ESPN insider explains what Auburn could be looking for, lists surprising head coach candidates

Bryan Harsin’s firing this week confirmed the experiment failed. Now, the question is what Auburn will look for in its next head coach, and it’s a question ESPN’s Chris Low attempted to answer Thursday.

Low joined “The Paul Finebaum Show” to talk about the Tigers’ coaching search. He thinks new athletic director John Cohen could go a few different directions, but there are some qualities he thinks stand out more than others.

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“I think if you’re Auburn, you want someone who’s coached in the SEC, who’s recruited in the SEC, who’s not afraid to go toe-to-toe and not afraid to be a bite-back kind of coach when you’ve got Kirby Smart on one side and Nick Saban on the other,” Low said. “… But you’d better bring somebody in there who understands Auburn, who gets Auburn, who’s not afraid to sort of reach out to some of those people, but not let them come in and run the show. Sometimes, that’s a very delicate balance.”

That’s when Low listed the sure-fire candidates who are coming up in rumors — Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin and Liberty coach Hugh Freeze. He also brought up Jackson State coach Deion Sanders as a potential “out of the box” hire.

However, he then listed some surprising names that even caught Finebaum’s attention.

“Somebody else that I think will be in that hunt is Mark Stoops,” Low said. “Mark Stoops — now, it’s not been a great year for Mark this year, but his body of work at Kentucky and what he’s done, the way he’s built that program from the ground up and the way he’s developed players. He’s coached, he’s recruited in the SEC. I think he checks that box.

“And I hate to do this to Oregon fans, but do they call Dan Lanning? Oregon’s had all these guys who have been one-and-done at Oregon, but Lanning’s background — having coached in the SEC, coached under Kirby Smart. I think there’s a lot of guys out there, again, if you’re John Cohen, you’re going to look at. I don’t agree at all … ‘Who would want the Auburn job?’ There’s a lot of people who would want that job, again, because of what I laid out earlier, because you can win, it’s been proven you can win at the highest level there.”

Low’s point with all those names was that anything is on the table. Despite the amount of Power Five jobs available, Auburn appears to be the best position to win now in the SEC. However, recruiting success is going to be key, and that’s an area in which Harsin struggled over the last two years.

“When has Auburn been at its best, Paul? When they’ve been able to go into the state of Georgia and get great football players,” Low said. “You go all the way back, names like Cam Newton, Takeo Spikes, Derrick Brown. You’re not going to get everyone in that state, but you’d better get your share.”