Morning dawg brethren...
Well its the offseason and now that signing day is behind us, the next milestone is spring practice. But let's be honest: it's a long way off from fall football.
I figure a little chatter about the chaos ensuing on the plains right now with Bryan Harsin absolutely losing control of the ship might bring some warmth to our winter cold sweeping the nation right now. What are the facts? Well, we really don't know at this point. There's a standing haze of smoke around Auburn's football program but no one seems to have found the fire creating it just yet. Lots of very bizarre things happening: Derek Mason leaves as defensive coordinator and makes a lateral move to Oklahoma State [many would call this a step down from an SEC coordinator job], then after firing Mike Bobo as OC, they hire Austin Davis from the Seahawks, who changes his mind and decides to resign the position before ever setting up an office inside the football HQ. And then there are the allegations of Harsin's marital infidelity with his "special assistant to the head coach" Clesi Crochet who he dragged along from Boise State to place as his right hand wo-man for day-to-day affairs (no pun intended). Whether or not that's true, I have no idea. For the sake of Harsin and his family, I truly hope it is not. Also for the sake of his players, I hope it is not true, because a head coach should show character and leadership for the young men entrusted to his care & guidance.
Now you have former players speaking out with statements like this: “All the issues in the (Auburn) program have to do with the head coach,” one person told The Advertiser. “He treated players and coaches poorly. He couldn’t empathize with players. He wasn’t genuine. And he ran off many of his best players.” The person described Harsin's program as "toxic" and "dysfunctional."Now, on Friday, Auburn President Jay Gogue said during a board of trustees meeting,
"There’s been a lot of rumors and a lot of allegations made about our football program, and I just want you to know that we’re involved and trying to separate fact from fiction and we’ll keep you posted and make the appropriate decisions at the right time."
At this stage it seems abundantly clear that Harsin has lost not just the team, but the program itself. They have had 21 transfers out of the program, and apparently Auburn had no signings on national signing day? You're headed into spring with no offense coordinator, a brandy-new DC who hasn't recruited anyone, and a college President announcing you are under the microscope? How does he survive this? I don't see anyway he does.
This is quite a dumpster fire smoldering on the plains.
