Zac Etheridge discusses offseason rumors, reveals why he chose to stay at Auburn

Auburn secondary coach Zac Etheridge had plenty of options if he wanted to leave his alma mater this offseason. Instead, he stayed put — and he explained why he did during an appearance on The Paul Finebaum Show.

Etheridge garnered interest from Georgia back in February, according to Auburn Live’s Justin Hokanson, but decided to stay on The Plains as associate head coach and secondary coach. But his love for the Tigers and his belief in Harsin shined through as he announced he was staying put.

“Honestly, it’s really about being where your feet are planted,” Etheridge said. “I came here to do something special. I wanted to be a part of getting Auburn [back to the] style of football that we wanted to play at a high level. Not only that, Coach Harsin’s vision and what he believed in in not only just developing football players, but developing young men off the field.

“And just showing his level of commitment every single day making these players understand that we’re here for you bigger than football. That’s what I always wanted to be a part of, that’s what I wanted to be, but I knew for a fact that he had a vision and I wanted to be a part of it and I wanted to make sure that I wanted to be a part of rebuilding this program to exactly where I know where it can be at.”

Zac Etheridge opens up about tumultuous offseason at Auburn, Bryan Harsin

At SEC Media Days, Auburn head coach Bryan Harsin made one thing clear. He’s putting the tumultuous offseason behind him after a university inquiry into the program and, ultimately, keeping his job.

But it’s still the subject of many a question in college football, and Etheridge discussed the situation on The Paul Finebaum Show on Thursday.

“Coach Harsin always had conviction in what he’s believed in,” Etheridge said. “Anytime you go through adversity is always tough, and here at Auburn, we preach family. The one thing about it — I know from inside this building and this team and this staff — we rallied behind Coach Harsin and we were 100% behind him and what he wanted to do for this program.

“We knew the things [that] were coming out wasn’t always the case, it was outside noise. But inside this team and in this facility, guys knew what type of man that was leading our program and we all wanted to be behind him. And that’s what we’ve been showing every single day. Just focus on what we can control. That’s about going to winning … every single day.”