aucom96

If rumors are true or even if Harsin is being runnoft for being a bad coach, it's clear our previous job search did an abysmal job of vetting or having and was very short-sighted.

I don't put much into rumors, but if this bears out as they are saying... we would be forced to take a chance on an up-an-comer that doesn't generate much buzz or excitement and hope we can build a strong staff around them. In other words, the usual Auburn football hire.

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I hope you're right. Nix wasn't just a better runner, he was a playmaker. He created offense when Tank and our receivers were completely shut down. That's difficult to replace and I haven't seen that ability out of Calzada yet. Roger McCreary is not going to be easily replaced, nor McClain. That's two All Sec players. We also have lost a lot of depth to the portal. Hard to see this a push. I don't know what the new DC runs. We weren't lights out on D last season and we're changing multiple coaches on that side of the ball. Not a push. Oline, hope you're right. We lost some experience and didn't replace it with depth. I agree that we're close to last year's team...but that was a 6 win team. I'm not sure I see two wins better on paper with the schedule we have, but that's why they play them. If Harsin can pull down 8 or 9 wins, he'll have me convinced!

From what I've seen, we don't have a QB on the level of Nix...which is where a number of our wins came from. We lost some pretty big players on defense and a good bit of depth plus we're replacing the coordinator again. We lost our top receiver, a few OL starters with not much coming in and our schedule gets tougher with AL, UGA and the Miss schools on the road. I'll say that if we can pull off 8 wins this season, any fires under Harsin's seat should quickly extinguish.

Honestly, from my very admittedly uneducated standpoint, this entire Harsin episode seems a lesson in how not to build a program in itself. (Part of your point) He was hired supposedly on a long term plan. He then proceeds to lose half his coaching staff in year one, hire an OC who apparently had some personal issues that escaped vetting and has now left before signing day, almost completely fail in recruiting when it was a top of the list priority due to the neglect of the previous coach and - as you said - almost entirely fail to sell what you're cooking to the fanbase in any way. The amount of catch-up Harsin has created for himself ON TOP OF what Malzahn had already left seems insurmountable for one coach in today's SEC, which makes me fear we absolutely are on the Tennessee road to get back into things. In short, thank the heavens for Auburn basketball.

Doesn't matter. He's never coming back.

You take fandom too seriously. All fan bases are like this, many far worse. We are losing and that doesn’t bring out the warm and fuzzy sentiments when it happens. Throw in what appears to be a growing degree of dysfunction in the coaching staff and players increasingly leaving, you get this kind of back and forth. Harsin is going to do his job and right the ship or not and go somewhere else. For fans on a message board, it’s just killing time.

Guy needs to get the chance to fix this, though I think with some recruiting failures and coaching turnover he’s got much tougher odds of that now. Maybe if Auburn spent the money to hire a coach rather than to pay them to go away for a change, we’d get better results. Harsin was a gamble, to say the least.

All of Harsin's moves post-season point to a quite long-term rebuild and a Malzahn-era level learning curve. It's a heck of a gamble to make in this league, but again...maybe Auburn is backing him in this. We'll find out, but I suspect we've got some growing pains ahead of us we haven't felt in a long time.

And won a national championship year 2. Hope Harsin repeats!

The bigger picture is we are now starting another season with brand new coordinators in year two of a new head coach's tenure, hemorrhaging DL to the portal, still not at SEC level on the offensive line, a room full of bench players coming in at QB, no real playmakers on an offensive unit that will likely be less talented overall from last season. Our coach is replacing coaches with recruiting ties in the southeast with Boise staff who will need years to build relationships and we have a tougher schedule coming this year. Coaches and coordinators leave all the time. To turn over a significant portion of your staff in year one when you're basically a project head coach getting your feet wet at the highest level is a bad look and a tough obstacle to overcome. If the PTB have indicated to Harsin that he has 5 years to turn this thing around, no worries...but they aren't known for that much patience.

It helps to have a leader with a personality, too.

I miss the days when “process” and “culture” didn’t take the place of wins and losses, or selling your program, or making the game fun. (See Bruce Pearl)

It's a catch-22. You want to compete against the bamas, LSU and Georgias or the world, you need money. Money comes with strings. The only way to cut those strings is to consistently compete at the top of the conference. Tuberville was probably the last to sniff that. His record wasn't really better than Malzahn, but he beat Florida, Alabama, LSU and Georgia with some regularity, won a conference title and should have played for a national. Dye was the last one who probably achieved it. Harsin - tough as he may be - doesn't yet have the resume to keep the sharks at bay, if that is indeed what the problem is. That was the big risk in hiring a low name recognition coach with no conference ties. All the big SEC programs have to deal with this, I just hope we don't follow the path of Tennessee...and right now it's looking iffy.

Just the reality of recruiting. A staff of Mountain West coaches are going to take longer to build relationships with coaches and players across the southeast where they haven't ever recruited before. They're going up against "new" coaches in the league who have and subsequently have a head start on them. If you think they're going to give Brian Harsin 5 years of near .500 ball, then growing pains like these are acceptable...but I'd be very surprised if this is the case and with the shambles this program appears to be in, that's not an unrealistic outlook with the level of coaching I witnessed this past season.

Things have really changed with Auburn football if Harsin is able to survive the number of years it’s going to take him to build something of this mess of a program…some of it being his own making, it would appear.

I like football and all, but man. Something about all of that is just kind of sickening.

Until that offensive line gets fixed, what we have at QB is a rotation. Unless something changes quickly, we're looking at a potentially poor year next year with a larger learning curve than the prior season. We need bodies, we got 'em. If everything works out, we'll have a serviceable game manager under center who can make some plays. We're not going to have a game changer. We're probably a few years from that.

I don't think it's as much about Anders as it just is the transformation of more and more of campus to looking like an Atlanta suburb. It has already happened, it's going to happen even more...it's just a little sad.

Auburn is turning pretty generic. Inevitable, I guess, but yeah. It’s sad.

2 seconds to throw the ball before defenders are in your face can make a lot of QBs lose "the deep ball".

No, but that's why they get paid 6 and 7 figure salaries and I have to shell out a grand just to be able to buy a season ticket package.

Harsin absolutely would deserve coach of the year honors if he pulled that off. I expect a similar record to this past season.

It's about lines. Georgia and bama have them, we don't. We've recruited those areas very poorly. I don't think Nix, Finley or Calzada are top shelf SEC QB talent, but all would have been good enough to be in the mix with better blocking up front. Our defensive line play hasn't been awful, but we have had very little pass rush for years which makes it difficult to get our defense off the field. Even with a bend don't break philosophy, after enough long drives...the wear and tear adds up. I don't think it matters who starts at QB next season. With what we have blocking for them, they're going to struggle. We've got to basically rebuild an offense from the floor up.