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Auburn Tigers Hire Boise State Head Coach Bryan Harsin
The SEC’s Auburn Tigers fired Gus Malzahn and will dip into the Mountain West to replace him.
Contact/Follow @MattK_FS & @MWCwire
A shocker on the coaching carousel?
The Auburn Tigers fired head coach Gus Malzahn on December 13 and, if reports from this afternoon are to be believed, they have solidified his replacement by bringing in Boise State’s Bryan Harsin.
https://twitter.com/AuburnFootball/status/1341549396475994113?s=19
First reported by Pete Thamel of Yahoo Sports and confirmed by The Athletic’s Bruce Feldman, Harsin will be Auburn football’s next leader on the Plains. Coincidentally, it also wouldn’t be the first time that he replaced Malzahn in such a position, having done so at Arkansas State in 2013.
After going 7-5 in his lone season with the Red Wolves, Harsin has compiled a 69-19 overall record in seven seasons at his alma mater, including a 3-2 record in bowl games and conference championship game victories in 2014, 2017, and 2019.
2020, however, came with a fair share of challenges for Harsin and his Broncos, beginning with the seeming cancelation of the Mountain West season. That flew in the face of what Harsin himself was willing to do, as was later revealed in emails obtained by BoiseDev.com. Once the season got underway in October, the Broncos dealt with a rash of injuries and a COVID-19 outbreak which played roles in a blowout loss to BYU and two canceled games against San Jose State and UNLV in November and December.
The Broncos still managed to make it to the Mountain West championship game with a 5-0 conference record, though they came up short against the San Jose State Spartans last Saturday. The team decided to forgo bowl season shortly thereafter.
More recently, Harsin’s dissatisfaction with Boise State’s standing in the Mountain West came to the forefront via a number of emails that have come to light in the past couple weeks, which included conversations between Broncos leadership and the American Athletic Conference and Harsin’s insistence that the football program would be better served by leaving the Mountain West.
According to a 2019 article from Football Scoop, Auburn will owe Boise State a $250,000 buyout for Harsin’s services.
https://twitter.com/Stephen_Gunter/status/1341553336324124672?s=19
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