Coach Harsin Quotes on First Practice

[bigbird 60,538]

2 hours ago, AU-24 said:

It’s really easy, Just be a man, step up and type: Harsin was a bad hire. Auburn is so great, we could’ve done better. That’s all you have to do.

Once you do it: welcome to manhood!

If that's how you measure manhood, then no wonder why dealing with you feels like dealing with a little boy. 

[W.E.D 11,070]

My confidence is pretty low in Harsin's ability to build and sustain our program, but he at least has a chance.  Gus showed us he CAN NOT sustain our program and was a 4-5 loss SEC Coach.  That's not good enough.

Harsin has 2 more years.  He needs to do better on and off the field.  Would be nice if we could have a solid core of player going into this summer (vs seeing the vast majority of the top 15 commit to Bama/UGA/Clemson) and close out the portal really strongly

[abw0004 10,119]

11 minutes ago, W.E.D said:

Harsin has 2 more years.  He needs to do better on and off the field.  Would be nice if we could have a solid core of player going into this summer (vs seeing the vast majority of the top 15 commit to Bama/UGA/Clemson) and close out the portal really strongly

I am not sure he would even have that long if he matches his record from last season or does worse, especially that Tennessee is starting to do pretty well on the recruiting side.  I think people in the program will be using them as a comparison since the new head coaches came in at the same time.

[McLoofus 35,182]

It all hinges on the '23 recruiting class. 

[GreenTiger 1,006]

I think we all are smart enough to understand that the head coach is just one of several pieces for a program to be successful. Gus vs. Harsin is a fun topic but does not and will not fully identify AU success’ and failures.  

[aubearcat 2,137]

6 minutes ago, McLoofus said:

It all hinges on the '23 recruiting class. 

I’d add the hinge really begins with post spring transfers. If BH is able to land a few players that can contribute and show some improvement in in-game decision making in the coming season, he’ll have more of a chance to survive more seasons. Also, I suppose that perhaps the off-season turmoil unites and galvanizes the team and coaching staff to having a surprisingly good, and one might say “solid” season this year. 

[Potatooooooes!! 1,375]

4 hours ago, AU-24 said:

Of course, you’re wrong again, which is nothing new for you. All you have to do is admit Gus was no Nick Saban nor Vince Lombardi, but Harsin is a lot worse than Gus. That’s all you have to do, but you simply can’t admit you’re wrong.

Harsin is not “a lot worse than Gus.” Football wise, that is the stupidest thing I have ever read on this board. Do you think we were wrong to fire Gus?

 

EDIT: Stupid sounds pretty harsh. I tried to think of a better way to put it. I’ll just say it’s a horrible take that really has no basis in reality. 

Edited March 23, 2022 by Potatooooooes!!

[GreenTiger 1,006]

6 minutes ago, Potatooooooes!! said:

Harsin is not “a lot worse than Gus.” Football wise, that is the stupidest thing I have ever read on this board. Do you think we were wrong to fire Gus?

At AU Gus did have the luxury of being the coordinator for one of CFB greatest players setting himself up for success.   Harsin received the luxury of an AU administration hit and run setting up for a longer rebuild. 

Edited March 23, 2022 by GreenTiger

[Potatooooooes!! 1,375]

7 minutes ago, GreenTiger said:

At AU Gus did have the luxury of being the coordinator for one of CFB greatest players setting himself up for success.   Harsin received the luxury of an AU administration hit and run setting up for a longer rebuild. 

Good point. Harsin has things things that he needs to work on and change. By all accounts, he’s definitely doing that, which is something Gus NEVER did. That alone makes Harsin a better coach than Gus

[W.E.D 11,070]

27 minutes ago, abw0004 said:

I am not sure he would even have that long if he matches his record from last season or does worse, especially that Tennessee is starting to do pretty well on the recruiting side.  I think people in the program will be using them as a comparison since the new head coaches came in at the same time.

 

26 minutes ago, McLoofus said:

It all hinges on the '23 recruiting class. 

I've said it before, I think they are somewhat tied together.  We're in a hole left by the previous staff, running off players, our own failures over the first two cycles & portal.  I think the expectations need to be set that we're in a weird state of some good spots wrt the roster, but some really bad spots too.  Outside Bama/UGA and maybe A&M to a lesser extent, We "can" beat every other team on our schedule, but we can really lose to all those P5 teams too.  The margin is just razor thin between 9-3 and 4-8.

Unless we get a massive jump in QB play, I think we'll be somewhere in the middle and similar to last season.  With THAT outcome, we have to be in a drastically much better spot wrt recruiting on December 1st AND we have to kill the Spring Portal.  We have a lot of "news" and "visits" right now with '23 kids, I just hope that becomes tangible with commits.  

[W.E.D 11,070]

19 minutes ago, GreenTiger said:

Harsin received the luxury of an AU administration hit and run setting up for a longer rebuild. 

That's all just conjecture and outside a 2 week bump in the news, there has been near zero fallout or actual damage that is lingering.  We're getting tons of kids visiting, lots of "hype" from certain recruiting services.

Trying to tie back any real shortcomings to that investigation is really just making excuses at this point.

[GreenTiger 1,006]

@W.E.D  So you don’t think the investigation isn’t being used against Harsin on the recruiting trail? 

[W.E.D 11,070]

3 minutes ago, GreenTiger said:

@W.E.D  So you don’t think the investigation isn’t being used against Harsin on the recruiting trail? 

I'm sure that is and countless other things, but it's not stopping kids from coming in.  Not being able to win and develop kids is much more of a hinderance than "rumors" that floated around on message boards and twitter from unconfirmed sources.

the drama outside hyper focused Auburn fans and certain rivals was pretty small.  It's gone and now in the past

Edited March 23, 2022 by W.E.D

[Mikey 16,610]

22 hours ago, Potatooooooes!! said:

It’s a big accomplishment when that Ole Miss team has a 10-3 record. Need I point out that the last time they had a 10-3 record was when they played Gus? Do you know who won? Ole Miss. Just face it. You’re still raw that your 8-5 coach got fired and you want to see his replacement fail so you can feel better. Gus had some good games and even a couple of good seasons. But he was fired because he had 4 or more losses in 7 out of his 8 seasons, and he lost to Alabama and/or Georgia 6 out of 8 seasons, often by a demoralizing and humiliating margin. Not only that, but his teams became embarrassingly inept and consistently looked confused and unprepared. If that’s what you miss, just say so, but quit dancing around the bush acting like you’re being objective. 

If you paid any attention to my posts of the past several months, you'd know that I've said many times it was time for a change. You'd also know that I want Harsin to succeed, as any AU fan should.

You'd also know that I've posted several times how unlikely it is that AU would hire a "keeper" on the first or second try. It normally takes three or more hires before one sticks. I've seen nothing (ZERO) from Harsin that indicates he'll be around for very long.

About that Ol' Miss win: That must have been the last game before Harsin managed to coach all the "Gus" out of the team.  Harsin taking a team that started 6-2  and turning it into 6-7 sure makes it look that way.

Edited March 23, 2022 by Mikey

[Potatooooooes!! 1,375]

1 hour ago, Mikey said:

If you paid any attention to my posts of the past several months, you'd know that I've said many times it was time for a change. You'd also know that I want Harsin to succeed, as any AU fan should.

You'd also know that I've posted several times how unlikely it is that AU would hire a "keeper" on the first or second try. It normally takes three or more hires before one sticks. I've seen nothing (ZERO) from Harsin that indicates he'll be around for very long.

About that Ol' Miss win: That must have been the last game before Harsin managed to coach all the "Gus" out of the team.  Harsin taking a team that started 6-2  and turning it into 6-7 sure makes it look that way.

The thing is, all of this is completely irrelevant. It literally has no importance to the discussion of whether Harsin is a good coach or not. Besides that, you see “nothing (ZERO)” from Coach Harsin because you don’t want to. Are you seriously telling me you saw nothing from the first half of the year or the six games that we won to make you think Harsin can be successful? You nitpick at everything you can about him and bend over backwards to avoid giving him any benefit of the doubt (ie: your arguments on the offensive line that Harsin has to work with). I’m not saying Harsin will work out. I’m saying I see many positives and have reasons to believe he can. You seem to express no such sentiment, unless it is facetiously. 
 

I would also argue that he has not yet coached all of the Gus out of this team yet. The collapse we saw at the end of the season was eerily similar to how Gus teams collapsed in many of their games throughout each season.

[McLoofus 35,182]

2 hours ago, GreenTiger said:

Harsin received the luxury of an AU administration hit and run setting up for a longer rebuild. 

Except that had nothing to do with the losses, the staff turnover, the NSD collapse...

As others have said, Harsin still has a chance and has not proven that he can't do it as Gus did. But please don't displace blame for the failure that was year 1. That's neither the PTB's nor the fans' faults. Now, some of it was Gus's fault, but Harsin could have done much, much more to mitigate that. Particularly in recruiting. Maybe the spring portal window will change the narrative significantly. Still hoping it does. 

[W.E.D 11,070]

1 minute ago, McLoofus said:

Except that had nothing to do with the losses, the staff turnover, the NSD collapse...

As others have said, Harsin still has a chance and has not proven that he can't do it as Gus did. But please don't displace blame for the failure that was year 1. That's neither the PTB's nor the fans' faults. Now, some of it was Gus's fault, but Harsin could have done much, much more to mitigate that. Particularly in recruiting. Maybe the spring portal window will change the narrative significantly. Still hoping it does. 

Harsin could go out and win the first 5 games of the season, which are all extremely winnable home games, we'd be ranked in the top 15 and not a sole would give a s*** about a week long drama event in early February.

It's just excuse making and extremely simple to over come.  Win

[McLoofus 35,182]

10 minutes ago, W.E.D said:

Harsin could go out and win the first 5 games of the season, which are all extremely winnable home games, we'd be ranked in the top 15 and not a sole would give a s*** about a week long drama event in early February.

It's just excuse making and extremely simple to over come.  Win

Also, I think most of us agree that there is a very different and better tone around the program since that all happened. Some will undoubtedly credit Harsin for working miracles despite the PTB's meddling, but it should be considered that a wake up call was needed and successfully delivered. 

[AuburnNTexas 7,150]

2 hours ago, W.E.D said:

That's all just conjecture and outside a 2 week bump in the news, there has been near zero fallout or actual damage that is lingering.  We're getting tons of kids visiting, lots of "hype" from certain recruiting services.

Trying to tie back any real shortcomings to that investigation is really just making excuses at this point.

The fiasco was seen by every recruit and because of it other teams will point to it. So to think that because it only lasted 2 weeks it is gone is very unrealistic. We are doing a lot of things to overcome it and we might but at least for the 2023 class. That said it is another hill we have to climb in addition to recruiting directly against recruiting juggernauts like bama, UGA, Clemson, Miami with Cristobal and LSU with their new coach.  I think that is one reason you are seeing us reaching out to other areas while still working our core recruiting areas hard.

Lets talk about some things Harsin has done that are positive.

Beefed up the recruiting staff by a lot.

Offense utilized TE's and backs in passing attack.

Offense actually threw slants. 

 

 

Edited March 23, 2022 by AuburnNTexas

[NWALA Tiger 3,535]

3 hours ago, W.E.D said:

That's all just conjecture and outside a 2 week bump in the news, there has been near zero fallout or actual damage that is lingering.  We're getting tons of kids visiting, lots of "hype" from certain recruiting services.

Trying to tie back any real shortcomings to that investigation is really just making excuses at this point.

I disagree. There was and is alot to be overcome from the " investigation ". Not saying it can't be overcome 

Edited March 23, 2022 by NWALA Tiger

[McLoofus 35,182]

28 minutes ago, AuburnNTexas said:

Offense utilized TE's and backs in passing attack.

Offense actually threw slants. 

The immediate and vast improvements to the offense are reason enough to shut down any talk of Harsin being worse than Gus. Unfortunately, we have a lot of fans who can't see past the numbers to understand how much more capable this offense is of adjusting and attacking any part of the field. Just need the players. That won't be an excuse in year 3 or beyond but it was damned sure a valid excuse in year 1. 

I mean, Harsin might not be the guy, but I'm confident that he's a get rich or die tryin' type. That's a hell of a lot better than settling in for 8-5 every year. 

[Sizzle 3,914]

5 hours ago, GreenTiger said:

@W.E.D  So you don’t think the investigation isn’t being used against Harsin on the recruiting trail? 

That negative recruiting will pick back up when the season is starting to roll around. Kirby is gone use that topic nonstop to make sure recruits ain’t going to Auburn. The only thing that cures that is winning

[AUloggerhead 2,234]

3 hours ago, Potatooooooes!! said:

I would also argue that he has not yet coached all of the Gus out of this team yet. The collapse we saw at the end of the season was eerily similar to how Gus teams collapsed in many of their games throughout each season.

Agree with the exception of the Iron Bowl.  I mean, AU stymied the uat offense for 59 minutes or so & then ran out of gas in a 4-OT game.  That kind of loss doesn't have quite the stench of the former coach's typical blowout losses to uat.   To the bean-counters who can't hardly see past their noses, a loss is a loss.  And I suppose that's true to some extent.  However, I saw a different team in that IB -- one that was willing to fight to the end and leave it all on the field.  Pat Dye Field.  I have great hope for this team under Harsin's guidance.  I'm also willing to give him a fighting chance to succeed as I never believed transforming the culture was going to be completed in 1 season.  WDE

[Potatooooooes!! 1,375]

33 minutes ago, AUloggerhead said:

Agree with the exception of the Iron Bowl.  I mean, AU stymied the uat offense for 59 minutes or so & then ran out of gas in a 4-OT game.  That kind of loss doesn't have quite the stench of the former coach's typical blowout losses to uat.   To the bean-counters who can't hardly see past their noses, a loss is a loss.  And I suppose that's true to some extent.  However, I saw a different team in that IB -- one that was willing to fight to the end and leave it all on the field.  Pat Dye Field.  I have great hope for this team under Harsin's guidance.  I'm also willing to give him a fighting chance to succeed as I never believed transforming the culture was going to be completed in 1 season.  WDE

Honestly, I didn’t expect us to make it past the first overtime. The fact that we made it to the fourth one was incredible and heartbreaking at the same time, so I agree with what you said. The fact that it came after a four or five game skid is just as remarkable. 

[Mikey 16,610]

11 hours ago, Potatooooooes!! said:

I’m saying I see many positives and have reasons to believe he can. You seem to express no such sentiment, unless it is facetiously. 

I express no such sentiment because I see no positives. First losing record in eight years. Recruiting pedestrian at best. Not competitive with our competition in the transfer portal. (Rated 29th, while five of the top ten are other SEC teams) At current count, 21 gone to the portal and 5 brought in, so player retention is not acceptable. Assistant coach fruit-basket turnover.

Had the season started 0-5 and ended with 6-2, I'd see that as positive. However, the reverse happened. The longer Harsin coached, the worse the team got. So no, I'm not seeing anything measurable in the way of positives.

What are some of those many positives you claim to see?