The allure of the Auburn coaching job is obvious any Saturday you walk into Jordan-Hare Stadium.
There's boundless energy, relentless support and one of the most electric environments anywhere in the sport. With its resources, tradition and a recent national championship (2010), Auburn is one of the dozen jobs in college football where winning a title is realistically attainable.
That same undying love for Auburn football that defines the school has also undercut it time and again. Auburn's reputation for meddling boosters, heavy-handed trustees and the assorted power vacuums and coups they've spawned has once again led to a bottoming out on the field.
Bryan Harsin's tenure, which ended predictably and unceremoniously on Monday, will long be remembered as the quintessential example of Auburn's blind ambition undercutting Auburn's realities.
After a middling 6-7 first season in 2021, Auburn launched a ham-handed and unsuccessful investigation into Harsin. It was baseless, and the cringey execution basically doubled as a vote of no-confidence for his tenure. It turned both this season's 3-5 tire fire on the field and a recruiting class that's last among the SEC in 2023 into inevitabilities.
The same day Auburn ended everyone's misery by sending Harsin out of town with a $15.5 million buyout, they brought in a new athletic director. The hiring of John Cohen from Mississippi State will predictably be hailed as a new era, one free of meddling boosters and a sign of a new era under Auburn president Chris Roberts. Is it believable?
Actually proving that notion -- and perpetuating it -- will be a key to how deftly Auburn can move forward in the upcoming weeks. It would be wise to see the actions of this new era before believing its words. As the school will welcome its third coach since December 2020, the question looming will be whether Auburn can get out of its own way, or will the cycle just repeat itself and the spiral continue?
It's a rather expensive cycle, as the all-in costs for former coach Gus Malzahn, Harsin and both of their staffs is a projected $50 million.
Roberts and Cohen are fighting the specter of the past few decades, where Auburn's dysfunction has been established as a lifestyle. It's as deeply embedded into the university's athletics tradition as rolling Toomer's Corner or the pregame Eagle Flight. The issue with Auburn is that the same dysfunction that led it to Harsin -- a good coach at Boise State who was a bad fit from day one -- needs to be quelled as it attempts to replace him.
Here's the tension for Cohen in the upcoming weeks, where a single hire will define his tenure: Can he pull off what Auburn's reputation didn't allow his predecessor Allen Greene to do? That's hire a high-end coach from within the school's footprint.
It's clear in retrospect that Harsin was tabbed because so many other coaches Auburn engaged with or attempted to hire -- Billy Napier, Brent Venables, Steve Sarkisian to name a few -- didn't want to sign up for all that Auburn entails. Venables even said the quiet part out loud in his Oklahoma news conference: "I didn't think they had the alignment there that we have here [at Oklahoma]. So I was a little bit nervous."
The chaos they wanted to avoid appeared in florescent colors in February. That's when Auburn's overlords and administrators ran what's now regarded as a failed coup on Harsin. They ended up reluctantly keeping him for eight months when they found out they were chasing ghosts and took a victory lap as the undisputed champion of collegiate athletics discord.
Why is Harsin getting $15.5 million and $7.75 million in the next 30 days? That's the type of contractual protection a school needs to fork over when its coaching position has the reputation of being a snake pit. Credit Harsin for recognizing that up front, perhaps the best playcall of his tenure.
So will Auburn be able to change its reputation and fortunes this time around?
The first positive was that it hired an outside search firm to bring forth candidates. That move signaled Roberts wasn't going to leave the hire to the whims of boosters, the board of trustees and many of those who have gotten Auburn into this mess in the first place. Roberts has been deliberate and thoughtful. But will that be enough?
If Roberts can galvanize the passion and unite forces, Auburn can be a powerful place. Roberts has been privately preaching that things are aligned and different now. But you'll find SEC commissioner Greg Sankey and Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren vacationing together before you find anyone around the SEC believing that's true. Bold rhetoric at Auburn requires mounds of empirical evidence. So far, there have only been crumbs.
The Cohen hire was a good start. He's respected around the SEC, appears energized by Auburn's NIL potential, and his coaching background hints that he's not going to tiptoe around the power brokers. Can he convince an established coach to join him? This next Auburn coach should be able to establish himself enough to ride out Nick Saban's final years in Tuscaloosa and, perhaps, position the program to make a big run whenever Saban decides to retire. Tennessee's quick turn from the mess of Phil Fulmer and Jeremy Pruitt offers hope to Auburn that two strong hires and newfound alignment can change everything.
Could it be former NFL coach Matt Rhule? He's uniquely qualified after building Baylor and Temple from the ground up.
Could it be Ole Miss' Lane Kiffin? They are buying new servers at AL.com to brace for all the traffic he'd direct their way by serving as Saban's chief antagonist.
Could it be Alabama offensive coordinator Bill O'Brien? There's no better blend of collegiate and NFL success available on the market.
Could it be Kentucky's Mark Stoops? What could he build with a better recruiting radius and players?
Could it be Liberty's Hugh Freeze? He's been a worthy foil to Saban on the field.
To land a coach of that ilk, it's up to Cohen and Roberts to somehow prove all those volatile forces have suddenly found peace. Can they show that noted Auburn disruptors Jimmy Rane, Raymond Harbert and Bobby Lowder have aged out of their influence? Can they convince Auburn's power brokers that the meddling, infighting and leadership void has led to a $50 million dollar bonfire of cash?
To get a proven commodity as coach, Auburn needs to show the type of alignment that hasn't been there in recent memory.
The hiring of Cohen is a signal that things could be changing. But that needs to be backed up by action. Or, in the case of the meddling Auburn power brokers, it actually should be defined by inaction.
Until things change, Auburn's reputation will remain a paradox. Undone by those who love it too much, the best attribute of the school and football program -- the ruthless passion -- looms as a fatal flaw.
There's boundless energy, relentless support and one of the most electric environments anywhere in the sport. With its resources, tradition and a recent national championship (2010), Auburn is one of the dozen jobs in college football where winning a title is realistically attainable.
That same undying love for Auburn football that defines the school has also undercut it time and again. Auburn's reputation for meddling boosters, heavy-handed trustees and the assorted power vacuums and coups they've spawned has once again led to a bottoming out on the field.
Bryan Harsin's tenure, which ended predictably and unceremoniously on Monday, will long be remembered as the quintessential example of Auburn's blind ambition undercutting Auburn's realities.
After a middling 6-7 first season in 2021, Auburn launched a ham-handed and unsuccessful investigation into Harsin. It was baseless, and the cringey execution basically doubled as a vote of no-confidence for his tenure. It turned both this season's 3-5 tire fire on the field and a recruiting class that's last among the SEC in 2023 into inevitabilities.
The same day Auburn ended everyone's misery by sending Harsin out of town with a $15.5 million buyout, they brought in a new athletic director. The hiring of John Cohen from Mississippi State will predictably be hailed as a new era, one free of meddling boosters and a sign of a new era under Auburn president Chris Roberts. Is it believable?
Actually proving that notion -- and perpetuating it -- will be a key to how deftly Auburn can move forward in the upcoming weeks. It would be wise to see the actions of this new era before believing its words. As the school will welcome its third coach since December 2020, the question looming will be whether Auburn can get out of its own way, or will the cycle just repeat itself and the spiral continue?
It's a rather expensive cycle, as the all-in costs for former coach Gus Malzahn, Harsin and both of their staffs is a projected $50 million.
Roberts and Cohen are fighting the specter of the past few decades, where Auburn's dysfunction has been established as a lifestyle. It's as deeply embedded into the university's athletics tradition as rolling Toomer's Corner or the pregame Eagle Flight. The issue with Auburn is that the same dysfunction that led it to Harsin -- a good coach at Boise State who was a bad fit from day one -- needs to be quelled as it attempts to replace him.
Here's the tension for Cohen in the upcoming weeks, where a single hire will define his tenure: Can he pull off what Auburn's reputation didn't allow his predecessor Allen Greene to do? That's hire a high-end coach from within the school's footprint.
It's clear in retrospect that Harsin was tabbed because so many other coaches Auburn engaged with or attempted to hire -- Billy Napier, Brent Venables, Steve Sarkisian to name a few -- didn't want to sign up for all that Auburn entails. Venables even said the quiet part out loud in his Oklahoma news conference: "I didn't think they had the alignment there that we have here [at Oklahoma]. So I was a little bit nervous."
The chaos they wanted to avoid appeared in florescent colors in February. That's when Auburn's overlords and administrators ran what's now regarded as a failed coup on Harsin. They ended up reluctantly keeping him for eight months when they found out they were chasing ghosts and took a victory lap as the undisputed champion of collegiate athletics discord.
Why is Harsin getting $15.5 million and $7.75 million in the next 30 days? That's the type of contractual protection a school needs to fork over when its coaching position has the reputation of being a snake pit. Credit Harsin for recognizing that up front, perhaps the best playcall of his tenure.
So will Auburn be able to change its reputation and fortunes this time around?
The first positive was that it hired an outside search firm to bring forth candidates. That move signaled Roberts wasn't going to leave the hire to the whims of boosters, the board of trustees and many of those who have gotten Auburn into this mess in the first place. Roberts has been deliberate and thoughtful. But will that be enough?
If Roberts can galvanize the passion and unite forces, Auburn can be a powerful place. Roberts has been privately preaching that things are aligned and different now. But you'll find SEC commissioner Greg Sankey and Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren vacationing together before you find anyone around the SEC believing that's true. Bold rhetoric at Auburn requires mounds of empirical evidence. So far, there have only been crumbs.
The Cohen hire was a good start. He's respected around the SEC, appears energized by Auburn's NIL potential, and his coaching background hints that he's not going to tiptoe around the power brokers. Can he convince an established coach to join him? This next Auburn coach should be able to establish himself enough to ride out Nick Saban's final years in Tuscaloosa and, perhaps, position the program to make a big run whenever Saban decides to retire. Tennessee's quick turn from the mess of Phil Fulmer and Jeremy Pruitt offers hope to Auburn that two strong hires and newfound alignment can change everything.
Could it be former NFL coach Matt Rhule? He's uniquely qualified after building Baylor and Temple from the ground up.
Could it be Ole Miss' Lane Kiffin? They are buying new servers at AL.com to brace for all the traffic he'd direct their way by serving as Saban's chief antagonist.
Could it be Alabama offensive coordinator Bill O'Brien? There's no better blend of collegiate and NFL success available on the market.
Could it be Kentucky's Mark Stoops? What could he build with a better recruiting radius and players?
Could it be Liberty's Hugh Freeze? He's been a worthy foil to Saban on the field.
To land a coach of that ilk, it's up to Cohen and Roberts to somehow prove all those volatile forces have suddenly found peace. Can they show that noted Auburn disruptors Jimmy Rane, Raymond Harbert and Bobby Lowder have aged out of their influence? Can they convince Auburn's power brokers that the meddling, infighting and leadership void has led to a $50 million dollar bonfire of cash?
To get a proven commodity as coach, Auburn needs to show the type of alignment that hasn't been there in recent memory.
The hiring of Cohen is a signal that things could be changing. But that needs to be backed up by action. Or, in the case of the meddling Auburn power brokers, it actually should be defined by inaction.
Until things change, Auburn's reputation will remain a paradox. Undone by those who love it too much, the best attribute of the school and football program -- the ruthless passion -- looms as a fatal flaw.
