Strychnine

I think it would be wise of any incoming head coach to give real consideration to Caddy and Zac, especially Caddy. Without a good reason, firing a legend like Caddy, would be about as popular as telling Bo that he is no longer welcome. Caddy's RBs produce, my understanding is that he recruits well, and he knows the lay of land. He should be an obvious asset to any incoming coach, and probably the same with Zac. It is also why I am not the biggest fan of having legendary alums on staff, as no one wants to be the guy that kicks off his tenure by firing someone like Caddy, regardless of how necessary it may or may not be.

If OP is true, then I would consider this most likely. Auburn had a good case, but wanted to avoid a lawsuit, and both parties likely had dirty laundry they would not want aired in a lawsuit.

The mere possibility of him coming to Auburn, already has recruits talking about it. Coaches are probably talking about it too. From many years playing for many coaches, I suspect he has a good idea of what works well in a coach, especially from a player's perspective.

That depends entirely on how petty he truly is, as it would be a bad decision for him to do so. He would be negatively impacting his own career, and risking a lawsuit that might result in things being disclosed, that he would prefer not be. It would be in his best interests to take his buyout, and quietly move on to his next job.

Deion Sanders could probably recruit in North Dakota.

Oddly specific, and 100% approved.

Why dictate it? Caddy has earned an interview and evaluation by the next coach. That said, what coach would want to come to Auburn, and kick off their tenure by firing Caddy? He recruits, his RBs produce, and he knows the lay of the land. He is obviously an asset on his own merits, without needing Auburn to demand retaining him as a hiring term.

It baffles me. He has to realize that his firing is inevitable. All he has to do is clock in, go through the motions, then clock out. When inevitable firing comes, it comes with a lot of money, then he moves on to whatever his next gig is. Doing things like playing petty games with players' eligibility is how you end up being fired, without a lot of money, and you become so radioactive to recruiting that no one wants to hire you.

If he is actually doing stuff like that, he is sabotaging himself, as much, if not more than he is damaging the team. He would be harming his prospects for his next job, and drifting into being fired for cause territory.

This was the first UCF game I have watched, since Gus took over there, and it was painfully familiar.

He was born there, but did not grow up there or anything. His dad was coaching there at the time.

I think their 677 yards of total offense still stands as an SEC Championship Game record.

I have a difficult time believing a 45-year-old man, that has been coaching since he graduated from Boise State, is going to ride off into the sunset because he failed at Auburn. He did just fine at a G5 program, and could likely get back into that lower-pressure groove easily.

Damn, even Iowa State has jumped into the insane buyout game?

Would not be Auburn's first theft from Iowa State. Unlike the last one, this one would have a winning record.

I seem to remember an article or two similar to that when Chizik was hired. Gist was that he hit the ground running with recruiting, including shoring up existing recruits. It makes sense that a new head coach would make assessing recruits, and getting them basically re-recruited, two priorities.

No-brainer, cannot-miss coaches are a rarity, even among those with P5 head coaching experience.

I know you are concerned for the players more than anything, and I applaud that, but you are seriously grasping at straws here. Assistant coaches sign a contract with Auburn, and as long as Auburn has not terminated that contract, the OL coach is still the OL coach. At this point, Harsin cannot fire or hire anyone. Auburn is not going to approve terminating, or creating new contracts, for anyone, until a decision on Harsin has been formally made. Right now, Auburn wants to escape this debacle without paying any more money than they have to. The futile gesture of firing an OL coach, then promoting or hiring another, would cost Auburn more money. These coaches are all dead men walking, they all know it, and none of them are going to accept more work/stress for free.

With Harsin staring down the barrel of his own firing, Auburn is not going to let him fire an OL coach that they have to pay for, then let him turn him around and hire another coach that they will have to pay for. Even if Harsin were allowed to do so, only a desperate OL coach would look at this situation, then decide to leave their current situation to come coach at Auburn for the next two months.

What we really want to know is, did you successfully deliver that foot long?

Professionally, making a stink about it would only harm Harsin's future prospects. It would be in his best interest to accept it, take his buyout, and go about his business. Coaches know it is a business. Coaches that do not want their next job to be in Grand Forks, ND know to be careful in talking about their previous employer. Even Kiffin had the good sense to be careful in what he says about USC firing him.

Digging around on fan forums from the time he was at Temple and Baylor might give more valuable context to his time there, but I have not bothered to look.

To me, it depends on more than just W/L. Was it apparent that his program produced a better coached team in season 2? The W/L is mediocre, but was the team competitive? Is he lighting up the recruiting trail, landing commits, and using the portal to plug holes? If that was the scenario for Harsin at Auburn, and the answer to all three questions was yes, I think Auburn fans would be a lot more supportive of Harsin than they are now.

Recruiting is the last nail in the coffin for me. You do not get to field a team that gets embarrassed in season 2, AND have pitiful recruiting. That is when it becomes incredibly difficult to defend keeping a head coach.

I know very little about Rhule, but it looks like his W/L improved in his second seasons at both Temple and Baylor. 6-6 and 7-6 are not W/L to hang your hat on, but they are definitely improvements over 2-10 and 1-11. That said, I have no idea how those second season teams looked, in comparison to the first seasons, but I would wager that they looked a lot better.