Did Harsin’s seat just get very hot?

[selmaborntidefan]

I will say that I am not sure how much of the fault of this team is Harsin's fault. He may have torpedoed his career by choosing to go to Auburn, but Auburn has absolutely set him up to fail.

This is the result of what happens when powerful boosters do not get their way. The boosters at Auburn did not want Harsin, but the athletic department chose Harsin anyway. Boosters have then done everything possible to make his life miserable and the athletic departments life miserable until they get their way

again, what a toxic environment

Many an Auburn fan used to blame Bobby Lowder for every awful decision that the PTB made. And maybe they were right.

But didn't Lowder lose his hands-on control years ago?
And isn't Auburn STILL a dumpster fire of bad decisions?

It seems to me that every bad decision made that Lowder didn't do sorta proves they're an even bigger mish-mash of inmates running the asylum than the REC ever dreamed of being.

 

[We_are_Bama]

Tank Bigsby should have transferred out when he had the chance. He had one hand on the door knob and at least one foot on the other side of the door when the cult stepped in at the last minute and somehow blackmailed...woops, I mean talked him into staying.

 

[NoNC4Tubs]

What former AU football coach isn't still on the payroll?

Barfield...?

 

[NoNC4Tubs]

Many an Auburn fan used to blame Bobby Lowder for every awful decision that the PTB made. And maybe they were right.

But didn't Lowder lose his hands-on control years ago?
And isn't Auburn STILL a dumpster fire of bad decisions?

It seems to me that every bad decision made that Lowder didn't do sorta proves they're an even bigger mish-mash of inmates running the asylum than the REC ever dreamed of being.

I believe that Lowder controls the Tiger Unlimited Fund or whatever it's called, so he still wields power down there...

 

[selmaborntidefan]

I'll tell you what - to me - is hilarious.

Remember the train wreck LSU has gone through recently - from firing Miles in a huff of anger to sending Coach O out the door with better parting gifts than he'd get on "The Price Is right" - is nothing new to those folks.

LSU is a school that:
- fired McClendon in 1978 but brought him back for a lame duck season when they couldn't find a coach
- led Jerry Stovall to think he had one last year (shot) and fired him
- botched the hiring of Steve Spurrier and chose Mike Archer instead (because loyalty)
- had an AD who tried to spy on the NCAA
- hired Curley Hallman, whose sole success was due to Brett Favre

how the hell these idiots lucked into Saban is one of those right up there with that ugly guy we all know who married the hottest girl in school

Auburn, meanwhile:
- insinuated Paul Davis was their choice and picked Barfield
- had motions to fire Barfield in early November right before the meat of the schedule
- lucked into Pat Dye when Vince Dooley said, "No thank you" to millions
- hired Terry Bowden because he was controllable and had a name
- have now had long-running soap operas stretching out over years about firing Barfield (months), Bowden, Tubs, Chizik (from the day he was hired), Gus (2017-2020), and Harsin (again - from the day he was hired)

I mean, we've had our share of botchery, okay? I'll admit that. But we look like a well-oiled machine with a corporate approach by comparison, too.

 

[selmaborntidefan]

Barfield...?

Little-known fact here - even before Barfield was canned in 1980, he let it be known he'd take the jobs at Memphis and Syracuse.

 

[bamamc1]

From stories at the time (I haven't bothered to read Malzahn's contract myself), it required a fairly upfront payment of the buyout and didn't provide for an offset for anything he gets from UCF or elsewhere. If that's true, I'd have loved to negotiate against AU.

He got every cent of the 21.4 million.

 

[bamamc1]

Auburn paid nearly $75 million to move on from Gus Malzahn

Auburn fired head football coach Gus Malzahn last December and is now paying a mind-blowing amount of money in buyouts and new deals.

fansided.com

 

[Cruloc]

In a very small way I feel sorry for Harsin. I don't think he knew what he was walking into when he said yes and signed the dotted line.

Other than that, he's the Auburn coach, best I can hope for him is that they have to pay him a ton of money like they still do to all their other fired coaches.

I expect Freeze to be their coach by the beginning of next season.

 

[selmaborntidefan]

Auburn paid nearly $75 million to move on from Gus Malzahn

Auburn fired head football coach Gus Malzahn last December and is now paying a mind-blowing amount of money in buyouts and new deals.

fansided.com

Again, I always thought back in 2017 they needed to hold the door for Gus and say, "Bye."

But they're a terribly insecure bunch running the things so - if any of you Au-bun folks read this board, let me show you how stupid you actually look to the casual fan:

a) you gave Gus a too rich contract because you were AFRAID OF BEING LAUGHED AT when he went to Arkansas and beat you. However...

b) Gus is gone, you're $49 million poorer.....and we are STILL LAUGHING AT YOU


So why not make the smart move next time, Tessio?

 

[We_are_Bama]

I heard that Gene Chizik was being discussed as a possible DC back around the time that they fired Ellis Johnson. And it was serious talk too. Desperation, perhaps, but even for the barn, that would have been a REAL head scratcher. Chizik had already been there both as DC (2002-2004) and of course, as head coach that ended in disaster, just two years removed from the lightening in a bottle that was the 2010 season. And yet, he was a serious consideration for DC in 2014-2015?

 

[selmaborntidefan]

I heard that Gene Chizik was being discussed as a possible DC back around the time that they fired Ellis Johnson. And it was serious talk too. Desperation, perhaps, but even for the barn, that would have been a REAL head scratcher. Chizik had already been there both as DC (2002-2004) and of course, as head coach that ended in disaster, just two years removed from the lightening in a bottle that was the 2010 season. And yet, he was a serious consideration for DC in 2014-2015?

Chizik AT ONE TIME was a good DC.

Remember - he was the DC of the unbeaten 2004 Auburn AND the unbeaten 2005 Texas Longhorns.

A lot of great coordinators are lousy head coaches.

 

[We_are_Bama]

Chizik AT ONE TIME was a good DC.

Remember - he was the DC of the unbeaten 2004 Auburn AND the unbeaten 2005 Texas Longhorns.

A lot of great coordinators are lousy head coaches.

That's true. Now that I think about it, maybe that move would have been one of the few and far between logical choices made by the barn. They opted to bring back Muschamp who bolted the first chance he got. If Chizik wouldn't have minded the awkwardness of going back there again, it may have worked better for them in the long run.

 

[TexasBama]

Chizik AT ONE TIME was a good DC.

Remember - he was the DC of the unbeaten 2004 Auburn AND the unbeaten 2005 Texas Longhorns.

A lot of great coordinators are lousy head coaches.

Wasn’t Chizik head coach in-waiting at Texas?

 

[bamabelle1991]

According to one of my best friends who is an AU grad, TUF member, and on some other foundation for the school (has to do with one of the majors they offer), the Harsin's have hated Auburn since the day they set foot on campus. People are still trying to figure out why he even took the job. It's toxic on the football side and it's toxic on the personal side. So much so, that the Harsin family (the Aubs call them the Hardashians) on "themed" game days, do the exact opposite of what the color of the day is. It's a white out? They wear all black. It's a blue out, they wear white or orange. It's an orange out, they wear blue or white. Harsin's wife even had a special shirt made for the orange out that was white with navy letters on it. It has gotten way past the point of comical for us onlookers, knowing this little tidbit, I will be paying attention to what they wear each week. The pettiness is next level with the family at this point. LOL

 

[bamaslammer]

I know having lived through the what was it 7 year drought against Auburn how important winning the iron bowl was, but at no point during that span was beating Auburn the focus for me. My focus was always wanting to see OUR program get off the mat and start winning again.

Auburn on the other hand, as long as I can remember their primary focus was beating Alabama. Not getting better, not building something that can endure, just what ever fly by night witchcraft voo doo causes them to somehow beat Alabama is what they run their program on. It's let them to win some spactacular upset victories that I'm sure they enjoyed to no end, but they have never sustained success. Their one trip to bula land was the fluke 2010 season where they bought Cam Newton who nobody could tackle and even with him how many games did they win by sheer luck. Remember that Georgia game they really lost but won on a bone headed play by a DB.

Historically they always bounce back no matter how deep the hole they dig but most of us old timers know they have had an ace in the hole for decades with that Casino down there. Where chips, which are not tracked would somehow fall into the hands of certain young men. But with NLI everybody can more or less get their boys paid. So... Suddenly Auburn is a cow field in south Alabama, You can make the dough anywhere now.

 

[BamaMoon]

Gene Chizik should have stayed in TV. He's the DC at Carolina and they gave up 61 to App. St.

 

[STONECOLDSABAN]

Wasn’t Chizik head coach in-waiting at Texas?

That was Muschamp.

 

[TitleWave]

Wasn’t Chizik head coach in-waiting at Texas?

Yes, he* and Little Willie Muschamp both.

I heard that Gene Chizik was being discussed as a possible DC back around the time that they fired Ellis Johnson. And it was serious talk too. Desperation, perhaps, but even for the barn, that would have been a REAL head scratcher. Chizik had already been there both as DC (2002-2004) and of course, as head coach that ended in disaster, just two years removed from the lightening in a bottle that was the 2010 season. And yet, he was a serious consideration for DC in 2014-2015?

Consider that as the lead trial balloon for bringing back Moofus Malzahn for a third time to carry on their propensity for fiscal hemorrhaging and further innoculate 'em for stronger herd immunity to common sense. A little creative fambly accounting for inflation and their $75M good Göös riddance sinkhole will be resurrected for at least twice the price, maybe more.

*Edit: SCSaban's correct, but Cheez-Its was Mack's fair-haired boy at Tejas and some mention's been made (and disavowed) of him being HC-in-W at UNC when/if Mack gets to decide if he goes out again of his own volition or is shown the door.

 

[We_are_Bama]

The barn has always been about beating us. That's it. They have "Beat Bama" painted on EVERYTHING in the athletic complex. They literally take recruits and show them the exact route on the field that Chris Davis ran back the infamous missed FG. They make sure that potential recruits hear the late Rod Bramblett's call on that play. That is NO joke. 2013 was a lifetime ago. Do potential recruits today even remember that game, and even if they do, does it matter that much to them? Why would you try and sell your program, purely based on fluke wins (that happened a long time ago) against your in state rival? Just...goofy