Auburn Football: Top 3 head coaching candidates to replace Gus Malzahn

Auburn football made the move to fire head coach Gus Malzahn Sunday and here are the top three candidates on the wish list for the Tigers.

After eight years with Gul Malzahn as head coach, Auburn football decided to move on following a 6-4 season for the Tigers.

It was the end of an up-and-down tenure for Malzahn, who led Auburn football to the BCS national championship game and a No. 2 ranking in his first season, but was never able to replicate that magic again.

Outside of that, Malzahn guided the Tigers to the Sugar Bowl and Peach Bowls following the 2016 and 2017 seasons, plus he did beat Nick Saban three times.

Even this season, it’s not like Auburn football was terrible. The Tigers finished 6-4, but lost three games to top-10 teams. In six of his first seven seasons, Malzahn won at least eight games every year but one and under a normal year, may have done so again.

But the results weren’t good enough which makes you think Auburn football is targeting someone it thinks will be an elite head coach and if I was the Tigers, my first call would be to Saban’s top assistant.

1.  Steve Sarkisian

Very soon, Sarkisian is going to be a big-time head coach again. He’s had opportunities in the past and I’d be shocked if Auburn didn’t at least make a run at him.

Sarkisian may not want to take a job where Saban is his primary rival and who knows, maybe he has thoughts of being a head coach in waiting or something at Alabama some day.

But I’d expect the Tigers to throw money at him and he’d have the chance to take over a program with legitimate national championship aspirations. That’s at least what Auburn football people are expecting, to be at or near that elite level.

Kirby Smart helped Georgia take that next step and it’s very possible Sarkisian could do the same at Auburn. Stealing him away could also hurt the Crimson Tide.