Auburn Hires Bryan Harsin as Next Head Coach

Tigers have their man, as Harsin leaves the blue turf for the Plains.

The Auburn coaching search is over after nine long days. Auburn has decided Bryan Harsin is the best man to follow Gus Malzahn. Harsin will have the difficult task of replicating and improving upon the standard Malzahn set over the past seven seasons. Harsin comes from Boise State, where he had a 69-19 record. He even added a New Years Six Bowl win in the 2014 Fiesta Bowl. He won the Mountain West Conference 3 times in 2014, 2017, and 2019. Harsin is replacing Gus Malzahn for the second time in his career. He was the head coach for one season at Arkansas State in 2013 after Malzahn’s one year stint as the Red Wolves’ head coach.

Harsin is a Boise, ID native and former Boise State Quarterback from 1995-1999. He is a young, offensive mind at just 44 years old. Harsin spent time as the Offensive Coordinator at Boise from 2006-2010, under Chris Petersen, and Texas from 2011-2012 under Mack Brown before becoming Arkansas State’s head coach. Harsin was the QB coach of Kellen Moore at Boise State, who would become the best QB in BSU history at the end of his career. Harsin has track record of developing QBs, so his arrival could really boost Bo Nix’s career. It is unknown who Harsin will want to hire as assistants at this time. Boise State most recently used a multiple offensive scheme with pro-style concepts and spread offense. Harsin has previously used some no-huddle offense with his Boise State teams. I think this is a good approach for Auburn to use, as the team has not shown the players necessary on offense to run the “hurry up, no-huddle” style Gus Malzahn preferred. Defensively, Harsin’s Broncos base defense has been a 3-3-5 in recent years. Auburn has not run much 3-3-5 in recent years, but of course this is dependent on the defensive coordinator Harsin hires. I will go more in depth on the schemes Auburn will employ when coordinators have been hired.

Subscribe to The Crowded Booth so you don’t miss any updates with local high school and Auburn football.