Bryan Harsin's days at Auburn look numbered after the Tigers get waxed in worst home loss in a decade
The funeral is planned. We just don’t know the date yet.
After getting housed at home by No. 22 Penn State on Saturday, head coach Bryan Harsin’s days at Auburn look numbered.
The embattled second-year coach survived a nasty and gross coup attempt by conspiring boosters during the offseason, but there’s no escaping the Tigers’ ugly no-show against the Nittany Lions in a 41-12 loss.
All offseason, Auburn talked about rallying around its maligned leader. They hyped a renewed brotherhood. They said something special was brewing.
Jordan-Hare Stadium was riled and rev’d at kickoff, but by the fourth quarter, PSU quarterback Sean Clifford and a swarming Nittany Lions’ defense had Auburn fans headed for the exits in lieu of the Tigers’ worst home loss in a decade.
Harsin looks soon to follow.
With the Tigers down 31-6, CBS analyst Gary Danielson rhetorically asked on the broadcast, “For Auburn. It’s like where do we go from here?”
Ultimately, a new head coach.
Let’s go back to February, while on vacation in Mexico, Harsin and his family were unfairly dragged through the mud by some influential Tigers boosters hoping to push a change in leadership after a disappointing 6-7 season — including five straight losses to end the year. Auburn opened a ridiculous investigation into Harsin’s character and integrity, but the head coach defiantly dared the Tigers to fire him and pay up.
“It was uncomfortable. It was unfounded. It presented an opportunity for people to personally attack me, my family, and also our program.
“And it didn’t work,” Harsin said with gusto at SEC Media Days in July.
He’s right about the uncomfortable part, but didn’t work?
Those same money men who were too cheap to pay the full $18 million buyout in February should have their wish fulfilled sometime this fall when the figure drops.
With Saturday’s embarrassing loss, Harsin has as many wins against Power 5 teams (just 3-7) as offensive coordinators in less than two seasons. Auburn’s remaining schedule features another six or seven potential Top 25 SEC teams, so yea.
Let’s ignore the smear campaign. Let’s pretend like the AD who hired Harsin wasn’t recently forced out himself. Let’s just examine the results.
The concerns the insurrectionists had surrounding Bryan Harsin as Auburn’s head coach — that he wasn’t a fit and was ill-prepared to go head-to-head with Nick Saban and Kirby Smart — have only worsened.
Why Bryan Harsin looks unlikely to make it to Year 3 at Auburn
The conspirators certainly cut Harsin’s knees in recruiting, as Auburn, which signed the nation’s No. 17 class in 2022 after watching archrivals Georgia and Alabama play for the national title, has just eight 2023 commits and the SEC’s worst-ranked class — as in behind Vanderbilt and Missouri.
The Tigers’ roster, especially the defensive line, was gutted by the transfer portal. Their portal additions, particularly at receiver and quarterback, haven’t panned out, either.
“Player development” was Harsin’s big selling point and calling card when he came from Boise State, but where are the Tigers any better in Year 2? Show me improvement after three weeks.
A week after Auburn limped past San Jose State 24-17, Harsin started quarterback TJ Finely again, but the offense was still terrible.
They turned the ball over. They committed all sorts of penalties. They couldn’t block. They reached the red zone four times and didn’t score a single touchdown.
Finley converted a couple 3rd-and-impossibles on Saturday, the former LSU transfer was mostly inaccurate and careless with the football. Harsin used backup Robby Ashford throughout the afternoon, but the Oregon transfer wasn’t any more effective.
In fairness to both, they were under siege by a Penn State front-seven that dominated a pitiful Auburn offensive line. The Tigers yielded more than a dozen pressures, with five sacks and 11 for loss. They had four turnovers, including a costly red zone interception by Finley in the first half.
To put salt in the wound, Tigers fans looked at the Jumbotron and saw the Oregon-BYU score where former AU quarterback Bo Nix had five touchdowns.
It was evident throughout the afternoon of Auburn’s lack of talent and depth. That’s not completely on Harsin, but in the era of the transfer portal when rosters are turning over by more than 40% in some places, it’s still an indictment.
Scheme and in-game coaching are issues, too.
While Penn State was creating holes for super freshmen tailback Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen (176 combined rushing yards), Auburn star Tank Bigsby had little room to operate (nine carries for 39 yards).
Auburn played PSU close last season (28-20), yet with a year of film and knowledge of the Nittany Lions, Harsin’s newly promoted coordinators Eric Kiesau and Jeff Schmedding — two guys he brought from Boise State — devised abysmal gameplans.
In his postgame presser, Harsin said “football is a matter of facts,” and admitted it was clear that AU’s coaching staff didn’t have the Tigers’ players prepared.
It’s all too much.
Harsin made his case for my Coaching Calamity of the Week Award when he ignored the opportunity to challenge — and survive Finely’s terrible pick. The turnover should’ve negated by the clock had run out. Harsin didn’t notice initially. Fine.
But after an entire TV timeout, Danielson pointed out the officials’ error. Still no timeout. Still no challenge.
Alarmingly, neither Harsin nor anyone on his staff seemed to notice.
That, in a nutshell, is why Auburn will be in the market for a new head coach again this fall.
Since coming to The Plains, Bryan Harsin has been in over his head.
In recruiting. Against Sean Clifford and Penn State twice. In SEC play.
The Auburn Tigers expect to compete for championships. Their rivals are currently going back-and-forth doing just that. But the best thing you can say about Bryan Harsin’s time at Auburn so far is a scare the Tigers gave Alabama last November and a great one-liner at media days.
That ain’t going to cut it.