Hard to know what's true and not true right now, and I'm sure a lot of this is BS.  However, what is abundantly clear is that Harsin is a poor communicator and lacks charisma.  He can't seem to pull a large portion of the coaches and kids into his vision... and at a minimum, there is no way he will be a successful recruiter operating like this.

To those quick to write off our former players as "soft" - Shivers liked Hunter's post.  If you think Shivers is soft you're an absolute moron.

There are too many weird things piling up to ignore.  Firing Corn after four games.  Kicking Kobe off the team for his 'attitude'.  Mason - a guy who has not generated major drama for YEARS as a coordinator and head coach - basically burning his public image just to get away from this coach.  Then the whole Zach Hill/Austin Davis debacle.

Something is not right.   Doubt there is any truth at all to the more salacious rumors, but those don't need to be true for there to be a problem here.

1 hour ago, Maverick.AU said:

Really good read

Chandler Wooten vigorously defends Bryan Harsin in conversation with Auburn Live

Justin Hokanson•17 minutes

AUBURN – As the Bryan Harsin saga continues to unwind, Friday brought about numerous former and current Auburn players speaking up about their experiences with Harsin.

Those comments can be found inside this story, where T.D. Moultry, Derick Hall, Smoke Monday and Lee Hunter spoke publicly.

One player in particular that has been outspoken is former linebacker Chandler Wooten. The now-graduated Wooten sat out during the 2020 season due to COVID. Wooten returned to the team this season and was named a team captain by Harsin. Auburn Live spoke to Wooten in depth on his experiences with Harsin, and his take on the current situation. 

[Bryan Harsin speaks to ESPN, defends himself]

[Bryan Harsin’s immediate future in question]

[What the news means, what it doesn’t mean]

These are his comments in full:

“Auburn had soft players on the team. Everybody wants to play. I can honestly say Bryan Harsin and everybody in the building wants to put the best product on the field. He wants to win. That’s all he knows. When you have players that are used to being babysat and coaches telling them to do things — it’s like when you have someone cut and dry not putting up the bulls***, it might seem like he doesn’t care about you.

“The man didn’t have to give me a chance or let me play. Having the conversation with him, I don’t know where this thing comes from. They opened the facility to me. They let me bring my son to practice, they opened the whole facility up

“That’s some bulls*** to me about not caring about players. It was more strenuous, no more babysitting, it’s a culture change. This is coming from people that didn’t have the seasons they wanted. Most of the people that left, that’s a good thing for Auburn. That man doesn’t disrespect nobody. If you aren’t doing what it takes to win, he’s going to call you out. When people say he doesn’t care about you, that’s completely false.

“Everybody was used to doing what they wanted to do and get away with it. That’s not Bryan Harsin. Those guys push against the grain, that’s how they live and move. Harsin coming in and he’s telling you what to do. That’s the pushback. To say the man doesn’t care, that’s reaching. They know that’s reaching. It’s crazy to see. We know why you are upset. You weren’t playing. What’s the point of you coming out now?

“They were getting way with that under the other staff. You don’t see this many people go from one school to the other school where the coach that just left is. I question some people’s motives. Why are you waiting until right now? You could have said that a long time ago. Why now? Maybe you should have been doing what you were supposed to do. Look in the mirror. Maybe we would have won more games. If we would have done what we were supposed to do, we would have been better off.

“None of this was going on during the season. If we didn’t lose the last few, this wouldn’t be happening. Everybody would have been happy. That’s how it goes. You have clicks on the team, certain influence, and those others don’t have a reason to feel that way. A lot of people are following and not standing.

“Yea, it’s different coming to the South, but they are blowing it out of proportion. I understand what they’re saying about not being understood, but they’re pushing one or two incidents. They’re speaking for everybody when they should be speaking for themselves. For Chandler Wooten I love him. That’s my coach. I know the man he is. He’s going to do what he has to do.

“Take a look and listen to the people that are here. This is coming from players that left. They left for different reasons. They weren’t doing what they were supposed to do. People are getting their information from the wrong sources. Ask the right people. I love Harsin. That’s a great tman. He’s been nothing but good to me and my family. He wants to be at Auburn. It would be a loss for Auburn. The man wants to win. If they give him the support, he’s going to win. It’s inevitable. I know that from the work they’re putting in compared to years past.”

 

Harsin or no Harsin this man needs to be a position coach soon. Well said.

2 hours ago, WarEagleHunter1221 said:

Rumors are swirling that J. Johnson ain’t the last WR either. We only got five. 

It's September 2022.  The Auburn Offense takes the field. 

There are four offensive lineman, a QB, Tank, Shedrick Jackson and four tight ends.

We are in our base set.

What's the chant? Can't make it out.

1 minute ago, Auburn Tiger said:

What did they do? I had to step away and put the kid to bed. 

Pushing Jabari after the whistle.  Our guys let them know that's not gonna fly.

Alabama being Alabama, dirty as usual.

I'm really against yelling 'FIRE' over rumors and message board stuff, but.... it's just getting very smoky in here - please someone get me my inhaler.

Bruce is a living legend. Best Auburn sports news in a long, long time.

38 minutes ago, TAYLORKEETON said:

Like fans like coach. This literally sounds like a little bit…baby, baby. I mean, lol. Come on dude. I’ve never seen a team/coach so salty 

Cocky, entitled whining instead of a reasonable take.  Its a regular season SEC loss man.  Let it go.  It happens.  Make it up in the tourney.

Would've been fine to say 'We lost a close game to a talented SEC team in their home arena. Tough loss, we'll learn from it and be better in the next one.'  How hard is that?  Hell, I'm sure we'll probably be saying that at some point soon.  And we'll hold our heads up when we do. 

This sounds like a coach on his way down who knows that he's been passed.

Feel dumb for doubting this team.  They are truly special.

Cold shooting.  Doesn't seem like our night at the moment.  I'd count any other team out but not this one.

Not even kidding - was there a fix in to get rid of Kessler specifically? Wish the NCAA actually looked into such things because there is no other explanation.

Kind of cold half of shooting, we're away at our rivals' place, and one of our most dominant players essentially fouled out two minutes in... and yet, we came out of it with a five point lead.  Pretty impressive honestly.  This team is so good it's ridiculous.

Could stay tight, but feels like a lot of bounces went their way that half.  May open up still, we'll see.

I hate complaining about refs in general...

But what the hell is going on tonight in Coleman?  Some VERY friendly AL calls.

44 minutes ago, ThurstontheWelshCorgi said:

We actually had a very capable roster this year but due to extremely poor coaching/playcalling we squandered opportunity after opportunity.

Just like this

 

Lol this play will live in infamy forever in AU lore. When we get back to the top of the mountain, we’ll laugh about it as an example of the dark times.

it wasn’t ALL this bad this year… but… yea this particular play was pretty terrible. Call, execution… all of it.

On 12/30/2021 at 4:07 PM, aucanucktiger said:

JP Grimes was for decades an outstanding college O line coach & solid O line recruiter. He & Gus collaborated to produce quality O lines elswhere and for a few years at Auburn. By all accounts they were also friends. Then the elderly JP was diagnosed with cancer. He underwent energy-sapping chemo and his performance as a coach and recruiter declined. Gus stayed with him but JP eventually stepped away briefly to "recover". After a surprisingly short period, the tough as nails Grimes told Malzahn he was ready to coach & recruit again. Gus took him back as his O line coach and face on the recruiting trail for  O line prospects. 

It's a ruthless business but read that with AUBURN glasses and consider what it says about Malzahn as a rollercoaster coach but quality person. 

There’s a lot one can say about Gus Malzahn and some of his coaching decisions/philosophies, but there’s just no doubt that he’s a very good human being. 

In a few years I’m confident we will all be thrilled to have him closely associated with AU again (just not as the coach).

HUGE!! Great to have WR1 returning.

11 minutes ago, Brad_ATX said:

I saw some things this year that I haven't seen in a long time, thus the optimism.

- Before Bo got hurt, he was actually showing growth.  That Arkansas game in particular was a thing of beauty.

- An offense that utilized multiple formations, routes, and consistently had plays for the TEs.

- Wide open guys everywhere.  Play calling can only scheme.  Can't throw it or catch it for the players.

- A defense that got infinitely better as the season went on.

- A freaking win in Baton Rouge

- Battling every single game.  Even the UGA game, we played hard.  I couldn't say that at times the last few years.

- Flipping recruits from LSU and Bama!

There are things that Harsin and crew need to work on (game management specifically), but I also love his introspective quote today about learning more this year than any other.  That shows me a coach who can identify his own weaknessess and work on them.

We have to probably be more patient than we want to be, but if we give this staff time, I think they can put together something to be extremely proud of long term.

Thanks for this take man, nice to see someone point out the reasons to be optimistic. Sincerely.

I'm not sure Harsin's the guy and found this year pretty disappointing tbh, but it would be wildly stupid not to give him another couple of years to see if he can turn things around.  At this point, we're committed to walking this path regardless. Hope you're proven right soon.

We should be tougher than this as a fan base.  We've been through worse (2012, anyone?).

Lots of unnecessary drama here.  It's generally not a good idea to burn bridges on the way out in most situations in life.  You never know when you'll need a hand from someone later, and time has a way of smoothing over smaller frustrations into goodwill.  The good times tend to be remembered more than the bad. But thinly-veiled shots like this sting, even down the road a ways.

Gus handled this aspect of his parting with the program well IMO.  But Bo et al... well, seems like the Nix family are more Festivus and less Christmas.

Good luck to him at Oregon.  Hard to feel optimistic about his prospects running a Kenny Dillingham offense, but what do I know - I'm just a stupid ungrateful Auburn person who struggles to recognize true talent, obviously.

Feels like we're stripping this thing down to the studs.

Hard to lose a ridiculous talent like Tank.  Glad Alston seems like he's going to be an excellent RB... will soften the blow, along with Hunter.  Man I'm going to miss Shivers even more now.

I appreciate the hard work Bo put in for Auburn.  I think this is for the best for AU, though.  Our ceiling with Bo was only so high.  Excited to see the offense under a new QB.  Will be fun to see if Harsin can pull someone big out of the portal.

May be rough for a bit, but major changes are needed.

8 minutes ago, Taco said:

Bobo wasn’t recruiting worth a damn. Nothing about his play calling is worth a damn. 
 

✌ Out 

Unpopular opinion here, but I honestly don’t think his playcalling was terrible outside of a couple of noteworthy instances (Penn State fade will forever liver in Auburn lore). Honestly, he called some good games along the way.

I think the problem was the significant lack of talent at WR/OL. Couldn’t open holes to run, couldn’t catch. Gotta recruit your way out of that situation, though, and that wasn’t happening. So I don’t have a problem with moving on from him.

Really hoping the CFB gods smile on us and Grimes heads our way, but I’m also not holding my breath. Playcalling questions aside, it would also be pretty fun to steal Dell from UGA. 

3 hours ago, passthebiscuits said:

 

 For instance, Mario C was our coach to be for two years and then took a right turn at the last minute. Did that make the “insider” info incorrect? Guess it just depends on perspective. 

 

I think if the general public knew all the big names that have come and gone through Auburn in the past decade being wined and dined for a job, we would all be shocked…and depressed. 

Wow.  Name names!  The curiosity is killing me.

But also, not sure I truly want to know.

At least we have Bruce Pearl.

Shout out to George Pickens for wearing the same number on his jersey as his number of receptions in this crucial game.  What a loss he was.

13 hours ago, murpjf88 said:

By Bama's standards, they had a mediocre season and still finished 10-2. They're about to get waxed by Georgia but if 10-2 is showing cracks, then they have a rock solid foundation. I would kill for that type of mediocrity along with a perennial top 3 recruiting class at Auburn.

I mean, yea, they do have a rock solid foundation. I think everyone knows that. But they were not dominant this year and juuuust squeaked by against a number of mediocre teams despite a considerable talent advantage.

Only time will tell, but I think this game was actually more worrisome for them than us regarding the future.

Can't question the effort on defense.  Those kids played their hearts out.  Tons of grit.