Bryan Harsin defends decision to fire wide receiver coach after four games

Auburn head coach Bryan Harsin defended his decision to fire wide receivers coach Cornelius Williams just four games into Harsin’s first year with the Tigers.

“Like I said before it’s not ideal,” he said on the SEC head coaches teleconference. “I’ve been in this head coaching position for a while now and you hire a staff and if there’s things you feel like need to change or there needs to be something different then you make those decisions. Whether it happens early in the season, obviously that’s where all of the attention lies because a lot of these things happen at the end of the season when recruiting’s over and guys are signed you see a lot of staff changes and things like that.”

Harsin continued.

“I think it comes down to, what’s the decision that needs to be made to continue to help put our program in the best position to be successful and they’re not easy decisions and they’re thought out,” he said. “Like I told everyone before, you don’t take that likely, but sometimes decisions are made. The timing of it, there’s no book on what’s the right timing so that doesn’t even exist. Decisions are made when they need to be made, period.”

Bryan Harsin fired Williams after Auburn survived a scare against Georgia State, 34-24, thanks to late-game heroics by the Tigers backup quarterback TJ Finley and wide receiver Shedrick Jackson.

Auburn is 3-1 in Harsin’s first season, opening the year with two dominant wins over Akron and Alabama State. All eyes were on the Bryan Harsin and Auburn in week three as the Tigers played Penn State down to the wire in primetime, eventually losing 28-20. 

Offensively, there have been deeper concerns at offensive line, and to a lesser extent quarterback and wide receiver, which made the decision to fire Williams all the more curious.

Williams spent the previous six seasons coaching receivers at Troy, his alma mater and was hired by Bryan Harsin in January. Williams had a tough task from the moment he arrived, taking over a unit that lost three players to the NFL and returned only 23 receptions from the 2020 season.

To replace Williams, Harsin promoted offensive analyst Eric Kiesau, who served as receivers coach for three years at Boise State before being promoted to offensive coordinator for the Broncos in 2020.