AUBURN — For the first time in his tenure at Auburn, Tigers head coach Gus Malzahn will need to hire a new offensive coordinator.

Rhett Lashlee left his offensive coordinator position Wednesday night at Auburn to take the same job at the University of Connecticut.

Here is an UPDATED list of 10 candidates, in no particular, the Montgomery Advertiser compiled to fill the opening left by Lashlee’s departure:

  • 1) Mark Helfrich, former Oregon head coach/former Oregon offensive coordinator/quarterback coach - As of Friday, Helfrich is considered the favorite for this job and has the experience of running a tempo offense similar to what Malzahn has used at Auburn. Helfrich was fired as Oregon's head coach this past offseason after a 4-8 campaign overshadowed a 37-16 record in his four-year tenure leading the Ducks program. As a quarterback coach, Helfrich was instrumental in the development of Jeremiah Masoli, Darron Thomas and former Heisman Trophy winner Marcus Mariota. With Helrich essentially running the day-to-day operations of the Oregon offense implemented by then-Ducks head coach Chip Kelly, Oregon played in four straight Bowl Championship Series bowls from 2009 to 2012 including being the offensive coordinator on the opposite sideline with Auburn defeated Oregon in the 2011 BCS National Championship Game. As the offensive coordinator under Kelly, the Ducks offense averaged 44.7 points per game with an average of 283.4 rushing yards and an average of 500.7 yards of total offense. In 2012 Oregon' averaged 49.6 points per game with an average of 537.4 yards of total offense with 315.2 of those yards per game from rushing in a similar style to Auburn's hurry-up, no-huddle attack. Prior to his time at Oregon, Helfrich was the offensive coordinator or quarterbacks coach at Colorado, Arizona State and Boise State. 
  • 2) Herb Hand, Auburn offensive line coach — Hand is considered one of Malzahn’s best friends, and he helped run with Malzahn at Tulsa in 2007 and 2008. With Malzahn’s circle of trust not being very big, a promotion from inside the staff could be more than possible with the plan of Malzahn being the play-caller on the field and Hand in the coaches’ box relaying any critical information from the All-22 perspective.  
  • 3) Randy Sanders, Florida State co-offensive coordinator/QB coach — Sanders has no connection to Malzahn, Auburn or the state of Alabama but he has over a decade of experience coaching and recruiting in the Southeastern Conference before his four years with the Seminoles. He also fits the category of a successful quarterback coach to tutor new signee Jarrett Stidham. Under the tutelage of Sanders, Jameis Winston became the youngest Heisman Trophy winner in 2013, the same season he led the Seminoles to a 14-0 record and Florida State’s third national championship where they defeated Auburn in the BCS title game. During that historic 2013 season, Florida State set the national record for points in a season with 723, led the nation with a passing efficiency mark of 174.69, and set school and ACC marks with 7,267 yards of total offense, 51.6 points per game, 94 touchdowns, and 7.67 yards per play. Before arriving at FSU, Sanders was an 11-year offensive coordinator in the SEC at Tennessee and Kentucky where Sanders also won a national championship in 1998 with the Volunteers. According to USA Today’s latest database numbers, Sanders made an annual salary of $592,000 so Lashlee’s salary of $601,500 is in the ballpark of logical.  
  • 4) Mike Yurcich, Oklahoma State offensive coordinator/QB coach — Another name with no previous connection to Malzahn, Auburn or the state of Alabama but his success speaks for itself. Yurcich was a nominee for the 2016 Broyles Award presented to the nation’s top assistant coach. This past fall, Yurcich oversaw an Oklahoma State offense that was one of only two from a Power 5 conference to produce a 4,000-yard passer (Mason Rudolph), a 1,000-yard rusher (Justice Hill) and a 1,000-yard receiver (James Washington). Yurcich joined the Oklahoma State coaching staff as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach in February 2013 after serving as offensive coordinator at Division II Shippensburg University from 2011-12. Yurcich’s 2016 salary was $500,000. 
  • 5) Chip Lindsey, Arizona State offensive coordinator/QB coach – You want a connection to Malzahn, Auburn and the state of Alabama? Enter Chip Lindsey. Lindsey just finished his first season as offensive coordinator at Arizona State under Todd Graham where the Sun Devils offense finished ninth in total yardage in the Pac-12 Conference. Lindsey’s knowledge of the Malzahn system is very widespread.   

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Auburn running backs coach Tim Horton talks about Kerryon Johnson. Matthew Stevens

  • 6) Tim Horton, Auburn running backs coach - Prior to joining Malzahn’s staff at Auburn, Horton spent six seasons in a similar capacity at Arkansas, where he was also recruiting coordinator. Horton accepted the offensive coordinator position at Air Force in 2007 before Arkansas, his alma mater, offered him the running backs coach position. If there’s one person other than Herb Hand that Malzahn trusts as much, it’s Horton and this kind of position could get him the mid-major head coaching opportunities he’s been in the running for in previous years.   
  • 7) Chad Scott, co-offensive coordinator/wide receivers coach — Scott took over after Chad Morris, one of the people deeply inside the Malzahn circle of trust, accepted the head coaching job at SMU. And hey, why not go after the 38-year-old co-offensive coordinator at the defending national champions? Clemson has been to a bowl game each of his nine years as a full-time assistant coach and brings an extremely high recruiting reputation as he was named one of the top-25 recruiters in the nation and ACC recruiter-of-the-year in 2015 by Rivals.com. Clemson has earned 20 of 27 games of at least 500 yards of total offense under Scott’s guidance. This hire would create a gap at the quarterback coach position and might force former Auburn quarterback Kodi Burns to transition from WR coach to QB coach.  
  • 8) Eliah Drinkwitz, North Carolina State offensive coordinator - The 33-year-old assistant is considered one of the rising stars in the business. Drinkwitz was the running backs coach at Arkansas State under head coach Malzahn in 2012 and then as a quality control assistant at Auburn in 2014. While at ASU, their offense ranked 23rd nationally in rushing offense in 2012 averaging 206.2 yards per game. While the offensive coordinator at Boise State under Bryan Harsin in 2015, the Broncos offense ranked in the Top 15 nationally in points per game and total offense. The Broncos averaged 39.1 points and over 500 yards of offense per game. This past season at N.C. State, the Wolfpack offense ranked No. 63 in total offense but he guided sophomore quarterback Ryan Finley to 3,055 passing yards and 18 touchdowns including a 3-touchdown performance in the 41-17 victory over Vanderbilt in the 2016 Independence Bowl. 
  • 9) Clint Trickett, quarterback coach at East Mississippi Community College — Nobody believes he’s ready for an offensive coordinator position at a Power 5 conference school but if an in-house promotion is done (Hand, Horton etc.) then Trickett might be the perfect candidate to come in as the new quarterback coach.  

REPORTEDLY WILL NOT BE INTERVIEWED

  • Art Briles, former Baylor head coach — Briles has had a connection with Malzahn dating back years when the two staffs began trading playbook ideas with each other. Both staffs have made trips to each other’s campuses to go over new and innovative ideas with their similar offenses. And that right there is probably where this connection stops making sense. In case you’d forgotten, and I doubt many folks have, an independent review by the Pepper Hamilton law firm found that Baylor football coaches and staff interfered with investigations into sexual assault complaints against players, and even impeded potential criminal proceedings. The firm released a 13-page report on May 26, the same day Briles was immediately suspended before reaching a mutual agreement with the school for his departure about a month later. Briles hasn’t been interviewed for a job in college football since the Pepper Hamilton report was released. It would be a near impossibility for Auburn to explain this hire from a public relations standpoint. 
  • Kendal Briles, Florida Atlantic offensive coordinator/former Baylor offensive coordinator – And now we get to the ‘apple doesn’t fall far from the tree’ argument. Let’s assume Kendal Briles had no knowledge of what the Pepper Hamilton report accused Briles’ father of while he served under Art Briles as Baylor’s offensive coordinator, Kendal Briles is considered one of the bright young offensive minds in college football where his tempo offense is mired by Malzahn at Auburn in scheme with the only difference being Auburn has more of a run-based strategy. In Briles’ first season as an offensive coordinator in 2015, he was nominated for the Broyles Award for the top assistant coach in the country. Prior to that, as Baylor’s pass game coordinator, he helped run an offense that ranked in the top five nationally for four consecutive seasons. Briles also was the primary recruiter of Auburn’s newest QB signee Jarrett Stidham to Baylor before Art Briles’ firing caused him to transfer. The concerns about Kendal Briles? Well … remember that assumption I asked you to make earlier?  
  • Jake Spavital, California interim head coach/offensive coordinator — A day before the Lashlee news broke, Spavital was reportedly scheduled to interview for the vacant head coaching job at California after Sonny Dykes was terminated earlier this week. Spavital was an offensive quality control coach at Tulsa in 2008 when Malzahn and Hand were both with the Golden Hurricanes program. Before arriving at Cal, Spavital was the offensive coordinator at Texas A&M under Kevin Sumlin and has worked also for West Virginia head coach Dana Holgorsen.
  • (UPDATED) And Spavital will apparently be reunited with Holgorsen as he reportedly agreed to become the next offensive coordinator at West Virginia after Wisconsin defensive coordinator Justin Wilcox agreed to a five-year deal to become the next California head coach. 

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