Should Auburn Football wait until season’s end to fire Bryan Harsin?

Auburn football doesn’t have to be in a rush to fire its embattled head coach. 

By this article’s publication, Auburn could fire head coach Bryan Harsin. Whether that happens or not, the point of this piece is still valid. Early-season firings have become normalized in college football, but Auburn could wait until the end of the season to fire Harsin. That might seem crazy, but there are reasons why the Tigers should pump the brakes on firing Harsin now.

Harsin’s hire should be a lesson to Auburn football

When Auburn football fired Gus Malzahn, they waited until the end of the season. The Tigers defeated Mississippi State to close the season and fired Malzahn the day after. There had been rumblings about Malzahn’s demise most of the season, but the administration decided to wait until December. There were two reasons for this.

First, there was so much in-fighting among the administration and boosters about Malzahn. A group of boosters attempted a coup to get Malzahn out and place defensive coordinator Kevin Steele as head coach. Some boosters had been unhappy with Malzahn for years, undermining him by limiting contracts on assistants, including blocking the hire of Liberty head coach Hugh Freeze as offensive coordinator.

Suffice it to say; it was a mess. When Malzahn was finally fired, it became apparent to anyone with eyes on college football that Auburn did not have a plan for a strong candidate for its head coaching position; instead, some factions wanted their candidate. As a result, former Athletic Director Allen Greene hired Harsin.

Auburn’s administration and boosters should take that drama as a lesson to get their house in order and develop a plan to hire a head coach. Malzahn was good for nearly nine wins a season, and he beat Alabama three times, more than any other coach in the SEC. The hire must be a better one than Malzahn.

Auburn football should Lean in on your reputation 

Times like these are when you can lean in on your job’s attractiveness. The Tigers’ brass can say, “hey, we’re Auburn; there is no more attractive in the country that will come open this offseason.” No current job has Auburn’s ceiling. That ceiling is a National Championship for anyone scoring at home, by the way.

Auburn will likely still get the candidate it wants if it decides to wait until December to fire Harsin. The money doesn’t matter; boosters paid 21 million to buy out Malzahn and were willing to pay more. Since the Tigers will have its pick of head coaches, why not wait until December?

This recruiting cycle –which wasn’t great– (Auburn is 56th in recruiting and 13th in the SEC) is lost no matter when you fire Harsin. No one can salvage this season, either. The transfer portal makes it possible to quickly flip the roster and field a competitive team.

Auburn did fire Athletic Director Allen Greene before the beginning of the season, so it is also likely that the university wants to hire a new Athletic Director to make the head football coaching hire.

With all those factors in play, Auburn should slow down and fire Harsin at the end of the season.