Bryan Harsin is still the Tigers’ head coach after a week of intense speculation about his future at Auburn and an internal investigation into how he has managed the football program.
The school said on Friday that Harsin will return for his second season as head coach.
“I am even more convinced than ever of Coach Harsin’s dedication to our student-athletes’ success on and off the field, as well as his vision for our program,” said departing president Jay Gogue in a statement. “We are equally committed to providing him the necessary means to achieve that goal.”
Harsin’s tenure started off promisingly on the field, with the team winning six of his first eight games last season, before the wheels came off. Auburn finished a dismal 6-7 after losing five straight games, recruitment fell short of expectations, and several players and coaches left the team.
Harsin said he left for vacation last week with no indication that his job was in jeopardy. He quickly found out that was not the case, as the university was looking into the reasons why players and coaches were departing.
Harsin maintained this week that he had no plans to leave and that he wanted to continue as Auburn’s football coach. Now, he got his wish.
ESPN’s Chris Low, Mark Schlabach, Pete Thamel and Alex Scarborough address how we got here and what happens next.
How did we arrive here?
Harsin would have been celebrated as a conquering hero if Auburn had survived the last two minutes to defeat Alabama in the November Iron Bowl. Instead, Auburn lost to its archrival, parted company with offensive coordinator Mike Bobo two days later and were crushed by Houston in the Birmingham Bowl to conclude the season 6-7.
Then came the flood of transfers — 18 players leaving in all — and defensive coordinator Derek Mason’s decision to step down. Mason eventually took a $400,000 pay cut to go to Oklahoma State.
Two days before the Feb. 2 signing date, Harsin’s pick to replace Bobo, Austin Davis, abruptly resigned for personal reasons.
Last Friday, animosity that had been building behind the scenes spilled out into the public, as multiple reports surfaced that Harsin’s future was in doubt.
Administration officials, including executive vice president and chief operating officer Lt. Gen. Ron Burgess, conducted interviews with some of the people who left the program, sources told ESPN. At the root of the inquiry, sources said, was the overall volatility in the program and Harsin’s treatment of players and assistant coaches.
Lee Hunter, who transferred from Auburn to UCF this offseason, posted on Instagram that “Coach Harsin has the true mindset for a winner but has a terrible mindset as a person,” and that “the reason I chose to leave auburn because we got treated like we wasn’t good enough and like dogs.” More than a dozen players from Auburn’s 2021 roster liked the post.
Some current players responded by defending Harsin. Linebacker Chandler Wooten tweeted, “We didn’t need a best friend we needed a coach.”
Harsin responded by telling ESPN, “Any attack on my character is bulls—.” Harsin, who was on vacation at the time, insisted he was “the right man for the job,” saying, “I’m not planning on going anywhere.”
Harsin returned to Auburn on Wednesday night and had what was described as a benign meeting with the officials running the school’s inquiry into the football program. The following morning, he showed up to a previously scheduled meeting of SEC football coaches in Birmingham, Alabama.
While 12 of the 14 coaches came in through the front door, Harsin entered via an unmarked side entrance. He left without answering any questions from reporters.
In his own statement Friday, Harsin said, “This has been one of the hardest weeks of my career and it had nothing to do with my coaching ability. The personal attacks on me and my family went too far and were without justification. Their resolve through this experience has been incredible but also completely expected.”
Prominent alumni and boosters at Auburn were skeptical from the beginning that Harsin, coming from Boise State, would be a good fit in the SEC, especially on the recruiting trail. They didn’t question his coaching acumen as much as they did his ability to win recruiting battles in the SEC footprint against the likes of Alabama’s Nick Saban and Georgia’s Kirby Smart.
