Auburn fires Bryan Harsin as head football coach
AUBURN — Auburn University has decided to make a change in the leadership of the Auburn University football program, per an official university release.
President Roberts made the decision after a thorough review and evaluation of all aspects of the football program. Auburn will begin an immediate search for a coach that will return the Auburn program to a place where it is consistently competing at the highest levels and representing the winning tradition that is Auburn football.
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Harsin will end his Auburn career with a 9-12 overall record and 3-10 record in SEC play.
An interim coach was not immediately named in the university release. Auburn will owe Harsin 70 percent of the remaining salary – approximately $15 million – on his contract, which runs through Dec. 31, 2026. Half of that buyout is due within 30 days of his termination.
Harsin is the first Auburn coach to finish his tenure with a losing record since Earl Brown’s three-year stint wrapped with a 3-22-4 record between 1948-50.
Harsin was hired at Auburn on December 22, 2020. He was hired after a back-and-forth between boosters, then president Jay Gogue and then AD Allen Greene. The boosters wanted someone else, Gogue intervened, and Greene chose Harsin. It was essentially doomed from the start.
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After a 6-7 first season, the university began an inquiry into the football program in the winter of 2021-2022. The focus was Harsin’s treatment of players and coaches within his program. The inquiry turned up nothing in terms of “cause” for firing Harsin, but it was another black eye on Harsin and the university.
Harsin shuffled through staff, firing his offensive coordinator after last season, and watching his defensive coordinator leave for Oklahoma State. Harsin tried to hire Austin Davis from the Seattle Seahawks, but that didn’t work out after Davis resigned shortly after taking the job.
Harsin’s firing comes on the heels of four straight losses and three straight games in which the opponent has allowed 40-plus points.
He went 69-19 at Boise State before arriving at Auburn.
