Auburn fires football coach Bryan Harsin

[El Paso Eagle]

 

[greenminer]

https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/34918727/auburn-fires-football-coach-bryan-harsin-less-2-seasons

[untjim1995]

Auburn, except for pay, is the worst job in the SEC, to me. BMDs run that place and all of them hate each other, trying to hurt the other BMDs to look the best. And you have to play Alabama and Georgia every year. Good luck with all that. They fired Gus Malzahn for going 6-4 against an all SEC schedule, being one of 5 SEC schools to finish with a winning record, this after two SEC West Division titles, while being in a division with Alabama and LSU, who won or played for national titles every year basically every year Malzahn was there.

[NT80]

Wow, impressive!   Firing a coach who is 9-12. 

They are going to give him $15M in buyout cash.  

They gave Gus Malzahn $22M in a buyout just two years ago...and he was 68-34 with Auburn, lol.

These SEC schools have the donor cash to make quick changes if the fan base is unhappy.  

Jimbo at A$M and Sark at uT better get their acts together or they will be gone too.  You get 2 years max (well 1.5 at Auburn).

 

 

[MeanGreenTexan]

He'll likely have his choice of any G5 school he wants, and he may have some other P5 options as well.

If NT can get to the Conference Championship game, he may entertain the idea of coming here.   This is the kind of leverage Baker has on Littrell.  Options available for a coach would would like to take over a winning team in the premier G5 conference.

[El Paso Eagle]

19 minutes ago, MeanGreenTexan said:

Options available for a coach would would like to take over a winning team in the premier G5 conference.

This. Even if the salary stays the same there are a LOT of options compared to what we had the last time around.

[Cr1028]

Why the hades would we fire a coach the year he had finally built us into a conference champion? That is insane.

[Udomann]

2 minutes ago, Cr1028 said:

Why the hades would we fire a coach the year he had finally built us into a conference champion? That is insane.

It's almost like we haven't reached his ceiling after 7 years, in the worst conference, for more money than anyone else here is close to getting. 

THAT is what's insane. It's not about what he's done, it's about how much more he should have done. Someone could do so much better with so much less. And they have. 

Keep on tootin' that horn for Uncle Seth though. I'm sure he'll invite you to thanksgiving dinner

[El Paso Eagle]

3 minutes ago, Udomann said:

It's almost like we haven't reached his ceiling after 7 years, in the worst conference, for more money than anyone else here is close to getting. 

THAT is what's insane. It's not about what he's done, it's about how much more he should have done. Someone could do so much better with so much less. And they have. 

Keep on tootin' that horn for Uncle Seth though. I'm sure he'll invite you to thanksgiving dinner

[MeanGreenTexan]

Just now, Cr1028 said:

Why the hades would we fire a coach the year he had finally built us into a conference champion? That is insane.

Some are saying kick him to the curb no matter what.
That's not me.
But I don't care if NT wins the next 6 games by a combined score of 300-60, you simply cannot slap down a 5 year contract extension with a raise because he's "figured it out".   We saw what happened when Harrell left after back-to-back 9-win seasons.

You give him the small extension he's earned (1 winning season out of the last 4).   Then when the fire gets turned up in the AAC, you see what you really have.   If both Bloesch & Bennett leave (which is very much a possibility), are you confident NT's going to win 8-9 games in 2023 & beyond?

[Cr1028]

12 minutes ago, MeanGreenTexan said:

Some are saying kick him to the curb no matter what.
That's not me.
But I don't care if NT wins the next 6 games by a combined score of 300-60, you simply cannot slap down a 5 year contract extension with a raise because he's "figured it out".   We saw what happened when Harrell left after back-to-back 9-win seasons.

You give him the small extension he's earned (1 winning season out of the last 4).   Then when the fire gets turned up in the AAC, you see what you really have.   If both Bloesch & Bennett leave (which is very much a possibility), are you confident NT's going to win 8-9 games in 2023 & beyond?

I’m good with that but for us to pull a LaTech and fire a coach who gets us to the title game and replace him with some “name” would be such a beating. 

[NT80]

18 minutes ago, Cr1028 said:

I’m good with that but for us to pull a LaTech and fire a coach who gets us to the title game and replace him with some “name” would be such a beating. 

Depends on the name.  That "green" grass on the other side of the fence looks very tempting when we've been starving for quality wins.  What are the choices? 

[untjim1995]

1 hour ago, Cr1028 said:

I’m good with that but for us to pull a LaTech and fire a coach who gets us to the title game and replace him with some “name” would be such a beating. 

We have done it before…our practice fields are named in honor of a guy we had just fired, after going 42-64, including 5-18 in his last two seasons.

Interestingly enough, we had a BMD walk away when we fired Dickey, which was why he got his name on the plaque outside the practice fields. But we needed his million dollars so badly back then that we let it happen. Today, it’s very, very possible that the firing of Littrell could cost us a BMD again. But I’m really doubting that he’s gonna get fired. Those 7 wins he needs to stay here are there for the taking. Remember, SL staying means the AD saves another $2 million by not paying any buyout of any coaches. And that will always be a player here in any discussion.

[greenminer]

1 hour ago, Udomann said:

It's almost like we haven't reached his ceiling after 7 years, in the worst conference, for more money than anyone else here is close to getting. 

THAT is what's insane. It's not about what he's done, it's about how much more he should have done. Someone could do so much better with so much less. And they have. 

Keep on tootin' that horn for Uncle Seth though. I'm sure he'll invite you to thanksgiving dinner

It's not as simple as you think.  The message to potential hires becomes, "conference championships will mean nothing if you can't win the big OOC games."

I've said repeatedly (in agreement with you) that you shouldn't hang onto average just because you are afraid of failing on the next hire.  But we are entering into a realm where we might scare off some potentially great coaches.

Edited October 31, 2022 by greenminer

[Udomann]

Just now, greenminer said:

It's not as simple as you think.  The message to potential hires becomes, "conference championships will mean nothing if you can't win the big OOC games."

I've said repeatedly (in agreement with you) that you shouldn't hang onto average just because you are afraid of failing on the next hire.  But we are entering into a realm where we might scare off some potentially great coaches.

I can think of 2 million reasons on how to counter that...

[untjim1995]

2 minutes ago, Udomann said:

I can think of 2 million reasons on how to counter that...

How much of that is yours that you’re waving out there?

[Udomann]

Just now, untjim1995 said:

How much of that is yours that you’re waving out there?

[untjim1995]

Just now, Udomann said:

You can get tons of sway around here and be in the UNT 18!! 

[untjim1995]

27 minutes ago, greenminer said:

This is the Eeyore in you speaking.  The New Denton has demonstrated that, when there is enough demand, someone will find enough money.

The real question is, who does Wren want, and does will he want him enough.

@greenminerif we have the money, why didn’t we use it last year instead of making this a make-it-or-break-it year with the easiest schedule we have ever played? We had three straight losing seasons after last year, with a cumulative 11 wins against FBS teams. We have gotten prison-raped by SMU for the last 3 seasons, now 4 which I know you know, and who is the biggest game on our schedule every year by a mile. Outscored in those three games, a future AAC opponent, by only 149-74. Doesn’t count this year’s 48-10 beatdown, either.

You can call it eeyore all you want, I’m just saying that $$$ is always the number one priority here for athletic decisions. We were not gonna use $2.7 million to buyout SL, while also costing us a huge BMD. That was never gonna happen. Obvious to anyone who wants to see it…

Again, maybe I’m wrong and SL blows this chance. But I’ve said all along that 7 wins will get him an extension. And this schedule is the easiest one we have ever had to do just that. That’s probably eeyore to you, too, but it’s again obvious. I’m of the belief that SL coming back is a done deal. And I don’t believe that is in the best interest of the 15k Mean Green football fans that follow our program closely.

Edited October 31, 2022 by untjim1995

[greenminer]

30 minutes ago, Udomann said:

I can think of 2 million reasons on how to counter that...

 

how much did KState offer SL?
How much did Traynor turn down to stay in SA?

It would be so much easier to speculate about what we can do if we had an inkling of what Wren was thinking about, and if we knew who he wanted.

[NT80]

4 hours ago, greenminer said:

It would be so much easier to speculate about what we can do if we had an inkling of what Wren was thinking about, and if we knew who he wanted.

Wren has reason$ to get this coaching decision right.   His future as an upward AD depends as much on Football success as anything else he does. 

Basketball success, move to AAC, Title IX compliance (gag), pretty facilities and "lots of potential" with the program are cute, but Football success drives the bus when a P5 is AD shopping.  Wren didn't hire Seth but is tied to him as long as he keeps him around. 

.500 success for Seth is .500 success for Wren too!