Bryan Harsin on fighting individualism: It's more challenging than ever

Auburn head coach Bryan Harsin started off his second season with the Tigers on the fight foot, defeating Mercer at home this weekend. This offseason, Harsin emphasized the importance of maturity and camaraderie to his players and was asked if he saw that this weekend in his team.

“I did, I saw it before the game, really everything leading into the game. The one thing we’re trying to be is a great football team together, that’s one of the areas that we’ve emphasized. I’m really proud of our guys and their personal goals that they have for themselves and accolades and all those things, but it’s about the team,” Harsin said. “I thought I saw that during the game, I didn’t see a bunch of issues on the sideline, now we’re winning so that’s one thing. I always tell the guys when things are good everybody’s good and so it really comes down to that, I want no part of guys that if we’re winning the game and they’re all about themselves that just doesn’t fit.”

Harsin elaborated on how individualism has taken over the game of football, and the importance of putting the team ahead of one’s self at Auburn.

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“That’s not what a team sport is and that’s the hardest thing right now that we are all fighting, I think in this sport is just how things are individualized. It’s all about me, it’s all about what I’m not getting or what I am getting and we’ve all made it that way. And as a coach that’s not how you win, in my opinion, you’re tying to play as a team and since January we’ve talked about team and just being 1-0, that’s the only message these guys have heard,” Harsin explained. “And it’s the simply together everyone achieves more, I didn’t make it up, but that’s really what it comes down to and it’s one of those tasks that is more challenging now than it’s ever been.”

Harsin took it a step further and spoke about some of the individualism that may be present on his current roster and the benefits of avoiding that as a player at Auburn.

“Because I know we have guys that didn’t play, and they’re not happy, but we won the game so you gotta kind of pick your poison a little bit. Is it gonna be about me or is it gonna be about the team?” Harsin said. “And I tell the stories like we just talked about you know, guys I’ve coached before he’s a third string guy ends up being the MVP right, because he didn’t pout, he kept working, kept grinding, doing all the stuff everybody talks about.”

Harsin even hinted at the current nature of the transfer portal in college football, and the ability that players have to now leave programs, as he emphasized that his team’s main focus is to build and bond from within.

“Anymore it’s so much about me me me and if you don’t like it you leave and to me that’s a hard concept grasp, because I don’t think you can really achieve what you want to with that model. But it’s the model we’re in right now and it’s the one that we’re battling and it’s the one that we’re accepting right now in everything that it’s okay to do that. And I think we don’t have the luxury to do that, we gotta stay together as a team, that’s our advantage. If we don’t, that’s a complete disadvantage and I’ve seen that model before,” Harsin said.

The Tigers face San Jose State Saturday at home as they look to stick together and have another consecutive 2-0 start to the season under Harsin.