Paul Finebaum believes Cadillac Williams deserves serious consideration for Auburn job

Since Carnell “Cadillac” Williams was elevated to interim head coach at Auburn following the firing of Bryan Harsin, Auburn has gone 2-1, with its lone loss in overtime on the road at Mississippi State. At least one prominent college football personality believes Williams deserves serious consideration for the Auburn job.

That’s ESPN’s Paul Finebaum, who went on the ‘McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning’ program on Monday and made his case.

“I think he should be seriously considered as a legitimate candidate for this job, and I hope he will be and I hope we don’t just get some window-dressing from the school,” Finebaum said.

The Tigers had been reasonably competitive in a handful of games even before Harsin was fired, beating Missouri in overtime, losing to LSU by four points and giving Ole Miss a bit of a run for its money before falling 48-34.

But Auburn has found ways to close out games more recently, following that overtime loss at Mississippi State in Williams’ debut as interim.

The Tigers snapped a five-game losing skid two weeks ago when they downed Texas A&M 13-10, then put together a more impressive and convincing win this weekend over Western Kentucky, winning 41-17.

Auburn even has an outside shot at bowl eligibility still, needing a win this weekend in the Iron Bowl to reach six wins and qualify.

Does Cadillac Williams deserve serious consideration for the Auburn job?

It’s impossible to deny the job Williams has done so far in his first three games as the interim coach, but does Williams deserve serious consideration for the Auburn job?

His coaching track record is a bit light for a job the caliber of Auburn.

He began his coaching career in 2015 as a running backs coach at Henderson State. He then served as an offensive graduate assistant at the University of West Georgia in 2016, prior to becoming the running backs coach at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., from 2017-18.

From there, Williams was hired at Auburn as running backs coach in 2019, and he was retained by Harsin when he took over the program following Gus Malzahn‘s departure.

Finebaum, though, seems unperturbed by the relative lack of big-time coaching experience.

“And I’ll say, on top of all that, it really irks me when people say, ‘Well, I hope he’s retained by the next staff,'” Finebaum said. “That’s not what we’re talking about here, Cole. We’re talking about him being given a fair shot at the job, not a wink and a nod and saying, ‘Carnell, you’ve done a really nice job and we will certainly ask the new coach to hold you a spot.'”