Sobering Recruiting Stat

[Viper 3,132]

28 minutes ago, AuburnNTexas said:

His selling points were he came from a winning program that had limited budget. The school he came for was not in any major recruiting areas it was in the middle of nowhere but he was able to recruit kids and develop them and be competitive against bigger programs.

Again…the ship that Petersen built.

28 minutes ago, AuburnNTexas said:

The last coach we had like that was Pat Dye.

Dye was from the South. Coached under the best for 9 seasons. Wyoming was nothing but a 1-year stepping stone from East Carolina to AU. Coaching in the Northwest is the single solitary thing Dye and Harsin shared. Nothing more.

Dye knew the SE. Connections galore. Knew how to relate to players and coaches.

35 minutes ago, AuburnNTexas said:

He didn't like working with the money men.
Freeze is also social and works with the money men

The money men chose Freeze. That’s why NIL money is now there. They warned Greene what would happen if he chose Harsin. No dough for potato.

[bigbird 60,566]

5 hours ago, Mikey said:

 he shared a hot-tub conversation

I'm confident they shared more than just a conversation 

[augolf1716 21,207]

1 hour ago, bigbird said:

I'm confident they shared more than just a conversation 

I see what you done there birdy

[JerryAU 1,677]

On 8/11/2023 at 12:29 PM, AuburnNTexas said:

I am sad to admit I was one of the people that initially bought into Harsin.  His selling points were he came from a winning program that had limited budget. The school he came for was not in any major recruiting areas it was in the middle of nowhere but he was able to recruit kids and develop them and be competitive against bigger programs. The last coach we had like that was Pat Dye. He came in and said things similar to what Pat Dye said and first thing he did was increase recruiting budget and beef up recruiting staff. Beefing up the recruiting staff was why I thought he was on the right track. 

What I didn't know and didn't find out till later is he did not make any attempt to contact HS coaches, He didn't really connect with recruits and personally absented himself from the recruiting process as much as he could. He didn't like working with the money men another words anything that wasn't on the field he had no interest in.

He hurt Auburn big time, the only good thing I can say about him is because of him we got Freeze who understands recruiting is the life blood of a program and seems to actually enjoy that aspect of his job. Freeze is also social and works with the money men, the players, etc.

Actually, this board sold me on Harsin very early on.  I got laughed at a time or two when I admitted I'd never hear of him, folks asked if I "knew anything about college football?", that I should've easily known who Bryan Harsin was.  He was propped up for having the "3rd highest winning percentage in the nation behind Nick Saban and Dabo Swinney" at the time he was hired at Auburn.  lol  

Comparisons were made to Pat Dye because Harsin exhibited a no-nonsense "Alpha Male" approach, he demanded hard work, accountability & he'd no longer coddle players like Gus had done.  He was praised for boosting recruiting personnel and even more so when he brought in people with NFL experience/background to evaluate talent to help recruiting.  

I was willing to give him a few years until the article came out about him not even making an effort to visit the top high school's or even showing his face & making the introductions as Auburn's HC.  He couldn't bring himself to travel a 100-mile radius from campus to meet HS coaches.  Then we were told months passed, and he'd never shook Jimmy Raine's hand?  I think everyone accepted he was a dead man walking after that fiasco in February hit the fan. 

[toddc 13,194]

55 minutes ago, JerryAU said:

Actually, this board sold me on Harsin very early on.  I got laughed at a time or two when I admitted I'd never hear of him, folks asked if I "knew anything about college football?", that I should've easily known who Bryan Harsin was.  He was propped up for having the "3rd highest winning percentage in the nation behind Nick Saban and Dabo Swinney" at the time he was hired at Auburn.  lol  

Comparisons were made to Pat Dye because Harsin exhibited a no-nonsense "Alpha Male" approach, he demanded hard work, accountability & he'd no longer coddle players like Gus had done.  He was praised for boosting recruiting personnel and even more so when he brought in people with NFL experience/background to evaluate talent to help recruiting.  

I was willing to give him a few years until the article came out about him not even making an effort to visit the top high school's or even showing his face & making the introductions as Auburn's HC.  He couldn't bring himself to travel a 100-mile radius from campus to meet HS coaches.  Then we were told months passed, and he'd never shook Jimmy Raine's hand?  I think everyone accepted he was a dead man walking after that fiasco in February hit the fan. 

Not sure who said you should’ve known him because nobody I talked with had a clue.

[Viper 3,132]

53 minutes ago, JerryAU said:

I got laughed at a time or two when I admitted I'd never hear of him, folks asked if I "knew anything about college football?", that I should've easily known who Bryan Harsin was. 

So 1 or 2 knew of him prior to AU? Then they were the only ones. I recall when he was announced, no one here had heard of him.

56 minutes ago, JerryAU said:

I think everyone accepted he was a dead man walking after that fiasco in February hit the fan. 

Nope. Several here held on to till the bitter end.

[JerryAU 1,677]

21 hours ago, toddc said:

Not sure who said you should’ve known him because nobody I talked with had a clue.

Well, everyone will have different recollections as time passes. At the time, several folks knew him and his accomplishments at BSU & the job he did with lesser talent.  

Needless to say, he was propped up (by a few mods) and Pat Dye comparisons were made due to Harsin's attitude and his all-business approach to the team.  Many glossed over the mass exodus of players & coaches as par for the course and "cutting the dead weight." 

All this to say, we are a rabid fan base that will stand behind the decisions of our Administration and back them till the bitter end.  We'll work like crazy to paint a pretty picture in the midst of disarray and discontent.  We are professionals at coping with adversity.  

[AUloggerhead 2,238]

1 hour ago, JerryAU said:

Well, everyone will have different recollections as time passes. At the time, several folks knew him and his accomplishments at BSU & the job he did with lesser talent.  

Needless to say, he was propped up (by a few mods) and Pat Dye comparisons were made due to Harsin's attitude and his all-business approach to the team.  Many glossed over the mass exodus of players & coaches as par for the course and "cutting the dead weight." 

All this to say, we are a rabid fan base that will stand behind the decisions of our Administration and back them till the bitter end.  We'll work like crazy to paint a pretty picture in the midst of disarray and discontent.  We are professionals at coping with adversity.  

I knew about Harsin.  Of course, I live out here in the Pacific NW where the cfb reporting regularly includes news about BSU.  Plus, I had a co-worker who was a BSU grad and literally would not stop talking about them -- after BSU beat OU in the Fiesta Bowl he was insufferable(!) Before Petersen, Dan Hawkins was the HC & got BSU started on their winning ways.  Harsin was promoted to OC/QB coach when Petersen took over.  Recruiting is difficult at BSU & other NW schools just because of dearth of population density.   Lots of recruits come from CA.  In fact, the majority of out-of-state students at BSU come from CA.  I don't know how they did recruiting at BSU but they continued to bring in talent to keep the winning ways going.  

As far as mass exodus of players when a new coach takes over, I'd say it's not anything out of the ordinary.  The same thing happened at Miss State in the 1st year after Mike Leach arrived.  With the hit or miss recruiting under Malzahn (especially OL,) I fully expected the rebuild at AU under Harsin to take multiple years and figured AU would just have to take its lumps in the interim.   Freeze's judicious use the portal to fill immediate needs & relentless recruiting have been not only a welcome change after years of substandard recruiting, but it also should be seen as a template of how to quickly turn around a program.  I honestly didn't think it was possible to bring in 40+ new players in one year.  I am gob smacked at his success!  WDE

[milehighfan 1,240]

On 8/11/2023 at 12:29 PM, AuburnNTexas said:

I am sad to admit I was one of the people that initially bought into Harsin.  His selling points were he came from a winning program that had limited budget. The school he came for was not in any major recruiting areas it was in the middle of nowhere but he was able to recruit kids and develop them and be competitive against bigger programs. The last coach we had like that was Pat Dye. He came in and said things similar to what Pat Dye said and first thing he did was increase recruiting budget and beef up recruiting staff. Beefing up the recruiting staff was why I thought he was on the right track. 

What I didn't know and didn't find out till later is he did not make any attempt to contact HS coaches, He didn't really connect with recruits and personally absented himself from the recruiting process as much as he could. He didn't like working with the money men another words anything that wasn't on the field he had no interest in.

He hurt Auburn big time, the only good thing I can say about him is because of him we got Freeze who understands recruiting is the life blood of a program and seems to actually enjoy that aspect of his job. Freeze is also social and works with the money men, the players, etc.

I have to admit I was all in on him and thought he was a great choice. Boy, was I wrong.

[milehighfan 1,240]

On 8/11/2023 at 8:38 AM, Mikey said:

As far as I can tell, Harsin's selling point was that he shared a hot-tub conversation with then AD Allen Greene at some time in past years. Green decided at that time if he ever hired a football coach Harsin would be his man. Maybe other people know more but that's what I recall.

Well, the bad news is he was Auburn's head coach. The good news is he's not anymore