Strychnine

I do not believe there is a right way or time for a university to fire their head football coach. Midseason firings are less common, but I suspect Harsin already knows that it is a matter of when, not if.

Personally, I think 3 years is more than enough time to tell if a coach has the program trending up, especially if they inherited a program that had not posted a losing season.

I do not know that many P5 fanbases have 5 years of patience. That said, continued patience is earned by showing forward progress. You cannot struggle indefinitely on the field, and in recruiting. If a fanbase sees signs that the program is moving in a better direction, they will generally support the coach that is doing so, and Auburn is no different.

I think their ultimate allegiance is to themselves. While it would be obvious to them that they are likely gone at the end of the season, they are still professionals. They had only worked for Harsin for a few years before coming to Auburn, and I doubt any of them are going to sabotage their careers with some internal dysfunction protest on his behalf. It is in their best interest to do their jobs to the best of their ability, until they are fired. That is what their next employer will expect them to have done. Harsin is a professional too, and will quietly go on to whatever his next gig is.

Considering that he grew up, and has spent his entire coaching career in the state of Ohio, he might be quite happy there.

It was definitely blatant on the TV broadcast. I do not remember if the announcers commented on it, but I noticed it several times.

I just rewatched the Zapruder film. Harsin was there. Illuminati confirmed.

Indeed. I was agreeing with you.

Blue chip or not, they definitely need bodies. 1-3 star bodies are better than no bodies.

OL recruiting has truly baffled me. How was that not an immediate priority for recruiting and the portal? Auburn should have been an easy sell, as it was obvious that both talent and depth are needed. Recruits and transfers could expect early playing time and possibly starting jobs.

I feel like you asking me to choose which lethal medications I want administered during my execution.

I remember reading at least a few articles, saying basically the same thing, closer to the beginning of the year. That is ultimately the biggest strike against Harsin. If the current team is struggling on the field, great recruiting can at least point to progress being made within the program. When the team is struggling, recruiting is struggling, and AL HS coaches are saying they have never met Harsin, that makes it quite difficult to believe the program's trajectory is a good one.

I think he underestimated basically everything about what he was getting into.

Not Bird, but try to imagine the conversations going on between anyone with influence, or involved in the decision making process. Any of them that are trying to defend Harsin, are having a hard time finding a sound argument, that is not "damn, do we really have to pay another buyout so soon?" When you are not recruiting well, and getting embarrassed in JHS, there are probably very few influential voices in your corner.

Boise State is a team that I make it a point to watch, when I am scrolling through channels and see one of their games on, as their games were often entertaining. While I do not follow them at all, I did at least know who Harsin was, and his teams generally looked well prepared and played hard when I watched them. I was excited when Auburn hired him, as my (albeit limited) knowledge of Boise State seemed to indicate that he was a good coach. He showed up saying all the right things, but most new coaches do that. It has indeed been the combination that has made me lose faith in Harsin, but probably recruiting more than anything else. Auburn has at least 3 NFL pipelines on the schedule, every season. Excellent recruiting, then developing that talent, is the only roadmap that leads to a program that is consistently competitive with them. I see no evidence that an excellent recruiting foundation has been poured. Without that, his eventual firing will always be a matter of when, not if.

Over the years, I have seen some posters here that I felt were still lamenting legalization of the forward pass.

I imagine every major program has issues with boosters, it is probably inherent to boosters.

That is very much where I am, after reading that. The coaches that have met him, have good things to say about him. That is definitely good. High school coaches that have not met him is confusing. Is that intentional? Has he simply not had time to meet all of them yet? Given his complete lack of familiarity with the area, I would imagine that someone on the staff has been suggesting where he should go, and who he should talk to. Was he getting bad advice?

I am patient, if I see signs that things are moving in the right direction. I am currently on the fence. If his 2nd year shows that the players are buying in, and there is a significant recruiting improvement, then I would be fine with letting him continue as Auburn's head coach. That would be showing us signs that things are moving in the right direction, and the actual W/L would not be very important to me. That said, does 8 wins make him safe, with continued mediocre recruiting? I am definitely not certain that it does. That is why I said that I think recruiting and the how/why of W/L, are more important than the actual W/L. Without significant results on the recruiting trail, I am not sure that anything makes him safe.

To me, recruiting and the how/why of W/L, are more important than the 2nd year W/L itself. The differences between 5-7, 6-6, and 9-3 can consist entirely of flukes, but recruiting tells us where he really has the program at, and where it is going. A significant recruiting improvement is an absolute requirement, in order to build what he claims to want to build. I can live with another 6-6 (or even worse) regular season, if the team was competitive, and there is an excellent recruiting class behind it. Show me that the foundation for a program that competes for championships has been laid, and I can be patient.

That experience is probably the biggest advantage that a coach could be armed with in recruiting.

I would be willing to bet that clips of Junior Rosegreen were used when the targeting rule was being discussed. On a team that was known for hard-hitting defense, he managed to stand out.

High road? Dude took the high road overpass, straight into the kingdom of enlightenment. Karen got sent to the offshore call center.

If people could point to specific things that worry them about his time at Vanderbilt, I could understand it. When you are talking about a program that has had two coaches with winning records since 1970, it is hard to really infer much about a head coach's general ability. Mason failed at Vanderbilt, so did 10 out of the 12 other guys in that time span. I think Vanderbilt was a poor career choice on Mason's part, and that is probably about all we can deduce from it.

Nebulous cabal. That is definitely in my top 10 list of things I never expected to read on a football forum. Frakkin Illuminati confirmed.