With admittedly profound evidence and (albeit, very early) logic to back it, the Bunker cognoscenti has declared Coach Bryan Harsin (aka the Artist Formerly Known as 'BDB' mere months ago) dead on arrival at Arbren. Candidly, I have no rebuttal to that assertion at this stage.
The full, damning performance results and coaching persona dossier is a flailing beaten horse now, so I'll bypass that step here.
But here's what doesn't square entirely with the Harsin funeral.
The dude wants to be at Auburn.
Despite the Dwarf Lord northwest of him, and the Butt Cutt northeast in Athens, both of whom dominate in recruiting and winning, with aTm attempting to crash the party.
Despite the dominant power bases wanting him gone, 2-3 years early.
Despite probably massive cultural gaps between the 'Bronco way' and the 'Arbren Way'. Both for Hars and his family, and for Hars' plan of building a winning program contrasted with AU's 'playing the game' in crootin, NIL, etc.
The dude wants to be at Auburn.
It cannot be solely because he sees it as his only path to 'making bank'. Odds are his lawyers could have negotiated maybe $10M to walk, and Hars would have been a sympathetic figure, snapped up by a pretty good program paying $4M - $5M a year, with far easier competitive landscape. Do the math. If the assumption is MAX three years at Auburn, let's call it $18M he banks before leaving.
If hired as HC at Arizona or pick a destination, he'd have a 4-5 year run almost certainly, so he makes bank by leaving Auburn.
But the dude wants to be at Auburn anyway.
So it seems to me there are only two explanations for this, and no middle ground.
1. Bravado. Hars is 100% convinced he can and will deliver an enviable, long-sustaining Auburn football program. And he's had some 'staying' players on the roster speak of just that, and even some 'leaving' players say that if he could learn to connect with people, he'd be the next Saban (Kobe, was that?).
2. Hubris. He's just another garden variety delusional, overconfident head coach. A different version of Gus Malzahn, who heard 'offensive genius' one too many times, and began to buy it, to make it his 'credo', and sole source of self-esteem. Hars may have won just enough at Boise et al as a head coach to BUY that he's the 3rd best football coach in America (winning %). Or, he may have this sudden ego hurt from the staged coup, and his motivation to stay now is vengeance, which never takes you very far.
If he never assembles the roster talent to fully confirm if Harsin is an elite football coach, then the Bunk cognoscenti gets to be right, though possibly for the wrong reasons. Chicken vs the Egg problem. But if say he pulls an 8-win 2022 season, which is hardly in the impossible realm, and fields an impressive roster in '23 with a QB (be it Calzada or ??) that is lighting it up, we'll then get a valid test whether Hars is just that good, and his bravado makes him a dangerous SEC West threat. And recruits see that combined with NIL that's good enough, and the Bunker restores the "BDB" moniker.
What say ye?
E5
The full, damning performance results and coaching persona dossier is a flailing beaten horse now, so I'll bypass that step here.
But here's what doesn't square entirely with the Harsin funeral.
The dude wants to be at Auburn.
Despite the Dwarf Lord northwest of him, and the Butt Cutt northeast in Athens, both of whom dominate in recruiting and winning, with aTm attempting to crash the party.
Despite the dominant power bases wanting him gone, 2-3 years early.
Despite probably massive cultural gaps between the 'Bronco way' and the 'Arbren Way'. Both for Hars and his family, and for Hars' plan of building a winning program contrasted with AU's 'playing the game' in crootin, NIL, etc.
The dude wants to be at Auburn.
It cannot be solely because he sees it as his only path to 'making bank'. Odds are his lawyers could have negotiated maybe $10M to walk, and Hars would have been a sympathetic figure, snapped up by a pretty good program paying $4M - $5M a year, with far easier competitive landscape. Do the math. If the assumption is MAX three years at Auburn, let's call it $18M he banks before leaving.
If hired as HC at Arizona or pick a destination, he'd have a 4-5 year run almost certainly, so he makes bank by leaving Auburn.
But the dude wants to be at Auburn anyway.
So it seems to me there are only two explanations for this, and no middle ground.
1. Bravado. Hars is 100% convinced he can and will deliver an enviable, long-sustaining Auburn football program. And he's had some 'staying' players on the roster speak of just that, and even some 'leaving' players say that if he could learn to connect with people, he'd be the next Saban (Kobe, was that?).
2. Hubris. He's just another garden variety delusional, overconfident head coach. A different version of Gus Malzahn, who heard 'offensive genius' one too many times, and began to buy it, to make it his 'credo', and sole source of self-esteem. Hars may have won just enough at Boise et al as a head coach to BUY that he's the 3rd best football coach in America (winning %). Or, he may have this sudden ego hurt from the staged coup, and his motivation to stay now is vengeance, which never takes you very far.
If he never assembles the roster talent to fully confirm if Harsin is an elite football coach, then the Bunk cognoscenti gets to be right, though possibly for the wrong reasons. Chicken vs the Egg problem. But if say he pulls an 8-win 2022 season, which is hardly in the impossible realm, and fields an impressive roster in '23 with a QB (be it Calzada or ??) that is lighting it up, we'll then get a valid test whether Hars is just that good, and his bravado makes him a dangerous SEC West threat. And recruits see that combined with NIL that's good enough, and the Bunker restores the "BDB" moniker.
What say ye?
E5
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