They went out and hired a coach with head coaching experience. A Head Football Coach who won 4 conference championships in 8 years, plus 3 division championships in 3 of the other 4 seasons. The hiring authorities at Auburn did not care whether the new coach had recruiting ties in that part of the country. They went out and hired a young, successful coach who will establish recruiting ties. He is 44 years of age. Saban is 69 and has a lot fewer years ahead of him than behind. Kudos to Auburn.
Auburn Did Its Football Coaching Hire Right
- Thread starter gamecock stock
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They also hired a guy to take over a program that hasn’t had a losing season since 2013 and has a 5 star QB with three years experience and a 4 star RB leading the offense.
In 2019 they finished the season ranked 14 with a win over Alabama. He didn’t walk into a mess there.
In 2019 they finished the season ranked 14 with a win over Alabama. He didn’t walk into a mess there.
True. But that talent also lost to a Muschamp-coached team last year. Have to be able to coach them once you get them. Nothing in Harsin's background says he can't. If anything, it says he can.
In addition they hired an offensive coordinator that knows what he’s doing, the South Carolina Fighting Hilinskis not withstanding.
We’ll see in 3 years. He has ‘Nix for maybe one more year and by then it will be what he brings to the team. They’ve been in the 7 to 12 range recruiting under Malzahn. I’m not saying Harsin won’t be successful but he’s remodeling not rebuilding.
That's true for any hire. Their current class , thus far has 13 commitments. So, they have only half their class at this time. But, their average star ranking is 3.46, higher than ours. I have a hunch he will bring in good recruits over the years.
Give it a rest.. We were not going to hire him… Coach’s like that want to go to we’ll know and cover stacked team.
Where did I mention us? All I said was that Auburn did the hire right.
I love the Gamecocks as much as the next person, but you got to be honest with yourself. We were not going to get a big name coach or most likely a coach that is successful at any FBS school. Too much of a downward trend to take a chance.
Now coming off Spurrier, yes.
Now coming off Spurrier, yes.
I never mentioned us. I was only saying that I believe that Auburn did their hire the right way. I believe Harsin is a good coach. He certainly has done well everywhere he has been. That does not guarantee he will do well at Auburn. But, on paper, he looks good. And today they went on the road and beat a nationally-ranked team.
Half of our fans: “But…but…but…he doesnt have that SEC experience!!! Hes not qualified!”
Jamey Chadwell was the clear as day right move but we went with 1) Nostalgia and 2) “he aint got that SEC experience”
He may have been, and may still be. To me there just seems like there is something there that we don’t know. Otherwise why was he not snatched up last season?
I personally would have been fine with the hire. But even still, it is a gamble.
I personally would have been fine with the hire. But even still, it is a gamble.
After 2013 if we would have had Spurrier retire and hired a new coach we would have had many top notch choices. We screwed that one up with Ray begging Spurrier to stay until he ran it into the ground and then hiring Muschamp who put us back to the days of Brad Scott's latter years.
And again, I did not. My post was a commentary on Harsin, nothing more nor less, after their upset win over nationally-ranked Arkansas on the road. IF you are making a comparison, that is YOU making a comparison.
I didn’t agree with the firing of malzahn....thought it was stupid. Didn’t agree with this coach hire....but it appears decent thus far. Jury is out a little bit though....he and his offensive staff walked into a studded room. Nix and Bigsby can play anywhere. But- yeah they are a good team, and they’ve duplicated what malzahn had done the last couple years thus far at least.
But- to your point....sure- hiring a guy who can hit the ground running is a no brainer in college football, especially the SEC
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Chadwell interviewed and wanted the job. Ray didn't think his offense would work in the SEC and he was too unproven, so he hired Shane Beamer
Uh we got Holtz and Spurrier. But we had real ADS then.
Yep, but we also weren’t coming off of several seasons of a downward trend on both sides of the ball and losses to teams like the Citadel. Scott’s teams could score…just couldn’t stop anyone else.
i do agree though…a good coach didn’t mean good AD.
We got coaches who were way past their sell-by date and were running on fumes. We sold out long-term success for "right now".
We will see how it goes, but Harsin did hire two experienced and successful coordinators on the offense and defense. That helps a lot.
Disagree. We had an upward trajectory with SOS. Not his fault our idiot AD and BOT didn't have a list ready when he retired. Right now we aren't on a path to anything but being competitive with Mizzou and Vandy. Just another screwup in our long history of screwups. Stupid me for believing we had turned the corner.
Meh. Auburn had to come from behind late in the 4th quarter to beat GA State. The only decent teams they beat are a average LsU team and an overrated Arkansas team.
Too soon to tell if they got it right.
Too soon to tell if they got it right.
Which certainly helped along the decision to fire their coach. It’s good to be back to the point where losing to us helps get you fired…
What long-term success? We were having zero success in the 90s.
Who would you have preferred over Holtz and Spurrier?
Ray didnt beg Spurrier to stay.
How would we have “had Spurrier retire”? Force him out?
I've seen that posted here before, but who did that info come from?
In 1998, there was this coach at Michigan State named Nick Saban who was coming off a 6-6 season...
In 2005? Dunno.
Regarding Saban, you have to remember where we were at that time. Saban was an up and comer then. We had tried that twice with Sparky and Brad and it blew up in our faces in spectacular fashion.
Carolina fans were absolutely DONE with that approach and for once demanded a proven winner. Could things have been different if we had hired Saban? Who knows? But there was hardly anyone second guessing us for hiring Holtz thatbI recall.
He also walked into a much better situation. Let their QB get hurt and pull in their favorite grad assistant and let's see how it goes.
Tennessee also did a better job, in what was probably a worse situation than would have been found at USC. But UT went out and paid for the best they could find, while USC shops at the Dollar Tree.
It wasn't a worse situation that USC. Not sure why people keep saying that. Even after all the in and out of the transfer portal, they still are more talented everywhere than us at most positions.
