Thank you for this segment on Auburn. It was fair and informative. You hit the nail on the head concerning the boosters. The new AD must be allowed autonomy to do his job. If you love Auburn, Auburn will love you back. Make the right hire and the sky is the limit. Thank you for doing such a great job of reporting anytime you discuss Auburn and actually all of college football. War Eagle!
More like auburn isnt putting up with deion. Last week he let 2 rappers with violent names lead his team out of the tunnel. Their names are key glock and nle choppa. Auburn isnt mixing auburn with gangster rapper culture. They wont even interview prime.
@@jakepadgett5569 oh my lord give it a break, the excuses you white people make are ludacris. He did that for his players, who are teenagers, that listen to that type of music. If those rappers were in the news for anything violent they wouldn’t be allowed there. NLE Choppa also led the Charlotte Hornets out of their tunnel .. and they are a professional team !
@@jakepadgett5569 Go watch some videos of Coach Sanders running that JSU program. He doesn't take B.S. and keeps those boys on the right path. If his coaching is as good as his leading, he could turn almost any program around.
There were staff complaints as well. Every day Harsin was HC at Auburn the program went backward. Harsin's biggest sin was to alienate most of the High School coaches in Alabama with his aloofness and failure to show them any respect. While Nick Saban, Kirby Smart, and every other HC in the SEC were in the stands showing love to top high school recruits, Brian Harsin was in the stands watching his kid play. Recruiting was an inconvenience to him. These are the same complaints he had at Boise St. One might also notice Auburn's absolute failure to make half-time adjustments in games they were competitive in the first half and got blown out in the second half. The investigation had no impact on his on the field coaching decisions. There were other issues with his staff as well including the revolving door of assistant coaches. Why isn't anyone talking about that? Why did so many leave or get fired only to be replaced by Harsin's Boise St. cronies? The investigation was handled very poorly. It started out simple enough, but then some of the powerful boosters got involved and saw their chance to possibly fire Harsin for cause. That is when everything went public and this investigation now overshadows the fact that Harsin is a bad recruiter, a bad on the field coach, a bad program manager, and a disaterous choice for the Auburn HC job.
You’re repeating what the AU beat reporters (as he mentioned) all said. Put names, dates, location etc. just like he suggested. I’m not sure why this is still a topic? He’s gone!
@@suzmik Actually I have my own sources, but they all agree. It's not hard to pick out Harsin at an Auburn High football game or find an Alabama high school football coach that has a negative story to tell about him. It is still a topic because people like Josh Pate and Pete Thamel are still talking about it. I don't have my own Auburn TH-cam channel or POD cast so your comment should be directed at Pate and the rest of those guys, not me. I'm just trying to add some balance to what is being reported.
Harsin failed Auburn yes, but Auburn also failed Harsin. I truly think he will go somewhere else and have success. When the school that employs you tries and fails to fire you before the season even begins, goodluck telling a recruit that you have a plan to develop his skills and put him in a position to have a career in the NFL. How can you keep your locker room together when the players know what everyone knows, that your coach is a dead man walking. I'm sure there are plenty of Auburn fans that couldn't care less, but I feel bad for the guy.
I am a forty year Auburn fan and alumni. My father went to Auburn as well. You say a LOT of truth my good man. It was not a good hire to begin with and they had buyers remorse immediately! I personally believe they fired Gus too soon. He was a winner and they just got impatient. I pray you are correct about our potential to be a power house program again. Auburn has the beautiful campus the amazing stadium and now some of the best football exclusive facilities in the nation. They are primed and ready if they will just knock this hire out of the park and get the hell out the man's way. Thank you Josh for the insight.
My FIL is a Auburn alumni. He recently said the boosters are the problem. I can't remember the name but according to my FIL, there is a very wealthy booster spoiling things for the Auburn football program. You guys need a coach to come in with a stipulation in their contract that as Auburn's head coach they run the program. Not the boosters and the Athletic Directors. With a three year guarantee, there will be no threats of being replaced for three full seasons, in an effort to get the program heading in the right direction. Of course, to do such a thing, it will require Auburn to recruit the right guy for the job. Making it a long shot, with the environment that the University of Auburn has created for themselves in recent years. With multi million dollar buy out contracts having to be paid, with nothing to show for it.
Gus Malzahn got fired from Auburn and went to UCF and is doing a good job there... Auburn burns to be equal to or better than Alabama and seethes when they aren't... not many coaches are up to that kind of pressure.
Aubrun is to Alabama what Texas A&M is to Texas. The kid brother occasionally has a good day despite having the world at his tips but is a complete mess. No organization, no leadership, a terrible administration, and just unreal bad decisions all the time.
Pate nails this exactly 100%. I still think Harsin is a good coach and at minimum deserves an OC job at a prominent P5 team. Word I hear is that at Auburn HC’s are handicapped in doing what they want because of the Booster’s controlling and threatening of money.
Yeah, the same coach who is more concerned about promoting himself than the school or players he coaches. Even the back of his clothing typically promotes his Twitter.
Nah. Living here in MS and having seen John Cohen in the last several years, he's nothing but a yes man to the money. I went to school at Auburn some 4 decades ago and it was the same then as it is now. The big money boosters have way too much say there, and don't care what the rules, any rules, are.
Josh is the goat. Best college football show around. After the second time referring to Pete Thamel I had to tap out though lol. Could give 2 shits what that clown says about Auburn.
Nobody gets in the way of Auburn the way Auburn does. I can only hope bluer skies are coming and I can go back to actually enjoying Auburn (and College) football again. Thanks for the spot-on take, Josh!
I wouldn't touch the auburn job with a 20' pole. They have been crazy there ever sense Pat Die retired. No problem getting recruits there, but other issues always seem to get in the way.
It’s a high pressure job but tell me a job in SEC west that isn’t? When you have your rival schools Georgia and tide there’s no question AU pressure to win goes up but so does the pay and so does the play. I happen to believe that the whole booster thing is blown out of proportion and it’s now just something people throw around loosely without any merit. Has AU had issues with boosters meddling? Yes. But that has been mainly in the past and not so much recently. They didn’t have anything to do with hiring harsin as it was AU AD Greene who made the hire. They have influence yes but show me a program who has the money like AU that doesn’t?
@@catheferguson5479 well right now AU has a new administration so the old president and AD are gone and it was president roberts who fired harsin recently to clear the stage for newly hired cohen AD to arrive and calm the waters and make a solid hire
This is what I want to hear someone in media say: "Stop hiring coaches to initial 5 and 6 year contracts. Hire them to 2-3, tell them "prove yourself and get extended." Or, let the coaches finish those deals. $37 million for two buyouts plus whatever they pay the new guy is just ridiculous.
You point out the investigation was started because of players complaining? You and Thamel both left out that Derrick Mason the former DC made some comments about harsin and left the program for a job paying less. That with what some other players were saying forced the university to look into it. Some of that internet rumor stuff came out later and was unfortunate. However, harsin didn’t help himself and sat on a beach in Mexico while this thing was raging. Maybe he should have flown back and answer the questions sooner?
My inside sources tell me that Gus Malzahn is at the top of Auburn’s list of potential candidates, due to his familiarity with the SEC and his involvement in Auburn’s 2010 title win and their 2013 title appearance. Sources tell me so far he is looking like the favorite for the job.
Let’s say Auburn ignored the February incident.. the national media would have slammed Auburn for disregarding claims made by student athletes citing racism and abuse. As it stands they didn’t ignore those claims and they are still slammed for “meddling”. You said it yourself that there’s a separate narrative between national and local media. Really wish you would have also read from a local piece (247 does a great job) about some of horror stories of this staff.
Josh Pate, if he would have beaten Alabama last year he would still be the head coach 🏈 of Auburn University. Any coach must beat his rival. Beating your rival keeps you employed short of any major scandal (Hugh Freeze Ole Miss🤦😒)
Auburn should go out and get Gary Patterson, they should've got him long ago before Malzahn. He's now at Texas as a defensive analyst and why Texas defense gave Alabama a good game. He's done good with lesser teams and would be a stable coach to bring back Auburn and better defenses like Auburn is used to having.
I hear what you are saying but IMO something was going on for, what was it, 17 players to transfer to different schools. IDT it was just players riding the bench that has issues with Harsin. I’m not even an Auburn fan, but I believe they never should have hired a MW coach that had no ties with the SEC to begin with. I’m sure the boosters were annoying bc they hated the hire which was done by the last AD and had nothing to do with the boosters. I think there is issues on both sides, but BH needed to go. I just hope they get a better coach this time around, they should have kept Gus, but if they want to have a chance at Natty’s again and not just once every 5 years they would have to hire someone who has been proven to do that & the only person that meets that criteria and is available is Urban. I don’t see UM coming there nor them hiring him though. The next person would be Lane, he hasn’t won any as a HC but he has potential. Deon, IMO, doesn’t have the resume yet to coach in the SEC. Hugh Freeze is decent, but just bc he beat Saban twice doesn’t mean too much when he hasn’t won any championships. Gus beat Nick more and actually won championships and they got rid of him. Then there is Matt Rhule who IDT would be a good hire bc, again, no ties to the SEC. The only choice I can see that makes sense and is realistic is Lane. They might as well hire Gus back before hiring any of the others bc Gus has a better championship record.
I agree with most of what you say...but Urban cant come to Auburn. We're nice, hospitable and genuinely sweet people but we are also uppity (ask Bama). Urban would not fit because of his character. Freeze is getting his 2nd chance for academic and ncaa violations, let him continue at Liberty. I don't know why the kids want Lane, they thought Gus was mediocre. Deion can recruit but he is trying to change the narrative for HBCU, let him finish his mission. We need Pat Dye, Vince Dooley or even a Bobby Bowden like old man who is really in charge, tells the boosters when to step off, makes the student-athlete be a student. Someone we could build a statue for 20 years from now. Is that asking too much?
@@catheferguson5479 IDT it’s asking too much, that’s what everyone wants. The issue is I do not see any of those type of coaches available besides UM and ur right no way would Auburn hire him. When you are having to compete against Saban (the GOAT), Smart, and now Heupel it’s hard to find a coach that can do that year in and out successfully. Right now Kiffin is the closest thing to it & he’s still young enough to get better & better. He is very limited at Ole Miss bc they don’t have the money & resources AU, AL, GA, LSU etc. has. Yet, even with that he’s done an amazing job at Ole Miss. With the right resources I hate to say it bc I am a Bama fan, but I could see him beating us. It’s just his 3rd year and right now he’s 8-1 in the SEC west and hopefully we will beat them so I could see it being 12-2 at the end of the season, maybe 13-2 if they win their bowl game. He has ties to the SEC, they call him the portal king for a reason. All the coaches you named were great coaches in their day but college football has changed so much since then with the portal and NIL deals that I think even Saban is struggling to adapt. Who do you think could be the next person like the ones you named that would be willing to come to Auburn? Lane, IMO, is your best shot. In fact if Saban ever retired I wanted Lane for Bama, but I know Auburn needs someone who can turn things around fast. I just don’t think there is anyone else that is available that can do that, besides UM and we both know that’s not happening. Also Prime time might end up being an amazing SEC coach but the thing is Auburn can’t afford to take the risk in case it doesn’t pan out.
Through all of this, there has been a void in the presidency at Auburn. Now Chris Roberts is in place as President. He is well respected and I feel he will change the narrative concerning JABA. John Cohen seems to be his own man but as all Programs needs the boosters financial help, I believe he, in conjunction with Chris Roberts, can temper booster involvement in the program as it has been in the past. It appears most people think these boosters wake up in the morning wanting to be involved in the football program. I disagree. I think they would be very content in having a football coach that is control of his program as they could sit in their suites watching the scoreboard light up with wins. A whole less on their plate if that happens. This big issue of course, is getting the right coach hired. Bottom line!! I love the channel. Keep up the good work.👍
It might be underrated, but no way am I going to work for that university with its gross boosters. Auburn is a joke for what they didn't to this man in the off-season and I hope they end up with a Dooley-Zook type of hire that sets them back 10 years. It would serve them all right if they were placed on probation, barred from bowl games, and lost scholarships. That is the treatment that the university deserves.
Very well said Josh per usual! As an Auburn alum/fan I’m very excited for the future of the program but the elephant in the room is the boosters need to take a seat and let the AD, coaches & players do their jobs & boosters must remain on the sideline. I think this next coach hire should take its time in the process and not listen to the outside noise. The resources are their for success, but we need to be smart with how we operate this program. War Eagle!
I'm an Auburn Graduate and Fan and i think that until the Booster money gets out of the program we will not be successful. Its true that Harsin was doing great until he benched Bo Nix last year and the Boosters got all butt hurt about it.
Sooooo Derek Mason’s exit interview where all of this came from was just sour grapes? Ok bud. Thamel’s source was Harsin. The man did absolutely nothing to show that he deserved this position at all. He should have been fired in February. 5-7 is totally unacceptable at AU.
It’s one of the worst jobs in America. Little brother to bama but fan base thinks their bama and expects bama results. The town of Auburn is absolutely nothing to write home about. And your in the SEC West. They should’ve kept Gus
Coach Prime is the man to turn Auburn around quickly ! U get a seasoned 5 star Qb along with the best recruiter in America. He comes with a solid staff of veteran coaches. Win win situation…..
I almost hope Sanders gets the job bc then folks will realize it’s more about “flash” and being “turnt up”. The P5-especially in the SEC-is about the grind, about doing things behind the scenes that nobody ever sees. Not sure Sanders is cut from that cloth.
@@dangerousdylan6262 they didn’t play the same Georgia team and the booster situation wasn’t as bad. It is a completely different ballgame now then back then
Auburn has to change thier way of thinking. Deion Sanders would change the landscape of Auburn. Star power recruiting coaching staff and connections and that Deion Sanders fan base💰.
First of all there’s a lot of truth in what your saying I’m a life long fan of auburn WDE with that being said the decisions being made on the plains makes me scratch my head/ bang my head against the wall. It’s as bad as I’ve ever seen it. I sure hope they get it right with this new coach because we want be down for long!! War Dam Eagle
Josh awesome show as always first time commenter. You produce best cfb product out there. Would Prime time, be an option without big school experience seems like his brand would boost recruiting and short term excitement immediately. Just thoughts from a Hog fan. Thanks man. Woo pig.
Most Auburn fans(including me) don't demand we beat Saban and UGA evrery year. I just can't watch a team that blows 20 point leads against LSU and looks like a badly coached team against Missouri. How about a hiring Zach Kittley to get QB's and passing game to not look like a 1989 Junior High school team?
With the history of the powers that be at Auburn ,any coach who takes that job has to be on his last hail Mary of coaching. A new young coach will be eaten alive !
Alabama stands in the way. Look at the success Tubbs had when the NCAA used to put programs on actual probation, "staring down the barrel of a gun"... At least now they can pay a once in a lifetime college QB without hiding it.
I think Auburn fans would be happy with a 10-3/ 9-4 season where their only losses are to a certain combo of Georgia, Bama, LSU, Ole Miss or Tennessee at this point. Along with a bowl game win against a 9-3/8-4 ACC or PAC 12 team. No offense Auburn fans I just don’t see y’all beating the top 3-4 teams in the SEC, BIG 10, or BIG 12 for a long time.
No Auburn head coach has left the job and gone on to bigger and better things. That's to say, no one has moved on to the NFL or to a bigger college program. They've all been fired, retired, or had their contract violated and walked with severance pay. The reason for this is Auburn has a long history of wealthy boosters thinking they know best how to run a football program. It was always there, just below the surface, but anyone who has followed the program for a while knows the truth. Look at 2003 with JetGate or 2008 with JetGate II (which gave us 5-19 Gene Chizik). Look at the ouster of Malzahn in 2020 when the boosters allegedly conspired with Kevin Steele to remove Malzahn. Look at the way Harsin was treated before he even coached a single game. Auburn could be a great job, but in the words of Brett Venable, who turned down the job, "it scares me." He wasn't talking about recruiting or the schedule, mind you ... he was talking about the toxic environment. And no, Prime Time isn't the answer and I very much doubt he'd risk his promising career at such a dead-end job like Auburn. Get ready for a long period of irrelevancy, as the boosters have won complete and full control over the program. I don't believe it for a minute that the new AD will be anything more than a figurehead while the boosters exert complete shadow control over the program.
Players getting a coach fired sounds familiar if you’re a lsu Fan , we still haven’t heard who the players were and probably never will , I’m guessing somebody put them up to it at both places, something like this also ruined Missouri program that had a helleva lot of momentum the first couple of years in the sec 🤷🏽♂️ I Say it every chance I get, I think there’s a really good possibility that people are sabotaging football programs for one reason or another, maybe they don’t like The coach or maybe they don’t want the competition in recruiting but something is going on, I just follow the sec so I’m not sure if it’s happened anywhere else
I don’t see that this job is any harder than Arkansas. You play Bama and LSU every year and your fan base expects 9-3 and 10-2 every year and thinks you should play for the SEC every 4 years.
With the resources that Auburn has, 9-3 every year is not unreasonable. This is especially true in years where we get Bama and UGA at home. What are your expectations for Arkansas every year?
Auburn will not reach it's full program potential until the boosters are only boosters and coaches are turned loose to coach. At one point not long ago, the AU system was in trouble with what is now AdvancEd (the old Southern Association of Colleges and Schools) for this very problem. They almost lost accreditation.
If it's Kiffin or Hugh Freeze, the boosters are still holding Auburn hostage and nothing will change. It didn't change when they finally won that national championship in 2010.
They need deion to get russaw and Smith and Bain and ausberry and the dream defensive class with so many openings with graduation and offensive line guaranteed playing time so just watch what happens if they get deion or freeze or kiffin especially deion
Here's the problems, if you look at the 2021 class for Auburn, you see a pretty legit team that could run for a conference title or even get a 10 win. Then there's no reason to fire Gus at that point, but it will upset the fan and the booster... So... Here we are.
raise your child to be that guy,that never worrys about seeing the field,because he out works every body else,there are a few that will be able to bump past them with pure God given Talent!!But that Talent is rare
Auburn expects a Lincoln Riley USC one season turnaround miracle. It won't happen. Auburn will be a dumpster fire for another 3+ years minimum. On Harsin mis-treating players then I want to know who and what because why did this never happen in Boise during all the years he was there? Personally, I'm going to enjoy Auburns future anguish.
As somebody who graduated this past May, I can tell you that the majority of Auburn fans (even on Twitter) don't expect us to compete for the SEC West within a year. We do however expect a coach to be near the top in recruiting rankings and not flop so hard on in-state recruiting. Just as an example, we lost out on a 4-star legacy player because the staff didn't court him essentially at all but Bama did so he's going there instead. It will definitely not be a dumpster fire for the next 3+ years unless we make a bad hire lol. You're delusional or extremely biased against Auburn if you believe that. Piss-poor coaching and the dysfunction within the program is the only thing that will likely keep this team from going to a bowl game this year. A couple of good transfer and recruiting classes will have Auburn back to being a top 2-3 program in the West within a few years. I agree that Harsin likely wasn't mistreating players. A good friend of mine was roommates with a current player last year and the guy didn't have anything bad to say about Harsin's treatment of players. Only that he was tough but fair. Let me guess, you're an Arkansas fan?
@Jacob Dewey Perhaps I am delusional as you suggest. I will say I'm not extremely biased against Auburn. Fact is, Auburn had a good hire in Harsin and I became somewhat of a fan because of that. What got in Harsins way is what you folks call, Auburn being Auburn. That doesn't change with Harsins departure. In fact, it will be worse than ever. So you can believe Auburn will be a viable contender in a year or two but in my opinion you're the delusional one. And if you haven't figured out where my team support lies, it's not Arkansas. Take a closer look at the profile photo. Best of luck to you.
@@SurfCityBill I now see that you're a Boise fan, my apologies. I couldn't make it out clearly before. Harsin may have been a good coach for you guys but the fact of the matter is that he just hasn't cut it while he's been here. His recruiting has been pathetic quite frankly and the product on the field has also been lacking. We've lost 9 of our last 10 P5 games and are likely to miss a bowl game this year. We have looked progressively worse the longer he's been here. Auburn was due for a down year or two but not this bad and his recruiting isn't nearly enough to make up for it. I don't think that we will be contending for the national championship within a year, but I do think we have the potential to be back within the top 3 in the SEC West within a couple of years if we hire the right coach.
@Jacob Dewey I can't argue with you on win-lose or recruiting results. Obviously any coach coming from out of the area is going to be at a disadvantage in local recruiting. So your new AD better hire closer to home. The thing is Harsin and Boise St have always had to rely on Power 5 "leftovers" to field a team. A few 3 Stars, maybe 1 4 Star, and never, ever a 5 Star. Yet Harsin and his coaches develop those players into ranked teams year in and year out. No, Boise State will not be Alabama or Georgia. Certainly not on $4M a year from the Mountain West vs SEC money. Point is, Harsin, given a real chance, not harassed by the boosters almost immediately might have been successful. We'll never know. So I do empathize with the casual fan but I will enjoy thinking of those rich boosters freaking out over every lose.
I love it when whiny, spoiled brat SEC fans lose their coach, which creates year after year of sucking due to lack of patience. Keep it up SEC fans! It happened at Tennessee and I loved watching it. They got lucky with Josh Heupel.
Couldn’t blame them for stepping into a job with the most fertile recruiting grounds in the country? Having the opportunity to compete against the best of the best? Walking into a fresh start with a new ad and new President? A brand new 900 million dollar football facility? And NIL collective with 14 mil and counting? Massive support from a passionate fan base? The opportunity to have championship seasons? Yeah ok
You should ask Derek Mason. He won't admit it, but he warned of these problems as he was leaving, taking a $400k pay cut to get away from Harsin. Auburn should take the gloves off and release all the details of what allegations had been made. Harsin is the worst coach in Auburn history and that is fact. He doesn't recruit and is lazy.
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Thank you for this segment on Auburn. It was fair and informative. You hit the nail on the head concerning the boosters. The new AD must be allowed autonomy to do his job. If you love Auburn, Auburn will love you back. Make the right hire and the sky is the limit. Thank you for doing such a great job of reporting anytime you discuss Auburn and actually all of college football.
War Eagle!
“I don’t think some of you realize how…. PRIMEd…. the Auburn job is to succeed.”- Josh Pate
Someone please remind me of this in 6 months
I’m here to guarantee you that it will not be Deion .. Deion’s not putting up with that.
More like auburn isnt putting up with deion. Last week he let 2 rappers with violent names lead his team out of the tunnel. Their names are key glock and nle choppa. Auburn isnt mixing auburn with gangster rapper culture. They wont even interview prime.
@@jakepadgett5569 oh my lord give it a break, the excuses you white people make are ludacris. He did that for his players, who are teenagers, that listen to that type of music. If those rappers were in the news for anything violent they wouldn’t be allowed there. NLE Choppa also led the Charlotte Hornets out of their tunnel .. and they are a professional team !
@@jakepadgett5569 Go watch some videos of Coach Sanders running that JSU program. He doesn't take B.S. and keeps those boys on the right path. If his coaching is as good as his leading, he could turn almost any program around.
There were staff complaints as well. Every day Harsin was HC at Auburn the program went backward. Harsin's biggest sin was to alienate most of the High School coaches in Alabama with his aloofness and failure to show them any respect. While Nick Saban, Kirby Smart, and every other HC in the SEC were in the stands showing love to top high school recruits, Brian Harsin was in the stands watching his kid play. Recruiting was an inconvenience to him. These are the same complaints he had at Boise St. One might also notice Auburn's absolute failure to make half-time adjustments in games they were competitive in the first half and got blown out in the second half. The investigation had no impact on his on the field coaching decisions. There were other issues with his staff as well including the revolving door of assistant coaches. Why isn't anyone talking about that? Why did so many leave or get fired only to be replaced by Harsin's Boise St. cronies? The investigation was handled very poorly. It started out simple enough, but then some of the powerful boosters got involved and saw their chance to possibly fire Harsin for cause. That is when everything went public and this investigation now overshadows the fact that Harsin is a bad recruiter, a bad on the field coach, a bad program manager, and a disaterous choice for the Auburn HC job.
You’re repeating what the AU beat reporters (as he mentioned) all said. Put names, dates, location etc. just like he suggested. I’m not sure why this is still a topic? He’s gone!
@@suzmik Actually I have my own sources, but they all agree. It's not hard to pick out Harsin at an Auburn High football game or find an Alabama high school football coach that has a negative story to tell about him. It is still a topic because people like Josh Pate and Pete Thamel are still talking about it. I don't have my own Auburn TH-cam channel or POD cast so your comment should be directed at Pate and the rest of those guys, not me. I'm just trying to add some balance to what is being reported.
@@mysticwanderer4787 fair enough!
No doubt Auburn is in a wonderful position for a rockstar hire if they can only get out of their own way....
If you can fix the offensive line to be average and help your QB with competent play calling you’re looking at top three in the west
Harsin failed Auburn yes, but Auburn also failed Harsin. I truly think he will go somewhere else and have success. When the school that employs you tries and fails to fire you before the season even begins, goodluck telling a recruit that you have a plan to develop his skills and put him in a position to have a career in the NFL. How can you keep your locker room together when the players know what everyone knows, that your coach is a dead man walking. I'm sure there are plenty of Auburn fans that couldn't care less, but I feel bad for the guy.
I am a forty year Auburn fan and alumni. My father went to Auburn as well. You say a LOT of truth my good man. It was not a good hire to begin with and they had buyers remorse immediately! I personally believe they fired Gus too soon. He was a winner and they just got impatient. I pray you are correct about our potential to be a power house program again. Auburn has the beautiful campus the amazing stadium and now some of the best football exclusive facilities in the nation. They are primed and ready if they will just knock this hire out of the park and get the hell out the man's way. Thank you Josh for the insight.
I fully agree.
My FIL is a Auburn alumni. He recently said the boosters are the problem. I can't remember the name but according to my FIL, there is a very wealthy booster spoiling things for the Auburn football program. You guys need a coach to come in with a stipulation in their contract that as Auburn's head coach they run the program. Not the boosters and the Athletic Directors. With a three year guarantee, there will be no threats of being replaced for three full seasons, in an effort to get the program heading in the right direction.
Of course, to do such a thing, it will require Auburn to recruit the right guy for the job. Making it a long shot, with the environment that the University of Auburn has created for themselves in recent years. With multi million dollar buy out contracts having to be paid, with nothing to show for it.
I believe Josh the biggest worry was how he treated Mason & Bobo? Their exit interviews opened the flood gates.
Gus Malzahn got fired from Auburn and went to UCF and is doing a good job there... Auburn burns to be equal to or better than Alabama and seethes when they aren't... not many coaches are up to that kind of pressure.
Aubrun is to Alabama what Texas A&M is to Texas. The kid brother occasionally has a good day despite having the world at his tips but is a complete mess. No organization, no leadership, a terrible administration, and just unreal bad decisions all the time.
exactly, it's sad. These are good coaches, the outside noise needs to stfu and let these coaches do there job.
“And it’s 2022”. So true Mr. Pate.
"theres nothing in the way of auburn except auburn" well ain't that the fucking truth
The Harsin experiment was bad enough to teach everyone a lesson. We are about to take off!
Heard there's a good coach at UCF. They should give him a look. 🤣
Pate nails this exactly 100%. I still think Harsin is a good coach and at minimum deserves an OC job at a prominent P5 team.
Word I hear is that at Auburn HC’s are handicapped in doing what they want because of the Booster’s controlling and threatening of money.
I would hire Deion Sanders. At the very least he will bring in recruits and challenge Saban for them.
lol yea bring in Prime Time 😂
Yeah, the same coach who is more concerned about promoting himself than the school or players he coaches.
Even the back of his clothing typically promotes his Twitter.
So you’re saying you want a jimbo 2.0? How is that working for texas am?
Well, you guys have fired everyone prior, so what is another one?
🤡🤡🤡
Nah. Living here in MS and having seen John Cohen in the last several years, he's nothing but a yes man to the money. I went to school at Auburn some 4 decades ago and it was the same then as it is now. The big money boosters have way too much say there, and don't care what the rules, any rules, are.
Josh is the goat. Best college football show around. After the second time referring to Pete Thamel I had to tap out though lol. Could give 2 shits what that clown says about Auburn.
Nobody gets in the way of Auburn the way Auburn does. I can only hope bluer skies are coming and I can go back to actually enjoying Auburn (and College) football again. Thanks for the spot-on take, Josh!
You missed a huge piece not mentioning Derrick Mason’s exit interview that prompted the investigation
Other than that, great segment
Auburn's administration is terrible
I wouldn't touch the auburn job with a 20' pole. They have been crazy there ever sense Pat Die retired. No problem getting recruits there, but other issues always seem to get in the way.
It’s a high pressure job but tell me a job in SEC west that isn’t? When you have your rival schools Georgia and tide there’s no question AU pressure to win goes up but so does the pay and so does the play. I happen to believe that the whole booster thing is blown out of proportion and it’s now just something people throw around loosely without any merit. Has AU had issues with boosters meddling? Yes. But that has been mainly in the past and not so much recently. They didn’t have anything to do with hiring harsin as it was AU AD Greene who made the hire. They have influence yes but show me a program who has the money like AU that doesn’t?
the boosters wanted kevin steele and were very upset. I could see them meddling to hasten Harsin's exit
@@catheferguson5479 well right now AU has a new administration so the old president and AD are gone and it was president roberts who fired harsin recently to clear the stage for newly hired cohen AD to arrive and calm the waters and make a solid hire
@@successful_manager3837 I get that, but maybe the Board of Trustees need an audit of their land grants to keep them busy until the new guy is hired
Most Excellent Analysis.
I want to know why Austin Davis backed out
This is what I want to hear someone in media say: "Stop hiring coaches to initial 5 and 6 year contracts. Hire them to 2-3, tell them "prove yourself and get extended."
Or, let the coaches finish those deals. $37 million for two buyouts plus whatever they pay the new guy is just ridiculous.
Pate is smarter than most football analyst
You point out the investigation was started because of players complaining? You and Thamel both left out that Derrick Mason the former DC made some comments about harsin and left the program for a job paying less. That with what some other players were saying forced the university to look into it. Some of that internet rumor stuff came out later and was unfortunate. However, harsin didn’t help himself and sat on a beach in Mexico while this thing was raging. Maybe he should have flown back and answer the questions sooner?
My inside sources tell me that Gus Malzahn is at the top of Auburn’s list of potential candidates, due to his familiarity with the SEC and his involvement in Auburn’s 2010 title win and their 2013 title appearance.
Sources tell me so far he is looking like the favorite for the job.
😭😭
You brain is dead
Why would a Miss State guy want to bring in someone with ole miss ties?
Let’s say Auburn ignored the February incident.. the national media would have slammed Auburn for disregarding claims made by student athletes citing racism and abuse. As it stands they didn’t ignore those claims and they are still slammed for “meddling”. You said it yourself that there’s a separate narrative between national and local media. Really wish you would have also read from a local piece (247 does a great job) about some of horror stories of this staff.
Could you link to those? I’d love to read them
Prime time baby. Give him 3 years there and it’s a playoff birth.
🤣🤣🤣
Josh Pate, if he would have beaten Alabama last year he would still be the head coach 🏈 of Auburn University. Any coach must beat his rival. Beating your rival keeps you employed short of any major scandal (Hugh Freeze Ole Miss🤦😒)
Excellent analysis! Let’s hope against hope that TBTB will finally get out of their own way.
Auburn should go out and get Gary Patterson, they should've got him long ago before Malzahn. He's now at Texas as a defensive analyst and why Texas defense gave Alabama a good game. He's done good with lesser teams and would be a stable coach to bring back Auburn and better defenses like Auburn is used to having.
So spot on. War Eagle
Let me put things in perspective here. Kiffin is their first choice before the AD even set foot on campus. So who is picking the coach?
Better personnel decisions must be made (in a nutshell)
One word.... Inevitable. Harsin was done wrong, Auburn scorched their own Earth to get rid of him then complained at the fruit that was produced.
I hear what you are saying but IMO something was going on for, what was it, 17 players to transfer to different schools. IDT it was just players riding the bench that has issues with Harsin. I’m not even an Auburn fan, but I believe they never should have hired a MW coach that had no ties with the SEC to begin with. I’m sure the boosters were annoying bc they hated the hire which was done by the last AD and had nothing to do with the boosters. I think there is issues on both sides, but BH needed to go. I just hope they get a better coach this time around, they should have kept Gus, but if they want to have a chance at Natty’s again and not just once every 5 years they would have to hire someone who has been proven to do that & the only person that meets that criteria and is available is Urban. I don’t see UM coming there nor them hiring him though. The next person would be Lane, he hasn’t won any as a HC but he has potential. Deon, IMO, doesn’t have the resume yet to coach in the SEC. Hugh Freeze is decent, but just bc he beat Saban twice doesn’t mean too much when he hasn’t won any championships. Gus beat Nick more and actually won championships and they got rid of him. Then there is Matt Rhule who IDT would be a good hire bc, again, no ties to the SEC. The only choice I can see that makes sense and is realistic is Lane. They might as well hire Gus back before hiring any of the others bc Gus has a better championship record.
I agree with most of what you say...but Urban cant come to Auburn. We're nice, hospitable and genuinely sweet people but we are also uppity (ask Bama). Urban would not fit because of his character. Freeze is getting his 2nd chance for academic and ncaa violations, let him continue at Liberty. I don't know why the kids want Lane, they thought Gus was mediocre. Deion can recruit but he is trying to change the narrative for HBCU, let him finish his mission. We need Pat Dye, Vince Dooley or even a Bobby Bowden like old man who is really in charge, tells the boosters when to step off, makes the student-athlete be a student. Someone we could build a statue for 20 years from now. Is that asking too much?
@@catheferguson5479 IDT it’s asking too much, that’s what everyone wants. The issue is I do not see any of those type of coaches available besides UM and ur right no way would Auburn hire him. When you are having to compete against Saban (the GOAT), Smart, and now Heupel it’s hard to find a coach that can do that year in and out successfully. Right now Kiffin is the closest thing to it & he’s still young enough to get better & better. He is very limited at Ole Miss bc they don’t have the money & resources AU, AL, GA, LSU etc. has. Yet, even with that he’s done an amazing job at Ole Miss. With the right resources I hate to say it bc I am a Bama fan, but I could see him beating us. It’s just his 3rd year and right now he’s 8-1 in the SEC west and hopefully we will beat them so I could see it being 12-2 at the end of the season, maybe 13-2 if they win their bowl game. He has ties to the SEC, they call him the portal king for a reason. All the coaches you named were great coaches in their day but college football has changed so much since then with the portal and NIL deals that I think even Saban is struggling to adapt. Who do you think could be the next person like the ones you named that would be willing to come to Auburn? Lane, IMO, is your best shot. In fact if Saban ever retired I wanted Lane for Bama, but I know Auburn needs someone who can turn things around fast. I just don’t think there is anyone else that is available that can do that, besides UM and we both know that’s not happening. Also Prime time might end up being an amazing SEC coach but the thing is Auburn can’t afford to take the risk in case it doesn’t pan out.
Through all of this, there has been a void in the presidency at Auburn. Now Chris Roberts is in place as President. He is well respected and I feel he will change the narrative concerning JABA. John Cohen seems to be his own man but as all Programs needs the boosters financial help, I believe he, in conjunction with Chris Roberts, can temper booster involvement in the program as it has been in the past. It appears most people think these boosters wake up in the morning wanting to be involved in the football program. I disagree. I think they would be very content in having a football coach that is control of his program as they could sit in their suites watching the scoreboard light up with wins. A whole less on their plate if that happens. This big issue of course, is getting the right coach hired. Bottom line!! I love the channel. Keep up the good work.👍
It might be underrated, but no way am I going to work for that university with its gross boosters. Auburn is a joke for what they didn't to this man in the off-season and I hope they end up with a Dooley-Zook type of hire that sets them back 10 years. It would serve them all right if they were placed on probation, barred from bowl games, and lost scholarships. That is the treatment that the university deserves.
Very well said Josh per usual! As an Auburn alum/fan I’m very excited for the future of the program but the elephant in the room is the boosters need to take a seat and let the AD, coaches & players do their jobs & boosters must remain on the sideline. I think this next coach hire should take its time in the process and not listen to the outside noise. The resources are their for success, but we need to be smart with how we operate this program. War Eagle!
I'm an Auburn Graduate and Fan and i think that until the Booster money gets out of the program we will not be successful. Its true that Harsin was doing great until he benched Bo Nix last year and the Boosters got all butt hurt about it.
Welcome back to the SEC Bobby Petrino
Sooooo Derek Mason’s exit interview where all of this came from was just sour grapes? Ok bud. Thamel’s source was Harsin. The man did absolutely nothing to show that he deserved this position at all. He should have been fired in February. 5-7 is totally unacceptable at AU.
Because...Auburn!
It’s one of the worst jobs in America. Little brother to bama but fan base thinks their bama and expects bama results. The town of Auburn is absolutely nothing to write home about. And your in the SEC West. They should’ve kept Gus
Little brother to Bama? Unless you’re a Bama fan, your team likely doesn’t have as many wins against Bama in the last 10 years..
You are delusional. Worst job in America? Lmfao
@@TheDiddlingDiddler thag would be auburn
Read this after i posted my comment. I could not agree more.
On the subject of Lane Kiffin, if Auburn is a town with "nothing to write home about" then Oxford is an absolute shithole.
Coach Prime is the man to turn Auburn around quickly ! U get a seasoned 5 star Qb along with the best recruiter in America. He comes with a solid staff of veteran coaches. Win win situation…..
I almost hope Sanders gets the job bc then folks will realize it’s more about “flash” and being “turnt up”. The P5-especially in the SEC-is about the grind, about doing things behind the scenes that nobody ever sees. Not sure Sanders is cut from that cloth.
Auburn is definitely the most high risk/ reward job. If you are a good football coach you can win a natty if not you will get fired in 2 years
Malzahn never won a natty and was there for 8... same with tuberville not sure where u pulled that nonsense from lol
@@dangerousdylan6262 they didn’t play the same Georgia team and the booster situation wasn’t as bad. It is a completely different ballgame now then back then
The great thing about Auburn, just go work there for two years, they fire you, and you get a really nice pay day
Auburn has to change thier way of thinking.
Deion Sanders would change the landscape of Auburn. Star power recruiting coaching staff and connections and that Deion Sanders fan base💰.
First of all there’s a lot of truth in what your saying I’m a life long fan of auburn WDE with that being said the decisions being made on the plains makes me scratch my head/ bang my head against the wall. It’s as bad as I’ve ever seen it. I sure hope they get it right with this new coach because we want be down for long!! War Dam Eagle
How many Florida fans are shitting their pants about Napier right now?
Josh awesome show as always first time commenter. You produce best cfb product out there. Would Prime time, be an option without big school experience seems like his brand would boost recruiting and short term excitement immediately. Just thoughts from a Hog fan. Thanks man. Woo pig.
I'd love to see kiffen or freeze. I should'nt because I'm a Hog fan. But I do. Love to see AU "do up" to their potential.
your wish has been granted!
If there were allegations by other coaches, they HAD to investigate!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Please........
Most Auburn fans(including me) don't demand we beat Saban and UGA evrery year. I just can't watch a team that blows 20 point leads against LSU and looks like a badly coached team against Missouri.
How about a hiring Zach Kittley to get QB's and passing game to not look like a 1989 Junior High school team?
With the history of the powers that be at Auburn ,any coach who takes that job has to be on his last hail Mary of coaching. A new young coach will be eaten alive !
Either Matt Rhule or Deion Sanders
Alabama stands in the way. Look at the success Tubbs had when the NCAA used to put programs on actual probation, "staring down the barrel of a gun"... At least now they can pay a once in a lifetime college QB without hiding it.
I’m praying that this isn’t false hope
The pod system will change the scheduling
I think Auburn fans would be happy with a 10-3/ 9-4 season where their only losses are to a certain combo of Georgia, Bama, LSU, Ole Miss or Tennessee at this point. Along with a bowl game win against a 9-3/8-4 ACC or PAC 12 team. No offense Auburn fans I just don’t see y’all beating the top 3-4 teams in the SEC, BIG 10, or BIG 12 for a long time.
Why would the fambly patriarchs allow Cohen’s situation to be different from that of Greene?
Josh, I can't stand Pete Thamel. But I love your segment.
The more I listen to this guy the more i like him
No Auburn head coach has left the job and gone on to bigger and better things. That's to say, no one has moved on to the NFL or to a bigger college program. They've all been fired, retired, or had their contract violated and walked with severance pay.
The reason for this is Auburn has a long history of wealthy boosters thinking they know best how to run a football program. It was always there, just below the surface, but anyone who has followed the program for a while knows the truth. Look at 2003 with JetGate or 2008 with JetGate II (which gave us 5-19 Gene Chizik). Look at the ouster of Malzahn in 2020 when the boosters allegedly conspired with Kevin Steele to remove Malzahn. Look at the way Harsin was treated before he even coached a single game.
Auburn could be a great job, but in the words of Brett Venable, who turned down the job, "it scares me." He wasn't talking about recruiting or the schedule, mind you ... he was talking about the toxic environment.
And no, Prime Time isn't the answer and I very much doubt he'd risk his promising career at such a dead-end job like Auburn.
Get ready for a long period of irrelevancy, as the boosters have won complete and full control over the program. I don't believe it for a minute that the new AD will be anything more than a figurehead while the boosters exert complete shadow control over the program.
he was a "yes man" at MSU, why should he change now
Prime to Auburn would be great. What a train wreck
Hugh Freeze at Auburn is the hire for me
Why would you leave Liberty for Auburn? No upside in taking the job
Players getting a coach fired sounds familiar if you’re a lsu
Fan , we still haven’t heard who the players were and probably never will , I’m guessing somebody put them up to it at both places, something like this also ruined Missouri program that had a helleva lot of momentum the first couple of years in the sec 🤷🏽♂️ I
Say it every chance I get, I think there’s a really good possibility that people are sabotaging football programs for one reason or another, maybe they don’t like
The coach or maybe they don’t want the competition in recruiting but something is going on, I just follow the sec so I’m not sure if it’s happened anywhere else
It wasn’t just the players that sparked the investigation, Derrick mason’s exit interview was largely what made auburn look into things
When the rubber hits the road = Yellowwood!
I don’t see that this job is any harder than Arkansas. You play Bama and LSU every year and your fan base expects 9-3 and 10-2 every year and thinks you should play for the SEC every 4 years.
With the resources that Auburn has, 9-3 every year is not unreasonable. This is especially true in years where we get Bama and UGA at home. What are your expectations for Arkansas every year?
Auburn will not reach it's full program potential until the boosters are only boosters and coaches are turned loose to coach. At one point not long ago, the AU system was in trouble with what is now AdvancEd (the old Southern Association of Colleges and Schools) for this very problem. They almost lost accreditation.
wasn't that over 40 years ago?
If it's Kiffin or Hugh Freeze, the boosters are still holding Auburn hostage and nothing will change. It didn't change when they finally won that national championship in 2010.
They need deion to get russaw and Smith and Bain and ausberry and the dream defensive class with so many openings with graduation and offensive line guaranteed playing time so just watch what happens if they get deion or freeze or kiffin especially deion
Josh looking back, should Gus have been fired?
Like calling Abu Ghraib the most underrated prison.
They should have given Gus at least one more year.
Here's the problems, if you look at the 2021 class for Auburn, you see a pretty legit team that could run for a conference title or even get a 10 win. Then there's no reason to fire Gus at that point, but it will upset the fan and the booster... So... Here we are.
Gus was a competitive sob , I’m not a auburn fan but I liked Gus
Yea I’m an LSU guy but I like Gus and he could beat anyone any day
@@sonytoprano5183 Hell, he JUST defeated Cincinnati!
@@copocopocopocopo yezzir, I need to watch one of their games soon. Kinda like him at UCF
Coach Prime coming to town
can we stop talking about february
If they hire coach Prime they will have the coach they have been looking for. God Bless
Auburn was already broken BEFORE Harsin even arrived so it's totally not ALL his fault
Prime isn’t getting it. Malzahn is enjoying where he is at. Why go back to a place where the bossters run the show?
Is the Auburn AD gone too?
They FAILED on the John Cohen hire. Worst AD @ Mississippi State EVER!!!!
raise your child to be that guy,that never worrys about seeing the field,because he out works every body else,there are a few that will be able to bump past them with pure God given Talent!!But that Talent is rare
He never stood a chance.
Auburn expects a Lincoln Riley USC one season turnaround miracle. It won't happen. Auburn will be a dumpster fire for another 3+ years minimum. On Harsin mis-treating players then I want to know who and what because why did this never happen in Boise during all the years he was there? Personally, I'm going to enjoy Auburns future anguish.
As somebody who graduated this past May, I can tell you that the majority of Auburn fans (even on Twitter) don't expect us to compete for the SEC West within a year. We do however expect a coach to be near the top in recruiting rankings and not flop so hard on in-state recruiting. Just as an example, we lost out on a 4-star legacy player because the staff didn't court him essentially at all but Bama did so he's going there instead. It will definitely not be a dumpster fire for the next 3+ years unless we make a bad hire lol. You're delusional or extremely biased against Auburn if you believe that. Piss-poor coaching and the dysfunction within the program is the only thing that will likely keep this team from going to a bowl game this year. A couple of good transfer and recruiting classes will have Auburn back to being a top 2-3 program in the West within a few years.
I agree that Harsin likely wasn't mistreating players. A good friend of mine was roommates with a current player last year and the guy didn't have anything bad to say about Harsin's treatment of players. Only that he was tough but fair.
Let me guess, you're an Arkansas fan?
@Jacob Dewey Perhaps I am delusional as you suggest. I will say I'm not extremely biased against Auburn. Fact is, Auburn had a good hire in Harsin and I became somewhat of a fan because of that. What got in Harsins way is what you folks call, Auburn being Auburn. That doesn't change with Harsins departure. In fact, it will be worse than ever. So you can believe Auburn will be a viable contender in a year or two but in my opinion you're the delusional one. And if you haven't figured out where my team support lies, it's not Arkansas. Take a closer look at the profile photo. Best of luck to you.
@@SurfCityBill I now see that you're a Boise fan, my apologies. I couldn't make it out clearly before.
Harsin may have been a good coach for you guys but the fact of the matter is that he just hasn't cut it while he's been here. His recruiting has been pathetic quite frankly and the product on the field has also been lacking. We've lost 9 of our last 10 P5 games and are likely to miss a bowl game this year. We have looked progressively worse the longer he's been here. Auburn was due for a down year or two but not this bad and his recruiting isn't nearly enough to make up for it. I don't think that we will be contending for the national championship within a year, but I do think we have the potential to be back within the top 3 in the SEC West within a couple of years if we hire the right coach.
@Jacob Dewey I can't argue with you on win-lose or recruiting results. Obviously any coach coming from out of the area is going to be at a disadvantage in local recruiting. So your new AD better hire closer to home. The thing is Harsin and Boise St have always had to rely on Power 5 "leftovers" to field a team. A few 3 Stars, maybe 1 4 Star, and never, ever a 5 Star. Yet Harsin and his coaches develop those players into ranked teams year in and year out. No, Boise State will not be Alabama or Georgia. Certainly not on $4M a year from the Mountain West vs SEC money. Point is, Harsin, given a real chance, not harassed by the boosters almost immediately might have been successful. We'll never know. So I do empathize with the casual fan but I will enjoy thinking of those rich boosters freaking out over every lose.
Auburn wins a championship every 50 years … so they have a few more years to go
Auburn has hired fewer coaches than Florida and the same number as LSU.
Josh most of the time you're right however you thought this guy was a good hire
oh lawdy the scoops
Bobby Petrino will be the next head coach he's so easy to fire why would they not hiring
I love it when whiny, spoiled brat SEC fans lose their coach, which creates year after year of sucking due to lack of patience. Keep it up SEC fans! It happened at Tennessee and I loved watching it. They got lucky with Josh Heupel.
Y'all got the same haircut💈
Any slightly above average coach is going to want a Jimbo deal before stepping into that steaming pile. You couldn't blame them, either.
Couldn’t blame them for stepping into a job with the most fertile recruiting grounds in the country? Having the opportunity to compete against the best of the best? Walking into a fresh start with a new ad and new President? A brand new 900 million dollar football facility? And NIL collective with 14 mil and counting? Massive support from a passionate fan base? The opportunity to have championship seasons? Yeah ok
That is a $91.9 million facility for football. Get the numbers right on that.
@@jimbarber9414 lol I didn’t mean to say 900
@@jimbarber9414 900 mil would be about equal to the GDP of France 😂
Give kiffin 8 or 9 billion dollars and a 8 year contract and he might think about it!!
He's at 7.5 million at Ole Miss now. I doubt he would come for less than 13 to 15 million.
You should ask Derek Mason. He won't admit it, but he warned of these problems as he was leaving, taking a $400k pay cut to get away from Harsin. Auburn should take the gloves off and release all the details of what allegations had been made. Harsin is the worst coach in Auburn history and that is fact. He doesn't recruit and is lazy.