Welcome to the Plains Coach Harsin (Merged)

[EagleEye67 1,939]

7 hours ago, Taco said:

I swear. 
 

We could hire Saban away from Bama and some y’all would say “yeah but he lost to Gus.” Or whatever petty **** y’all come up with. 

LBJ, at the height of the Viet Nam War, was lamenting once about his treatment by the press, and said, "You see the Potomac River right there?  If I walked across it tomorrow morning, all the headlines would read, 'LBJ Can't Swim.'"

 

[AUFriction 1,179]

I just hope this hire is good enough to stop prospects from going to our biggest recruiting rival... the University of Auburn.

[WarEagleHunter1221 1,690]

Really ready to start seeing this guy’s assistant hires. CC said he does not predict for him to bring too many coaches from BS, praised him for being an extremely smart dude who he trust to make the right decisions in that regard. Like he knows it takes big time assistant hires to win. My only fear is him not having many connections outside of the MWC. However I could be completely off bases with that. 

[Zeek 16,650]

Guys AL.com actually wrote something good

"

New Auburn football coach Bryan Harsin, welcome to Alabama whoever you are.

Kidding! You’re the guy from Idaho.

But, seriously, who are you? No one really knows even though everyone is now going to pretend like they know exactly who you are and they knew all along.

Not me. I cannot tell a lie. Didn’t see anything like this coming even though I was hopeful, at one point last week, that something drastic was going to change in Auburn. Then it got a little sideways.

Now here it is: hope. Just like that, and right when I was starting to dread that Auburn was going to do something desperate like hire Lane Kiffin or Hugh Freeze. Wait a relief, this Idahoan.

Suddenly, this feels like a new Auburn for a new-age Southeastern Conference. It’s refreshing. Auburn got this right. Auburn did a good thing. Different is good. Leaders are different, and there have been a whole lot of followers lately in the SEC.

Still, and this is kind of strange, but there are some odd connections between Harsin and Auburn’s immediate past.

Auburn hired Gus Malzahn from Arkansas State in 2012 because he was an offensive innovator and, of course, the Tigers’ 2010 national championship offensive coordinator. Harsin succeeded Malzahn in Jonesboro, Arkansas. On that staff with Harsin for one season was current Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz, who was at Auburn from 2010-2011.

Drinkwitz was later Harsin’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Boise State before leaving for N.C. State. After taking over at Appalachian State, Drinkwitz then walked the well-worn path from the Sun Belt Conference to the SEC. Harsin is going straight from the Mountain West to the SEC, and for me that’s the strength of this hire.

Auburn needed a proven outsider, and Auburn athletics director Allen Greene went out and found one. Someone give that man a hug and a Christmas bonus, please.

Greene just saved Christmas and Auburn all at the same time. Who does that?

Critics are going to say Auburn was desperate because they hired a coach from Boise State to turn the Tigers into a perennial championship contender. These are people of poor vision, and limited memories.

See, Idaho to Auburn isn’t exactly unprecedented. Auburn once hired a coach away from Wyoming. The field inside Jordan-Hare Stadium is now named in his honor.

Everyone knew Pat Dye before he arrived at Auburn, though. He played at Georgia and coached under Paul Bryant. Harsin is from the Chris Petersen tree of coaching, which is a great thing in High Desert football circles, but that fact doesn’t mean much here in Alabama.

Isn’t it wonderful?

This new Auburn coach is like a mysterious gift that has found its way under the tree a couple days before Christmas. Who put this gift here? Does it need batteries? Bryan Harsin of Boise State, are you a Christmas miracle?

Can you fix Bo Nix?

OK, Nix isn’t completely broken by any means, but everyone could use some fine-tuning in the offseason. Harsin is apparently the guy for that job. He’s a former quarterback, who coaches quarterbacks and has a reputation for recruiting quarterbacks really well.

I learned most of that through the news release that Auburn sent out, but Google has been a good friend, too. Admit it. You did the Google thing just like me.

According to data that tracks web traffic, just about all of Alabama started studying up on Harsin after it was reported on Tuesday afternoon that he was going to be the 28th football coach in the 127-year history of Auburn football. No one saw this hire coming, and that’s the way it needed to be.

It was so beautiful to be slapped in the face so hard and so unexpectedly. Pow. Right in the mouth. Gobsmacked.

Harsin has never been a head coach of a Power 5 team, but he’s 6-6 against them since taking over at Boise State. That’s a great record against the big boys for a Group of 5 coach even if Boise State was loaded when Harsin took over the team.

This search was messy. Fine. So what? We knew that was coming because we know the old Auburn. Good-bye, old Auburn. If you have any remaining rolls of toilet paper stockpiled now would be the time to hand them over to a new generation.

Old Auburn made this harder than it had to be, but the end result is what counts. Harsin now adds something to the SEC that wasn’t here before. That’s fun. An SEC retread with NCAA baggage would have been disappointing and awful. This is bold, and hopefully Harsin considers keeping interim head coach Kevin Steele, too. Steele could be a real asset to a coach not completely familiar with recruiting in Alabama, Georgia and Florida.

Quick thought, but does this hire open up Auburn to recruiting out West? Hope so. Thanks to guys like Tosh Lupoi, Steve Sarkisian and Kiffin, Alabama has brought in some stunners from California who wanted to try competing in the SEC. Auburn can do the same thing. Just get them here, Steele said on National Signing Day. Auburn sells itself.

Never mind all that for now, though. First, there are a few administrative things to go over before Harsin’s official Auburn football waterboarding … I mean on-boarding begins.

We need to get some disclaimers out of the way, in other words. They’re for everyone’s general well-being and protection.

First, and this is going to sound silly, but they like the football fields green here.

Harsin, don’t go getting any crazy ideas if you start feeling homesick for Boise State. The Smurf Turf thing is cool and all, and I love it, but probably not the best idea for Auburn. Good news, though. Everyone is going to scream about your close wins here until they’re blue in the face.

Losing any game at all, it should go without saying, is unacceptable no matter the opponent, but if you bench Nix the loveliest villagers on the Plains might riot in the streets.

Last thing, and this is important. Did they tell you in the interview what happened to the last guy? Malzahn beat Saban more times than anyone in the country, and that wasn’t good enough.

Just so you know what you’re getting into.

Bryan Harsin of Idaho, whoever you are, we’re happy you’re here. Welcome to Southern Fried Football in the land of the pines. Skip the Waffle House."

[JFDTiger80 790]

11 hours ago, AUatHeart said:

I just need to know what Tank thinks about him.  That’s one player I don’t want to see leave us early, unless it’s to the NFL.

I looked and our new coach has has RB's gain over 1400 yds in a season. He has to like that.

[Tigerpro2a 5,650]

3 minutes ago, Zeek said:

Losing any game at all, it should go without saying, is unacceptable no matter the opponent, but if you bench Nix the loveliest villagers on the Plains might riot in the streets.

 

Completely disconnected! Otherwise a good write up.

[EagleEye67 1,939]

only thing I question is the supposed 'rioting' if Nix is benched.  I very much want Bo to succeed, but he needs to shed the legacy label and earn the position through honest competition.  i hope CBH makes that happen.

[Auburn Tiger 1,340]

2 minutes ago, EagleEye67 said:

only thing I question is the supposed 'rioting' if Nix is benched.  I very much want Bo to succeed, but he needs to shed the legacy label and earn the position through honest competition.  i hope CBH makes that happen.

Well said. The installation of Nix seems to go against the creed, right? Something something “hard work” and “count on what I earn”. Lol. 

[Zeek 16,650]

7 minutes ago, Tigerpro2a said:

Completely disconnected! Otherwise a good write up.

Yeah some stuff I disagree with but as a journalism major it is a fun and easy read. Not the copy paste article of a new hiring 247 would crank out. 

[meh130 1,043]

There has been talk of potential Harsin staff members. I think Harsin will have to have some people who are veterans of the recruiting territory. I look at the changes Cristobal has made to his Oregon staff. Cristobal inherited some of Taggart's left behinds, and had to pull something together quickly. Since then he has selectively pulled from Washington, Washington State, Boise State, Oregon State, and others in the geography.

Harsin cannot bring a bunch of Idahoans into the deep south, and expect to be successful in the SEC.

Is that an argument to keep some of the staff? Possibly, but that needs to be Harsin's decision.

The good thing is a new coach, under the first year of a multi-year contract, in the "honeymoon period", can get assistants to sign on. Former Muschamp assistants from South Carolina staffers and former Derek Mason Vandy assistants need to be looked at if they are good coaches and good recruiters. Other assistants who are ready for a change need to be looked at as well.

[Rednilla 5,391]

35 minutes ago, Zeek said:

This is bold, and hopefully Harsin considers keeping interim head coach Kevin Steele, too. Steele could be a real asset to a coach not completely familiar with recruiting in Alabama, Georgia and Florida.

The author had me until this point. Based upon what I've heard about Steele, Harsin keeping him flies in the face of everything else in the article.

[Zeek 16,650]

Must have been holding out for the Auburn job 

[LKEEL75 2,566]

14 hours ago, gr82be said:

15 hours ago, AUpreacherman22 said:

War Eagle! and Welcome Coach Hardin!  Welcome to SEC recruiting CBH.  It’s a totally different animal!!!

That's good because Hardin is a totally different coach from Harsin. 

(I know it was spell check) 

It's OK @AUpreacherman22...  First few times I typed his name I called him Hasin.

[meh130 1,043]

6 hours ago, ToomersStreet said:

I don;t know specifics.  It sounded like either after UGA or South Ca. Boosters reached out to both Steele and Garner and asked them just what exactly was wrong with the program.  #1 the players are just soft under Malzahns leader ship and lack the toughness to go head to head with Bama and UGA.  #2 Player development #3 Gus believes in his heart of hearts he knows what he is doing.  In reality he has his receivers running the same routes as an 8th grade football team.  Its the SEC and his offense has no business in the power 5.  Garner and Steele want what best for the players and although Gus did a lot right, he was not properly preparing his team for Saturdays.

Good points. Player development matters, regardless of how many stars they were rated out of high school. Our numerous 5-star busts and 5-star head cases prove that. Now take away the 5-stars and player development matters even more.

There are huge differences between Power 5 and Group of 5 and lower. I do not think Malzahn ever figured that part out. I heard some commenter on TV during one of our games say the way the most successful schools figured out how to defend the spread passing game by going out and recruiting the best man coverage DBs they could. Talent differential is why the Group of 5 team putting up 50 points a game suddenly is shut out until garbage time in the 4th quarter when playing against a good Power 5 team. In the Group of 5, a fast wide receiver running a simple route going against an average DB wins that battle, and you get video game results. Go against a 5-star lock-down cover corner who practices against 5-star wide receivers daily, and the results are different.

But again, it is not just recruiting. Auburn has had plenty of top 12 classes, full of 4-star WRs and DBs. FSU was blowing out recruiting under Jimbo and completely imploded. You can't tolerate discipline problems (Duke Williams, anyone?), not develop talent, and not have a playbook dynamic enough to compete against the Bamas and UGAs.

[gr82be 14,424]

1 minute ago, LKEEL75 said:

It's OK @AUpreacherman22...  First few times I typed his name I called him Hasin.

I had to correct spell check twice before I could get it correct. 

[Zeek 16,650]

https://oanow.com/sports/college/auburn/potential-auburn-offensive-coordinator-candidates/collection_2e8e9a58-44d3-11eb-b33a-4b031527eac9.amp.html?utm_campaign=snd-autopilot&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter_AUBlog&__twitter_impression=true

Love Kendal Briles and Dell McGee as options. F' no to BoBo.

[aubearcat 2,137]

3 minutes ago, Zeek said:

https://oanow.com/sports/college/auburn/potential-auburn-offensive-coordinator-candidates/collection_2e8e9a58-44d3-11eb-b33a-4b031527eac9.amp.html?utm_campaign=snd-autopilot&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter_AUBlog&__twitter_impression=true

Love Kendal Briles and Dell McGee as options. F' no to BoBo.

I’d be stoked for Dell or Briles

[Zeek 16,650]

 

 

[meh130 1,043]

My biggest disappointment in this whole thing, is if it took being turned down by almost everyone to get the PTB to relinquish its refusal to grant "autonomy", we probably could have had a coach higher on the list some time ago.

While I think Harsin is a good hire, I think Napier might have been a better hire, and Cristobal would have been a marquee hire. Napier might have been the ideal hire for the situation (limited money, recruiting familiarity, etc.).

That said, if this search is what it took to drive the stake into the heart of PTB meddling, then it will be worth it.

[AUpreacherman22 3,885]

8 hours ago, Bo Didley said:

CBH needs the chance. I think he’s hungrier than anyone we have ever hired. 

This is why I like the hire.  I think he is bold and hungry enough to do what it takes (within the rules) to win at AU!   War Eagle!

[abw0004 10,113]

 

 

[Zeek 16,650]

Just now, abw0004 said:

 

 

It's cute they have matching hairstyles 

[Zeek 16,650]

[ClaytonAU 4,606]

I like Cubelic, but why do we consistently put his opinion so high? Is it because he went to AU?

[AuburnTiger4Life 2,225]

31 minutes ago, meh130 said:

My biggest disappointment in this whole thing, is if it took being turned down by almost everyone to get the PTB to relinquish its refusal to grant "autonomy", we probably could have had a coach higher on the list some time ago.

While I think Harsin is a good hire, I think Napier might have been a better hire, and Cristobal would have been a marquee hire. Napier might have been the ideal hire for the situation (limited money, recruiting familiarity, etc.).

That said, if this search is what it took to drive the stake into the heart of PTB meddling, then it will be worth it.

According to 247 Napier was never even offered the job and we had no interest in Bill Clark (although he called AU to try to get an interview). It seems the only guy that actually turned us down was Brent Venables.