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If he hadn’t figured it out already, then it should be obvious to him after Wednesday’s National Signing Day. Bryan Harsin, the new football coach at Auburn, has one of the most difficult jobs in America.
This pandemic, he says, is only making it that much more challenging.
A good day for the former Boise State coach, at this point, would be getting to know seven Alabama high school coaches on the Zoom app. Over in Tuscaloosa, Nick Saban just signed seven five-stars amid a recruiting class that’s apparently rated higher than the ribs at Archibald’s. (Get yours now for the Super Bowl while you can.)
This isn’t just about Saban vs. Harsin, though.
Harsin was hired to, in his words, consistently compete for SEC and national championships, but in his first competition the Tigers finished 30th in recruiting. That’s obviously terrible for a program geographically located in the South’s golden triangle of recruiting and is so extravagantly wealthy that it had the money to buy out Gus Malzahn during the worst year financially for many people since the Great Depression.
They used to call Auburn Running Back U, but as of Thursday this signing class of 2021 didn’t have a single one. That’s troubling and has to change.
It’s not the most worrisome thing, though.
What’s downright got me scared is that Auburn lost out to Kentucky for a linebacker from Georgia, but this Auburn class only features one linebacker in the entire group. And he’s a JUCO player.
I’m sure that Joko Willis of Independence Community College (LaGrange, Ga., native) is going to be excellent, but this world where Auburn loses linebackers to Kentucky isn’t one I want to know. Auburn should be able to pick and choose from the best defenders in Georgia, Alabama and Florida every year.
I’m not saying that’s the standard Harsin needs to establish. I’m saying that even in its worst year, with Happy Gilmore coaching the team and Daffy Duck as the defensive coordinator, Auburn should be able to fall out of bed half-drunk and sign one of the best collections of defenders in the country.
Other columnists who have to worry about keeping people happy can list the reasons Harsin should get a pass for this recruiting class. That’s not my job because that’s ignoring the truth. Blame it on Malzahn. Blame it on Kevin Steele. Blame in on the new recruiting calendar. Whatever. None of that matters
What matters is Harsin was handpicked by a search committee that featured none other than Bo Jackson to take Auburn to a place it has never known, and suddenly it’s pretty much there: dead last in the SEC West. Here are the national recruiting rankings of the toughest division in American sports:
(1) Alabama
(4) LSU
(7) Texas A&M
(18) Ole Miss
(24) Arkansas
(25) Mississippi State
(30) Auburn
Auburn signed six players on Wednesday to go along with the 11 that Malzahn signed in December. People are trying to call that a victory for Harsin. That’s not the truth. That’s taking pity on a wounded gazelle on the Serengeti.
And don’t tell me there are no gazelles on the Serengeti because I don’t care.
You worried about Auburn now? Nah? All is well on The Plains because Harsin is getting a pass?
Don’t believe it.
There are no passes in the SEC West, and especially not for Auburn after it fired Malzahn for going 6-4 in the most difficult regular season of college football in the history of the sport. Do y’all realize that Malzahn won more than five SEC games just three times in his entire run with Auburn and one of those was his very first?
And now y’all want to give Harsin a pass. Soft.
Maybe there are new rules for Harsin. Maybe he’s not going to be held up to the same scrutiny as Malzahn. That’s fine. Someone needs to tell me that, though, because I didn’t get that email from fans when he was hired.
Harsin was a great coach in Idaho, and Auburn brought him in to modernize the program and make it more professional (and less down home). That’s a good idea, but recruiting is still the driving engine of success in the SEC last time I checked.
Lying to the man does him no favors. Never mind Alabama, Georgia and LSU, Harsin is losing ground in the SEC West to Texas A&M and now Ole Miss. Meanwhile, he can’t even go around to all the high schools and meet their coaches in person.
I feel for the guy, but no one is going to care about that in October.
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This pandemic, he says, is only making it that much more challenging.
A good day for the former Boise State coach, at this point, would be getting to know seven Alabama high school coaches on the Zoom app. Over in Tuscaloosa, Nick Saban just signed seven five-stars amid a recruiting class that’s apparently rated higher than the ribs at Archibald’s. (Get yours now for the Super Bowl while you can.)
This isn’t just about Saban vs. Harsin, though.
Harsin was hired to, in his words, consistently compete for SEC and national championships, but in his first competition the Tigers finished 30th in recruiting. That’s obviously terrible for a program geographically located in the South’s golden triangle of recruiting and is so extravagantly wealthy that it had the money to buy out Gus Malzahn during the worst year financially for many people since the Great Depression.
They used to call Auburn Running Back U, but as of Thursday this signing class of 2021 didn’t have a single one. That’s troubling and has to change.
It’s not the most worrisome thing, though.
What’s downright got me scared is that Auburn lost out to Kentucky for a linebacker from Georgia, but this Auburn class only features one linebacker in the entire group. And he’s a JUCO player.
I’m sure that Joko Willis of Independence Community College (LaGrange, Ga., native) is going to be excellent, but this world where Auburn loses linebackers to Kentucky isn’t one I want to know. Auburn should be able to pick and choose from the best defenders in Georgia, Alabama and Florida every year.
I’m not saying that’s the standard Harsin needs to establish. I’m saying that even in its worst year, with Happy Gilmore coaching the team and Daffy Duck as the defensive coordinator, Auburn should be able to fall out of bed half-drunk and sign one of the best collections of defenders in the country.
Other columnists who have to worry about keeping people happy can list the reasons Harsin should get a pass for this recruiting class. That’s not my job because that’s ignoring the truth. Blame it on Malzahn. Blame it on Kevin Steele. Blame in on the new recruiting calendar. Whatever. None of that matters
What matters is Harsin was handpicked by a search committee that featured none other than Bo Jackson to take Auburn to a place it has never known, and suddenly it’s pretty much there: dead last in the SEC West. Here are the national recruiting rankings of the toughest division in American sports:
(1) Alabama
(4) LSU
(7) Texas A&M
(18) Ole Miss
(24) Arkansas
(25) Mississippi State
(30) Auburn
Auburn signed six players on Wednesday to go along with the 11 that Malzahn signed in December. People are trying to call that a victory for Harsin. That’s not the truth. That’s taking pity on a wounded gazelle on the Serengeti.
And don’t tell me there are no gazelles on the Serengeti because I don’t care.
You worried about Auburn now? Nah? All is well on The Plains because Harsin is getting a pass?
Don’t believe it.
There are no passes in the SEC West, and especially not for Auburn after it fired Malzahn for going 6-4 in the most difficult regular season of college football in the history of the sport. Do y’all realize that Malzahn won more than five SEC games just three times in his entire run with Auburn and one of those was his very first?
And now y’all want to give Harsin a pass. Soft.
Maybe there are new rules for Harsin. Maybe he’s not going to be held up to the same scrutiny as Malzahn. That’s fine. Someone needs to tell me that, though, because I didn’t get that email from fans when he was hired.
Harsin was a great coach in Idaho, and Auburn brought him in to modernize the program and make it more professional (and less down home). That’s a good idea, but recruiting is still the driving engine of success in the SEC last time I checked.
Lying to the man does him no favors. Never mind Alabama, Georgia and LSU, Harsin is losing ground in the SEC West to Texas A&M and now Ole Miss. Meanwhile, he can’t even go around to all the high schools and meet their coaches in person.
I feel for the guy, but no one is going to care about that in October.
Auburn’s new football coach is falling behind already
This pandemic, says Bryan Harsin, is making a difficult job that much more challenging. No one will care in October.
