithHars.  Not to derail this thread, but I'm new here and wanted to introduce myself.  I'm a brand new Auburn fan and I had a question I wanted to ask about the football program.  Since, I can't start a new topic yet I hoped this would be an ok place to ask.  First, here's a super brief summary of my story:  I've been a Georgia Tech fan since I was 14 years.  I became a season-ticket holder on my own at 16 and was a regular season-ticket holder every year until just last season.  When I was in my 20s and unmarried, I went to most games home and away.  I've always been a super fan.  However, over the last 4-5 years the program support has really declined.  Going to games was miserable and nobody around us even cared. I came to the conclusion that the GT program was doomed because there just isn't enough fan support to dig it out of the hole its in.  I made the decision to look for a new team as crazy at that sounds.  I hope GT turns it around but I don't see it happening. I think they are doomed to be just like Vandy and Duke with no fan support.

I love college football a lot and still wanted to keep it in my life so I decided I could enter the fan transfer portal.  Why not, it's a new era.  I've always kind of liked Auburn and felt that Auburn fans were the best in the south.  Plus my son is starting at Auburn as a freshman this fall.  So, here I am a brand new Auburn fan.  Trying to learn more about the program.

Listening to HuddleWithHars and other interviews, I've heard a lot of comments about needing to the change the culture.  Obviously, all new coaches come in talking about changing the culture, but often a change is needed.  My question is what was the culture under Malzahn and what changes needed to be made?  As an outsider, it always looked like Auburn played hard under Gus and liked playing for him.  What were the issues, what were the culture things that AU thought Harsin could improve?

Well the timing of your switch may not be ideal. But since you have a son at the school you probably did not have a lot of choice anyways. I figure its gotta be easier writing those checks if you are a fan of the school. Not much easier but must help a little lol. Hope he enjoys his time at AU and stays focused at the same time. I loved my time on the plains!! 

I think Proud gives some good advice. What happens behind the scenes is all hearsay and none of it will ever be verified. You can get 5 different answers from 5 different people that claim to have connections to the program. So best not to get too hung up on what new coaches say or the details to the inner workings of a porgram. Of course there are going to need to be changes or else the new coach would not be here. 

But to answer your question just from my perspective of following AU football closely for 15+ years. I think you can look at Gus and Harsin's backgrounds and get a pretty good understanding of how their football teams cultures would be different. Harsin is a lifelong football guy and Gus came into it later in life. I think Harsin is all football all the time and Gus while serious about his football could connect with his players on a more personal level. Harsin is looking for more guys that live, eat, and breath football like he does. 

But other than personalities of the coaches i won't speculate on other culture changes. People say Gus played favorites but i find that a hard position to prove....people point to Bo but Harsin started Bo as well when he was healthy. So hard for me to say Gus played favs versus he just played the best QB as confirmed by the new coaching staff. The new coaching staff was willing to pull Bo when he played poorly and Gus did not.....but thats a flimsy case for playing favorites. Harsin also trotted out Finley for 2 straight games and got next to 0 production from the offense and did not put in a backup. 

[GT2AU 12]

21 minutes ago, gravejd said:

Well the timing of your switch may not be ideal. But since you have a son at the school you probably did not have a lot of choice anyways. I figure its gotta be easier writing those checks if you are a fan of the school. Not much easier but must help a little lol. Hope he enjoys his time at AU and stays focused at the same time. I loved my time on the plains!! 

I think Proud gives some good advice. What happens behind the scenes is all hearsay and none of it will ever be verified. You can get 5 different answers from 5 different people that claim to have connections to the program. So best not to get too hung up on what new coaches say or the details to the inner workings of a porgram. Of course there are going to need to be changes or else the new coach would not be here. 

But to answer your question just from my perspective of following AU football closely for 15+ years. I think you can look at Gus and Harsin's backgrounds and get a pretty good understanding of how their football teams cultures would be different. Harsin is a lifelong football guy and Gus came into it later in life. I think Harsin is all football all the time and Gus while serious about his football could connect with his players on a more personal level. Harsin is looking for more guys that live, eat, and breath football like he does. 

But other than personalities of the coaches i won't speculate on other culture changes. People say Gus played favorites but i find that a hard position to prove....people point to Bo but Harsin started Bo as well when he was healthy. So hard for me to say Gus played favs versus he just played the best QB as confirmed by the new coaching staff. The new coaching staff was willing to pull Bo when he played poorly and Gus did not.....but thats a flimsy case for playing favorites. Harsin also trotted out Finley for 2 straight games and got next to 0 production from the offense and did not put in a backup. 

Thank you for the response.   In regards to becoming an Auburn fan at the wrong time, I'm not worried.  As you can tell, I was a Georgia Tech fan for the last 35 years so I don't mind a little bit of a struggle.  Just want to feel that my team has the chance to be successful if they if they do the right things.  It is a little bit of culture shock for me going from the ACC Coastal to the SEC West. I recognize nothing will come easy in this division.    

[Didba 5,256]

3 hours ago, gravejd said:

Well the timing of your switch may not be ideal. But since you have a son at the school you probably did not have a lot of choice anyways. I figure its gotta be easier writing those checks if you are a fan of the school. Not much easier but must help a little lol. Hope he enjoys his time at AU and stays focused at the same time. I loved my time on the plains!! 

I think Proud gives some good advice. What happens behind the scenes is all hearsay and none of it will ever be verified. You can get 5 different answers from 5 different people that claim to have connections to the program. So best not to get too hung up on what new coaches say or the details to the inner workings of a porgram. Of course there are going to need to be changes or else the new coach would not be here. 

But to answer your question just from my perspective of following AU football closely for 15+ years. I think you can look at Gus and Harsin's backgrounds and get a pretty good understanding of how their football teams cultures would be different. Harsin is a lifelong football guy and Gus came into it later in life. I think Harsin is all football all the time and Gus while serious about his football could connect with his players on a more personal level. Harsin is looking for more guys that live, eat, and breath football like he does. 

But other than personalities of the coaches i won't speculate on other culture changes. People say Gus played favorites but i find that a hard position to prove....people point to Bo but Harsin started Bo as well when he was healthy. So hard for me to say Gus played favs versus he just played the best QB as confirmed by the new coaching staff. The new coaching staff was willing to pull Bo when he played poorly and Gus did not.....but thats a flimsy case for playing favorites. Harsin also trotted out Finley for 2 straight games and got next to 0 production from the offense and did not put in a backup. 

The favorites thing for Bo comes from the fact that there wasn't much of a QB competition when he got here as a true freshman. Not the other stuff besides refusing to sit Bo.  Course his mismanagement of the QB room pretty much provided no viable back up for Bo beside DD. The favorites thing goes farther back then Bo though.  Gus was here for a long time.

[Mims44 1,867]

24 minutes ago, Didba said:

The favorites thing for Bo comes from the fact that there wasn't much of a QB competition when he got here as a true freshman. Not the other stuff besides refusing to sit Bo.  Course his mismanagement of the QB room pretty much provided no viable back up for Bo beside DD. The favorites thing goes farther back then Bo though.  Gus was here for a long time.

For instance, as a OC Gus absolutely insisted on some dude named Cam Newton to get the overwhelming majority of snaps the ENTIRE season.

Playing favorites for sure.