The Athletic says Auburn is one of the hardest jobs in college football

[aubiefifty 17,177]

When Bryan Harsin stepped in as the head coach of Auburn football last December, he knew what he was getting into.

Harsin was stepping into a place where fans expected consistency and competitiveness. Tiger fans crave excellence in all phases of the game, but at the end of the year, there’s one thing Auburn fans want most: to beat Alabama.

Unfortunately, that’s hard to do.

Auburn has one of the most difficult jobs in college football because of the level of its rivals, and it’s hard for the Tigers to meet expectations that demand play on the same level of Georgia and Alabama when Auburn neither recruits nor coaches better than either of those schools at this point in time.

Lindsay Crosby of the ‘Locked on Auburn podcast‘ shared an interesting article with me written by ‘The Athletic.’ They just recently put out a list of their hardest Power Five jobs in college football, and Auburn was listed at seventh. The teams sitting in front of them included Vanderbilt, Kansas, Nebraska, Texas, Washington State, and Miami.

Here is what The Athletic had to say about Auburn.

Auburn is already a difficult job most years, as a less consistentl ysuccessful program in its own state and with a fan base that wants to compete for SEC titles. But in the current state of college football, where Georgia and Alabama rule the annual recruiting rankings, Auburn and Tennessee are the only schools that have to play both each year because of annual cross-division rivalry games.

“That’s like an 8-4 job where everyone there thinks they should be national champ contenders,” one Group of 5 administrator said.

Added one Group of 5 assistants: “The Tennessee and Auburn people are friggin’ vicious.”

It’s a tough gig, for sure. Auburn fans may not realize how good they have it as opposed to some of the other mid-tier teams in the SEC, but unfortunately “mid-tier” is not what fans are looking for. Harsin preached patience when he was hired, and he’s going to continue to need to preach it for the next couple of seasons.

 

Contact/Follow us @theauburnwire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Auburn news, notes, and opinion.

[woodford 3,680]

Name a CFB job that isn’t tough. 
 

Auburn is the definition of high risk, high reward. 

[DAG 34,043]

It is a hard job but this narrative that we get upset when we aren't national champions every year needs to die. The proof is in the duration of our previous coach. Arkansas had 3 different coaches in the time span  Gus was the coach at Auburn. LSU had two and both won national championships. Guess what? He will be getting fired probably after this year.

Edited October 14, 2021 by DAG

[bootskii 264]

College football is always about what have you done for me lately as most people have goldfish memories now a days.  Most fans expect their coach to be Saban  ( Geez I hated typing that ) or Dabo and have their success. Probably only a few programs left where you can have a 7-6 season and still be employed. Not sure why Washington State or Kansas are on that list unless you are referring to basketball also. They are both mid-tier to bottom feeders of their conference. To me  schools with high academic standards are probably the hardest jobs to coach since you have limited players to pick from. Vanderbilt is probably the toughest with its academic bar set so high and being in the SEC. On a side note though what the heck does a Group of 5 admin know anything about big boy football programs. 

[McLoofus 35,182]

10 minutes ago, bootskii said:

Most fans expect their coach to be Saban  ( Geez I hated typing that ) or Dabo and have their success.

Nah. Most fans merely expect their coaches to work hard, make sensible decisions, and not make the same mistakes repeatedly. 

At a school like Auburn, where we are historically a top-15 program without ever having hired a big name coach, we expect coaches fitting the above description to recruit the kind of talent with which they can beat almost any team on our schedule. 

We are not idiots. We understand that our two main rivals are operating in a different space right now. That has absolutely nothing to do with the ways in which our previous coach typically lost games, the fact that he literally chose not to adequately recruit the offensive line, or the fact that we have an entire corps of WRs who struggle to catch the football. 

[RHN1975 302]

30 minutes ago, bootskii said:

College football is always about what have you done for me lately as most people have goldfish memories now a days. 

Great thought. Honestly how would bama message boards look if they lost to AU and then were beat by UGA in the SEC championship game and wind up with three losses. Instantly the gumps would be questioning whether Saban has lost it and needs to retire. 

[gr82b4au 5,568]

Our biggest rival is Alabama. They have more national championships than anyone. They currently have the best coach in college football, maybe college football history. And in recruiting they get anyone and everyone they want the vast majority of the time. 

Our second biggest rival is Georgia. While they do not have the national championships, they are dominating college football this year. They have also been dominating recruiting for the last several years. Basically whoever Alabama does not get, Georgia will get.

Probably our third biggest rival is LSU. We have had a good recent run against them, but they had a national championship two years ago. They also recruit in the top five every year and pretty much get anyone they want in Louisiana.

I have said for many years that Auburn is the hardest job in college football. Yes there is a recruiting base, but see above. It is not easy. However, I do believe that we can still be successful with the right coach and the right recruiting approach. 

 

[woodford 3,680]

32 minutes ago, RHN1975 said:

Great thought. Honestly how would bama message boards look if they lost to AU and then were beat by UGA in the SEC championship game and wind up with three losses. Instantly the gumps would be questioning whether Saban has lost it and needs to retire. 

Definitely possible. Age will catch up if it hasn’t already. The smart Bammers (oxy moron) know they’re on the back end if not the end of the dynasty. 

[RHN1975 302]

6 minutes ago, woodford said:

Definitely possible. Age will catch up if it hasn’t already. The smart Bammers (oxy moron) know they’re on the back end if not the end of the dynasty. 

And I definitely do not see him pulling a Bowden or Paterno and running the program in the ground. He won't accept not being able to compete at the highest level so I don't see him allowing a string of 8-4 type seasons where they are out of contention by November. If he coached anywhere but there I would be a big fan because he truly is a good leader. 

[Win4AU 4,055]

Until Auburn recruits on the level of its 3 biggest rivals and Texas A&M then yes, Auburn is the hardest job in the country due to who they have to play year in and year out.  Will this change when Oklahoma and Texas show up?  Maybe, depending on who Auburn ends up with in their pod or how ever they split it up.  Auburn is very capable of being a top team if Harsin recruits well the next 2-3 years.  I've said this before but we are where Alabama was in 2007.  

[woodford 3,680]

45 minutes ago, RHN1975 said:

And I definitely do not see him pulling a Bowden or Paterno and running the program in the ground. He won't accept not being able to compete at the highest level so I don't see him allowing a string of 8-4 type seasons where they are out of contention by November. If he coached anywhere but there I would be a big fan because he truly is a good leader. 

Yeah I don’t think he would either. Is he self conscience enough to know when to leave? I would think so. He’s a smart guy but who knows. 
 

I see him retiring and taking an AD or college president role at a smaller college. Tv role seems a little below him. 

[AUwent 3,778]

This is why we need to stop playing Georgia every year. Screw tradition if it’s actively making us a less desirable coaching and playing destination.

Edited October 14, 2021 by AUwent

[DAG 34,043]

21 minutes ago, AUwent said:

This is why we need to stop playing Georgia every year. Screw tradition if it’s actively making us a less desirable coaching and playing destination.

Weak 

[keesler 5,934]

3 hours ago, aubiefifty said:

When Bryan Harsin stepped in as the head coach of Auburn football last December, he knew what he was getting into.

Harsin was stepping into a place where fans expected consistency and competitiveness. Tiger fans crave excellence in all phases of the game, but at the end of the year, there’s one thing Auburn fans want most: to beat Alabama.

Unfortunately, that’s hard to do.

Auburn has one of the most difficult jobs in college football because of the level of its rivals, and it’s hard for the Tigers to meet expectations that demand play on the same level of Georgia and Alabama when Auburn neither recruits nor coaches better than either of those schools at this point in time.

Lindsay Crosby of the ‘Locked on Auburn podcast‘ shared an interesting article with me written by ‘The Athletic.’ They just recently put out a list of their hardest Power Five jobs in college football, and Auburn was listed at seventh. The teams sitting in front of them included Vanderbilt, Kansas, Nebraska, Texas, Washington State, and Miami.

Here is what The Athletic had to say about Auburn.

Auburn is already a difficult job most years, as a less consistentl ysuccessful program in its own state and with a fan base that wants to compete for SEC titles. But in the current state of college football, where Georgia and Alabama rule the annual recruiting rankings, Auburn and Tennessee are the only schools that have to play both each year because of annual cross-division rivalry games.

“That’s like an 8-4 job where everyone there thinks they should be national champ contenders,” one Group of 5 administrator said.

Added one Group of 5 assistants: “The Tennessee and Auburn people are friggin’ vicious.”

It’s a tough gig, for sure. Auburn fans may not realize how good they have it as opposed to some of the other mid-tier teams in the SEC, but unfortunately “mid-tier” is not what fans are looking for. Harsin preached patience when he was hired, and he’s going to continue to need to preach it for the next couple of seasons.

 

Contact/Follow us @theauburnwire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Auburn news, notes, and opinion.

Auburn pays their coaches WELL, they just unloaded +$25mm to fire a staff that couldn't compete at a high level and staff pulled top 5 salaries for years on end before they got axed.   So while it's a tough job, it's damn good pay whether you meet the expectations or not.

And it's NOT all about beating Alabama.  Everyone of us know good and well that AU needs to beat the mid-level SEC teams, crush the G5 teams and go at least 50-50 with our main rivals for a staff to be considered a success. 

[keesler 5,934]

36 minutes ago, AUwent said:

This is why we need to stop playing Georgia every year. Screw tradition if it’s actively making us a less desirable coaching and playing destination.

So run from 'em if you cain't beat 'em?

That's not the Auburn way. 

[AUwent 3,778]

11 minutes ago, keesler said:

So run from 'em if you cain't beat 'em?

That's not the Auburn way. 

There is no other team besides TN (and look how they’ve done the last 15 years) who has to play those two every year. There’s a difference between running from them and being realistic. And based off the way our recruiting is going, yes, it is very possible we reach TN status until Saban retires.

Edited October 14, 2021 by AUwent

[CoffeeTiger 5,250]

 

21 minutes ago, DAG said:

Weak 

 

What's 'weak' is Auburn's performance against UGa the last few decades. we're 2-8 against the dawgs in the last 10 years (oddly enough; same record as perennially <.500 Georgia Techs record against them) and 5-15 against them in the last 20. 

And Georgia is now as talented and recruiting as well as they've ever been in their history, while we're on another new coach and doing mid-tier level SEC recruiting the past several seasons. 

I agree with the premise of the article. Auburn's a tough as hell job. 

 

[Hank2020 3,227]

1 hour ago, woodford said:

Definitely possible. Age will catch up if it hasn’t already. The smart Bammers (oxy moron) know they’re on the back end if not the end of the dynasty. 

No, I don’t think that is what Bammers most believe. A high percentage of Bammers believe it is the school and Saban will hand off to the next dynasty guy ( probably Sweeney).

[keesler 5,934]

1 minute ago, CoffeeTiger said:

 

 

What's 'weak' is Auburn's performance against UGa the last few decades. we're 2-8 against the dawgs in the last 10 years (oddly enough; same record as perennially <.500 Georgia Techs record against them) and 5-15 against them in the last 20. 

And Georgia is now as talented and recruiting as well as they've ever been in their history, while we're on another new coach and doing mid-tier level SEC recruiting the past several seasons. 

I agree with the premise of the article. Auburn's a tough as hell job. 

 

In the last 20 yrs Auburn won a NC, something uga hasn't done in +40 yrs.  I'll never be one to support Auburn pulling out of the DSOR.

Get Better Auburn!  

[steeleagle 2,945]

47 minutes ago, woodford said:

Yeah I don’t think he would either. Is he self conscience enough to know when to leave? I would think so. He’s a smart guy but who knows. 
 

I see him retiring and taking an AD or college president role at a smaller college. Tv role seems a little below him. 

No way would he consider himself an administrator. No way do I see him an AD or for sure a college president.

When he's ready to go, I think he heads to his summer home and simply relaxes.

But I don't see him getting out of coaching until his late 70s AND he has passed Bryant. If he feels he has a chance to get past Bowden, I could see him trying for it. I don't see him going after Paterno's record.

[keesler 5,934]

Just now, Hank2020 said:

No, I don’t think that is what Bammers most believe. A high percentage of Bammers believe it is the school and Saban will hand off to the next dynasty guy ( probably Sweeney).

My friends would much rather have Christobal or Sarkisian than Dabo's cheesy ass for the replacement. 

[McLoofus 35,182]

9 minutes ago, CoffeeTiger said:

Auburn's a tough as hell job. 

Absolutely. No question about that.

We've just got to quit acting like that makes us special. I'm curious where the easy jobs are in P5 college football. 

 

 

[Hank2020 3,227]

5 minutes ago, keesler said:

My friends would much rather have Christobal or Sarkisian than Dabo's cheesy ass for the replacement. 

So far they haven’t proven anything away from Bama.

[keesler 5,934]

1 minute ago, Hank2020 said:

So far they haven’t proven anything away from Bama.

I just speaking about my friends opinion on the subject.  They hate Dabo's hokey, silly ways and the religious shtick he brings to his program. 

[Hank2020 3,227]

2 minutes ago, keesler said:

I just speaking about my friends opinion on the subject.  They hate Dabo's hokey, silly ways and the religious shtick he brings to his program. 

It would be interesting to see that in a poll. I suspect more Bammers would support a hand off to Sweeney than the other two but that is just what I think, certainly have no data to support that.