Auburn Football: 3 reasons Bryan Harsin was the wrong hire

Don’t let the win-loss record fool you, Auburn football’s decision to hire Bryan Harsin away from Boise State has plenty of red flags.

After a long, winding, tumultuous coaching search, Auburn hired Boise State head coach Bryan Harsin to take over for Gus Malzahn on the Plains. Harsin boats an impressive 76-24 record as a head coach, including a 69-19 run with the Broncos over the course of his seven years there.

The Tigers fired Malzahn on Dec. 13, a move that came with the price tag of a $21 million buyout, and most figured that would lead to a quick search for his successor. It seemed unlikely that the Tigers would move on from Malzahn — a coach who had plenty of success on the Plains — without a ready-made coach to take over.

It seemed initially like Auburn was prepared to promote defensive coordinator Kevin Steele to head coach, but rumblings of that move led to a lot of backlash from fans — not dissimilar to how Tennessee reacted to the rumored hire of Greg Schiano a few years ago before the Vols ultimately settled on Jeremy Pruitt. One has to wonder which coach those fans would prefer now, however, with three years of hindsight.

Auburn vetted numerous candidates, appearing to be turned down by the likes of Louisiana’s Billy Napier and UAB’s Bill Clark, along with missing out on some bigger name options like Oregon head coach Mario Cristobal, who was quickly given a raise by the Ducks when his name was linked to the vacancy on the Plains.

The search was messy, and Auburn took a couple of black eyes for their trouble, but in the end the Tigers landed a well respected coach and a proven winner at the FBS level.

His sterling win-loss record is the biggest reason for optimism among the Auburn fanbase. Here’s why that may be fool’s gold.