Page 15 - aruba-today-20221101

A15
sports Tuesday 1 November 2022
Auburn fires coach Bryan Harsin, who won 9 of 21 games

By John Zenor
Associated Press
(AP) — Auburn fired coach
Bryan Harsin on Monday
after less than two seasons,
ending a rocky tenure in
which the proud program
struggled to compete in
the Southeastern Confer-
ence.
Harsin went 9-12 overall
and 3-5 this year. Auburn
has lost four straight games
while struggling against
Power Five opponents,
including a 41-27 loss to
Arkansas on Oct. 29 that
proved the final straw. Au-
burn will owe Harsin 70%
of his remaining contract
— more than $15 million —
and half of that must be
paid within 30 days.
“President (Chris) Roberts
made the decision after
a thorough review and
evaluation of all aspects
of the football program,”
the school said in a brief
statement announcing the Kes Harsin, left, talks with her husband Auburn head coach Bryan Harsin as he walks off the field after an NCAA college football
game against Arkansas, Saturday, Oct. 29, 2022, in Auburn, Ala.
move. (AP Photo/Butch Dill)
“Auburn will begin an im-
mediate search for a
coach that will return the
Auburn program to a place 2010 and played for anoth- defense giving up 40-plus background. Harsin had move forward, that wants
where it is consistently com- er in 2013, when it won the points three times while gone 69-19 in seven sea- to get better, that wants to
peting at the highest levels most recent of its eight SEC the offense never solved its sons at Boise State, his alma keep moving,” he said at
and representing the win- championships. own problems. matter. the time.
ning tradition that is Auburn Auburn has lost three The heat on Harsin rose Harsin survived a school in- One former player had
football,” the statement straight bowl games, in- after a 41-12 loss to Penn vestigation into his program said Harsin treated the
said. Auburn canceled its cluding the Birmingham State and didn’t cool off in the offseason that was team “like dogs,” though
weekly football football Bowl against Houston un- much after that. A listless initiated by then-President others rose to Harsin’s de-
news conference about der Harsin. That was Au- 42-10 loss to No. 1 Georgia Jay Gogue following heavy fense. The investigation
90 minutes before Harsin burn’s fifth straight loss and emphasized the talent gap turnover on his roster and ended with Gogue decry-
was scheduled to speak. the Tigers dropped to 6-7, facing the Tigers, who sub- coaching staff. ing the “wild speculation”
The school named running their first losing season since sequently fell to Mississippi Three-year starting quarter- and misinformation in the
backs coach Carnell “Ca- 2012. and the Razorbacks. back Bo Nix left for Oregon, “feeding frenzy” surround-
dillac” Williams as interim The 45-year-old Harsin be- Harsin said after the loss in where he has led the Ducks ing Harsin, whose contract
coach. The Tigers play at comes the first Auburn Athens that he focuses on to a No. 8 ranking and 7-1 ran through the 2026 sea-
Mississippi State on Satur- coach to end his tenure the things under his control start. Defensive coordina- son. He didn’t specify the
day. Williams is in his third with a losing record since but added that the enjoy- tor Derek Mason left for nature of that speculation.
season as an assistant at his Earl Brown went 3-22-4 from ment of coaching “never the same job at Oklahoma Harsin’s tenure ended with
alma mater, where he was 1948-50, not counting inter- goes away.” State, and Harsin fired of- Auburn owing another
the fifth overall pick in the im coaches. He went 3-10 Auburn is tied with Texas fensive coordinator Mike huge payout. Like his pre-
2005 NFL draft and earned after winning six of his first A&M for last in the SEC West Bobo. decessor, Gus Malzahn, the
Rookie of the Year honors eight games and won four at 1-4. Much of Jordan- His first choice to replace amount remains the same
at Tampa Bay. times in 15 games against Hare Stadium had emptied Bobo, Austin Davis, ac- even if Harsin accepts an-
Harsin was hired away from Power Five opponents. out by the fourth quarter cepted the job and then other job. The school paid
Boise State in December A new athletic director will against Arkansas. changed his mind, citing Malzahn, now the coach
2020 and Auburn gave take on the job of finding “Obviously from the out- personal reasons. Auburn at UCF, $21.5 million after
him a six-year, $31.5 million Harsin’s replacement. The come of the game, no- wound up standing by Har- his firing.
deal. He never came close Associated Press reported body’s going to feel what sin — at the time. Malzahn was fired after
to replicating his past suc- on Saturday that Auburn we did was good enough,” With all that as a backdrop, going 6-4 in 2020, but he
cess or making the Tigers was finalizing a deal with Harsin said. “I think ev- Harsin struggled to bring in didn’t have a losing record
competitive in the SEC, Mississippi State AD John eryone is in there hurting, top recruits. His 2023 class in eight seasons. Gene
and he failed to keep up Cohen, and that school which we should be.” was ranked ahead of only Chizik, who won the 2010
with rivals Georgia and Ala- announced Monday that Athletic director Allen Missouri and Vanderbilt in national title, went 3-9 two
bama on the field or on the Cohen is leaving “effective Greene, who resigned in the SEC, according to the years later and was fired.
recruiting trail. immediately.” August with five months left 247Sports composite rat- One losing season — and
Those results were unac- The Tigers struggled on his initial five-year deal, ings. When spring opened, the strong possibility of an-
ceptable to a program throughout the season, made the out-of-the-box Harsin said he wasn’t bitter. other — was all it took for
that won a national title in with the normally reliable hire of a coach with no SEC “I’m a guy that wants to Harsin to lose his job.q