COMMENTARY: The Bryan Harsin experiment needs to come to an end.
Let’s fold this now; it’s a horrible fit that is bound to fail.
Auburn needs to fire head football coach Bryan Harsin.
I know that’s dramatic, and somewhat unprecedented for Auburn to fire a head coach in midseason, but hear me out.
Bryan Harsin’s first season as head coach at Auburn ended with a 6-7 record. The Tigers, who had started the season 6-2, faltered in the latter stages and finished with a five-game losing run that included a 28-3 home loss to Mississippi State and a 17-13 Birmingham Bowl defeat to Houston. Following the defeat to Mississippi State, Auburn’s starting quarterback Bo Nix suffered a fractured ankle. Harsin’s preferred backup, LSU transfer TJ Finley, was unable to carry out the task; in his three starts, Auburn scored 17 points against South Carolina, 22 against Alabama, and 13 against Houston.
Twenty players signed up for the portal after the season ended, and Harsin replaced them with eight transfers, two of whom were quarterbacks. Texas A&M transfer quarterback Zach Calzada has not yet seen action this season, but Robby Ashford, a transfer from Oregon, has shared time with Finley, finishing 15 of 29 passes for 245 yards, one touchdown, and two interceptions in addition to adding 24 runs for 158 yards.
With 17 prep players in their 2022 recruiting class, Harsin ranked 21st in the nation. More crucially, it was ninth in the SEC, trailing only Florida—who hired head coach Billy Napier two weeks prior to December’s Early Signing Day—and recruiting juggernaut Missouri.
In 2022, Auburn disappointed on the field, finishing 2-1 with a close victory over San Jose State 24-16 and a crushing defeat at home by Penn State 41-12. With an average of 26 points per game, more interceptions committed by the offense (6) than by the defense (4), and no takeaways for the season, the offense has appeared lifeless.
Then there’s the hiring process. Now let’s discuss hiring.
Right now, Auburn’s class is 54th in the nation, ranking 13th out of 14 SEC teams. Bryan Harsin’s disengagement and lack of concentration on recruiting had been rumored for more than a year; this was most recently proven in a piece by Aaron Suttles of The Athletic. Suttles gave these remarks from Alabama high school coaches their anonymity in exchange for their candor, and they effectively captured the lack of effort:
Coach 2 (Mobile area): “Our school isn’t where Bryan Harsin has visited. He is not a visitor here. That caught me off guard. In addition, The head coach there is unknown to me.”
Coach 1 (Birmingham area): “To be honest, their recruitment efforts are lacking. I’ve never had a face-to-face encounter with Harsin. Since several of my children potentially play at Auburn, I do want to meet the guy. However, generally speaking, they haven’t done a great job of enlisting our children.”
