Auburn releases statement on Bryan Harsin firing, omits name

The Bryan Harsin era has come to an end at Auburn. After a frustrating season and a half down on The Plains with plenty of losses and drama to go around, the school elected to finally go in a different direction today with the announcement of his firing. However, the Tigers took one final shot with Harsin on his way out the door within their press release.

Justin Hokanson of Auburn Live shared the press release on Twitter. If you read through it, though, you’ll notice Harsin’s name isn’t mentioned once in the 71-word announcement.

Bryan Harsin is done at Auburn. pic.twitter.com/nJmckGRzaX

— Justin Hokanson (@_JHokanson) October 31, 2022

Harsin leaves Auburn with a 9-12 record overall. The Tigers went 6-7 last season but are 3-5 to this point in 2022. With the team amidst a four-game losing streak and a stretch of having lost five of their last six games, the university finally decided enough was enough.

The blood had been bad between everyone involved in the Harsin drama for some time now, whether they said it or not. The omission of Harsin’s name only emphasizes that point as he leaves the program. With this final word in the story of Harsin at Auburn now written, the focus is now on the real message of the release that the school will immediately begin searching for his successor.

Report: Auburn owes Bryan Harsin more than $15 million buyout after firing

Auburn announced that it would be firing Bryan Harsin on Halloween – a day before his 46th birthday. Spooky season indeed for the head coach. However, that is going to be made less spooky by the buyout that Auburn owes Harsin.

According to Pete Thamel, Auburn owes Bryan Harsin more than $15 million. Half of that money is due within 30 days of his firing.

Two sides can negotiate the reduction of buyout numbers. This happened with Paul Chryst at Wisconsin this season. He agreed to a reduced buyout of $11 million when the Badgers owed him $19.5 million. There are a lot of reasons a coach might choose to do this. However, given Bryan Harsin’s situation at Auburn, it’s doubtful he wants anything less than what the school owes.

The timing of Bryan Harsin’s firing comes almost immediately after Auburn hired a new athletic director. John Cohen, who had previously been Mississippi State’s AD, made it his first order of business to move on from Harsin. Now, he can begin the coaching search for a new head football coach.

When Auburn does go to hire a new head coach, they will likely need to buy that coach out of their contract with their current school on top of paying Harsin and the salary owed to the new coach. On top of that, Auburn is still paying Gus Malzahn his buyout. That was a $21.45 million buyout, nearly $11 million of which was due immediately. The rest is owed over equal, annual installments.

Neither Gus Malzahn nor Bryan Harsin’s buyouts can be offset by them taking a job at another school. That means Auburn is on the hook for the whole thing.

It’s a lot of money to have tied up in coaches who no longer work for the school, which means John Cohen needs to nail this next hire and bring in someone who can rebuild Auburn.