DyeCampAlum

I know how the OL will respond. They'll keep doing their best. Even if they get demoralized and it affects their performance, they'll still try as hard as they can. They're just not that good, which should be no surprise. The problem isn't just that PSU got pressure on the QBs. It's that they got pressure QUICK.

I've said to a lot of people who want to blame the QBs that they had basically no chance because we just can't block anybody. So he's theoretically right. But he is so relationally wrong. YOU JUST CAN'T DO THIS. Makes me worry about the locker room, especially because it was evident Saturday that the defense gave up hope at 21-6. I would never say they quit trying. But there's often a moment when demoralization kicks in no matter how hard you're trying. I thought I saw that. With defense, it looks like sticking onto blocks, "hoping" to make tackles, and whatever DBs do that I don't understand.

Meh. I’m highly concerned about Harsin. But to say he’s never seen Auburn get dominated? I give you LSU in 2015.

I came down from PA for the game. My wife bought tickets for some PSU cousins nearby, and they report Auburn as their “favorite SEC experience so far,” having visited Tuscaloosa, Athens, and Knoxville, plus Clemson. Saw this on Twitter too. Also ran into Hall’s and Brahms’ parents, who were extremely nice. Always good to remember what makes Auburn Auburn.

This right here. We haven’t blocked anybody good in a long time, and our QBs and receivers aren’t good enough to bail us out. That makes it hard for me to judge Harsin. What worries me most is watching the defense cave after State went up 21-6. We were in the 3rd row, and it was visible they quit believing. That’s scary.

This looks great. Totally confused about what happened in Pittsburgh.

Vandy alum here. What Franklin did at Vandy is basically outrageous. I don't even know how to describe it. Since 1974 DiNardo is the only other coach Vandy has had who outperformed Mason, and only barely. Mason did very, very well until his program ran out of energy, which is about what you could say about DiNardo. So I do hold Mason accountable for losing momentum, but on the whole he did a very good job at Vandy. I'm sorry, but if you don't recognize Mason's success as a DC at Stanford and at Auburn, you really don't know how to evaluate football. There's a reason OkState is paying him over $1MM per year. He's making a lot more than either coordinator did last year.

A few facts about Mason. Whatever happened at Vandy, he lost momentum with the program. But you know what else? Since 1974, only two Vandy head coaches have had better records than Mason. That's 2 out of 11. Regarding the defense: Auburn's D was #51 in efficiency in 2020, per Football Outsiders, and #17 in 2021. In 2020, Auburn was #4 in the SEC in scoring D; #5 in 2021. So if we think Steele was a pretty good DC, and everybody does, Mason was just as good.

If Auburn had concluded that he was in a relationship with someone under his supervision, they wouldn’t need to “prove” it in court. It’s a Title IX issue, and they’d have to act. I’m not saying I know what happened, but it’s far more likely they looked into it and didn’t find it probable.

I’m happy for him too. I gotta say, it’s sometimes amazing to watch an NFL game and note the players who weren’t good enough for Malzahn: Lamar Jackson, Trovon Reed, and Amir Abdullah (out of the league now?) come to mind, as do some DBs who didn’t get much time. Uzomah played a lot but didn’t get used.

Not a lawyer but an academic. This rings true. Some of the material from the official statements suggests the sex rumor was in view. Read Harsin’s statement in particular with that in mind. At the same time, @TitanTiger’s comment that concerns were already percolating looks correct as well. I’m going to assume that sex rumor (s?) was malicious and false.

This is literally true. I ran the numbers in another thread. In 2000 total points per game was about 40. It’s right at 60 now. Given our offense’s inability to run when it had to, Mason did a very strong job this year. Even against State, the D just collapsed because it got not breaks. Read the play chart. You can’t let a run and shoot team just keep snapping the ball.

Multiple sources, including Chris Low, say Auburn is keeping Harsin and will announce today. Honestly, I'm a little bit relieved. It's obvious to me that he needs to do better in some key parts of the job. I hope that's being addressed, and I hope it works. Enormous damage has been done, and I'm not sure it can be healed. I'm pretty sure the administration has done no favors in its PR work lately. At the same time, legitimate concerns arose that had to be addressed. You can't lose coaches and players the way we have, with racial undertones and with our inadequate recruiting, without digging around for perspective and calling the coach on the carpet. I have no idea about the other allegations, whether the administration took them seriously, investigated them, or whatever. But I'm glad they seem to be resolved. Wouldn't it be amazing if Harsin gets the help he needs, accepts it, and gives Auburn the help it needs?

One fact I’m late to learning. Our highest ranked recruit this year would be #18 in Bama’s class. Let’s not talk about OL recruiting. Pair that with players saying Harsin doesn’t get it and the departure of three black coaches (two willingly, and one with a huge pay cut), and the administration had to look in. I haven’t quit on Harsin, and I certainly don’t give the administration a pass for how they’ve handled it—way too much none of us know-but I don’t know what a path coming back looks like.

Executive contracts are different. If you want a coach, you have to guarantee they'll get rich as long as they don't do something illegal or morally embarrassing. "With cause" is pretty narrow. Executives aren't treated like the rest of us. (Not that I like that. I don't. It's just reality.)

That same Boise mod wrote the following. Doesn't seem far off.

There any kind of a link for that? You hear this kind of thing once in awhile, but there's always stink after a departure. I just wonder how much of a thing this is.

Dell not having been a coordinator is a big deal. And Georgia's offensive scheme isn't why they win, except that it complements the defense. Aranda is not leaving Baylor for Auburn. I mean, please. He's king of a little universe right now. Payton lacks college experience. That usually goes badly. As for Sanders, it's one thing to mobilize resources your peer institutions cannot muster. It's entirely another thing to develop a program with just a bit lower resources than its primary rivals. If we're serious about this, we'll do what Auburn has always done when we've been successful. We'll pluck someone of lower status, whether an excellent assistant or a G5 head coach who gets what we're doing. Or maybe, like LSU did with Saban and we did with Tuberville, a coach who's outperforming his setting. Most of all, I hope Harsin gets some vindication and maybe some coaching. One thing I admire about Saban--and this will sound weird--is his humility, his desire to get feedback from peers. I worry about Harsin's capacity to do that, but I hope it gets tapped.

If we hire a coach, someone with NFL-only experience is a recipe for disaster. Football knowledge is secondary to program management here.

I guess my take is, you have coaches leaving, 20 players leaving, and about 20 players voicing a common complaint. That was all public. I don't know how Auburn avoids trying to dig out the truth in that environment. I've never been an academic administrator, but I am a career academic and I've had some public roles. If you're faced with substantial evidence that's already gone public, you have to say something and do something. Hopefully, we'll learn that the complaints are overblown or that Harsin has agreed to get some coaching. I'm not rooting against the guy.

I appreciate the reply. I 100% agree about those rumors. Unless they're substantiated, I have no interest in them other than hoping the people who started them get head lice. And I'll freely confess, I have no idea what to make of the relationships issue. Harsin may rub my fur the wrong way sometimes, but I'll hold out hope so long as there's reason to. Anyway, thanks.

This is not a set-up question. Are you primarily concerned about the salacious accusations or the concerns about handling the team?

I get that this is a heated discussion, but I haven’t accused Harsin of anything, and I’ve said so repeatedly. I am worried that if he did things to alienate players and coaches, he may not be the right guy. That’s what they’re investigating, isn’t it?

It's quite unclear that Briles was "cleared of wrongdoing." His attorney says that. The Pepper Hamilton investigation says Briles created a context where misconduct was protected. From the NCAA report that supposedly cleared Briles: "“In each instance, when the head coach received information from a staff member regarding potential criminal conduct by a football student-athlete, he did not report the information and did not personally look any further into the matter. His incurious attitude toward potential criminal conduct by his student-athletes was deeply troubling to the panel." Speaking as someone who works in a university and chairs accreditation visits annually, those look like Title IX violations.

I really don't care where I heard that. I'm not interested in his politics. I'm quite interested in his ability to compete in the SEC.