What exactly was everyone expecting in Harsin's first season?

[weagl1 1,793]

Up until halftime of the MSU game I had my hopes up.  After that, not so much.

[bigbird 60,624]

6 hours ago, GwillMac6 said:

We lost 2 games we should of won (south carolina and Miss ST) and we won 2 games most people thought we would lose against better teams in Ole Miss and Arky. It all evened out.  Nothing about this team resembled anything close to a 10-2 team with our obvious weaknesses. 

He knows

[ThurstontheWelshCorgi 576]

I didnt know what to expect other than that we had an extremely capable roster outside of widereceivers..

What I did know was that it was extremely important to have a solid year with a dynamic offense to spring board us in to the future.

 

I did not expect to be 12 out of 14 in the sec recruiting wise which tells you a lot about about the future. This very well could be more of a Tennessee like death spiral and less like a Saban year one kind of thing.

Edited December 6, 2021 by ThurstontheWelshCorgi

[wde21 344]

It just seems like this team has taken a big step back. The total collapse in November and the coach appearing clueless on the sideline. I just feel like the stage is too big for him and he had no idea what SEC football would be like. I guess we will have to see how it plays out but it feels like we have gone from middle of the pack to bottom in one season. I hope I am wrong.

[AURealist 2,185]

I wasn't excited by the Harsin hire or Bobo as OC. 

I expected a rough start to season and to see improvements in discipline and execution as the season progressed.  Was curious to see what happened with recruiting and wondered if Bobo would be canned if the offense didn't click.

That said, if we're not gonna pull a Miami move this season, then Harsin should get his chance to make something of this.  Three years is the absolute minimum and he should get full autonomy to make this his team.  Could be a rough road, but we asked for this by hiring him.

[Hank2020 3,232]

31 minutes ago, wde21 said:

It just seems like this team has taken a big step back. The total collapse in November and the coach appearing clueless on the sideline. I just feel like the stage is too big for him and he had no idea what SEC football would be like. I guess we will have to see how it plays out but it feels like we have gone from middle of the pack to bottom in one season. I hope I am wrong.

I know this is a possible outcome. What we are doing here is outlining what we think are the possible outcomes. I am amazed at how some seem to only accentuate the negatives. There are always some negatives but there are also distinct positives. I believe Harsin is the type coach that will work to improve  the situation. 

[SRBautigerfan 1,040]

44 minutes ago, wde21 said:

I just feel like the stage is too big for him and he had no idea what SEC football would be like. I guess we will have to see how it plays out

 

16 minutes ago, AURealist said:

if we're not gonna pull a Miami move this season, then Harsin should get his chance to make something of this.  Three years is the absolute minimum and he should get full autonomy to make this his team.  Could be a rough road, but we asked for this by hiring him.

This is how I see it also.  Give him the power to have whoever he wants and see what happens.  No excuses if things go sideways after 3 years.  Anyone who thought there wouldn't be a dip in recruiting due to a new staff not familiar with the SEC or the southeast in general is semi-oblivious to the obvious.  But the ineptitude down the stretch resulting in 3 losses in a row is unacceptable.  I know we lost 4 in a row but the team looked much better against the bammers.

[woodford 3,688]

20 minutes ago, AURealist said:

I wasn't excited by the Harsin hire or Bobo as OC. 

I expected a rough start to season and to see improvements in discipline and execution as the season progressed.  Was curious to see what happened with recruiting and wondered if Bobo would be canned if the offense didn't click.

That said, if we're not gonna pull a Miami move this season, then Harsin should get his chance to make something of this.  Three years is the absolute minimum and he should get full autonomy to make this his team.  Could be a rough road, but we asked for this by hiring him.

Like it's been mentioned on here recently, Auburn is about to have a new president and possibly a new AD. There won't be a timeline when that happens. I respect Harsin's background but we have no idea if he actually understands that he has to own the recruiting trail to have a shot in this league. 

If he can't hire a staff that can bring in a top 15-20 class this year and a top 10-15 class next year then we're just spinning our wheels. 

Mark Stoops had several years to build his program because that's Kentucky. They never expected division titles. This is Auburn and we expect to compete for the West every year or at least be competitive doing it. I don't care for our high level boosters or even our culture for that matter because it probably has scared coaches away. Auburn needs to quit d*cking around and swing for the fences in this OC search. We need talent ASAP. We have to be competitive in Athens in 10 months. You have to show recruits there is a bright future with the program.

[McLoofus 35,182]

TL;DR at the top-  We're not where anyone hoped to be here on December 6th, 2021, but there is still reason to believe Harsin can get us there.

*****

Some highly entertaining responses in this thread. Some intelligent ones, also. 

The season was a failure and that's why two coaches got fired. I mean... we fired the offensive coordinator after one year. We fired the WR coach after a few games. That's a big deal. And that's why I have to laugh at the folks already writing Harsin's epitaph. I totally get having concerns- I certainly have them- but... I mean... he fired his offensive coordinator. One year. We might've even fired his son in the process. So are you guys seeing that- and seeing clear, obvious talent deficiencies on our offense at multiple position groups- and checking out? You think that's the finished product? You think we know what Harsin actually wants to do and that's just how it's going to be as long as he's here?

The season was a failure. I mean, entire halves of football where it looked like we were trying to defend and score points against a very different opponent than the one we were actually playing at the time. Some real head scratching stuff. Well, again, looks like we made a major move to address half of that. And the guy who's still here just played better defense against bama than anyone has all year. And he's pulling in some very impressive talent on his side. So maybe we need to just chill on the game day coaching stuff. Especially since, even in a year where he got fired, our OC showed us a more robust, complete offense than we've seen in a decade. Every skill position was put to work. Our receivers ran every route. Our QB actually went through progressions. Hell, he actually had progressions to go through. RB1 went for a grand without anyone actually blocking for him. 

Next year, we can't have that GSU 1st half again. We can't have that MSU 2nd half. We can't have inexplicable play calls in key moments. We can't let PSU set records with their passing game without adjusting. Mason needs to do a better job. Whoever the OC is, he needs to be better than Bobo. And we have to hit on some of the guys we sign in this class, both out of high school and in the portal.

But what do y'all see that tells you those things can't or won't happen?

Full disclosure: Immediately after the IB, I said very different things. I was mad and I'm still mad. Harsin absolutely shoulders blame for that loss. Not all of it, but a lot of it. But it was his first IB and he beat the spread by a massive margin with a backup QB who was on one leg for half the game and an OC who would not be employed 72 hours later. 

 

[SRBautigerfan 1,040]

4 minutes ago, woodford said:

swing for the fences in this OC search

The hard part is knowing who that is.  According to this board and Auburn twitter there isn't a "unanimous" can't-miss OC in the college ranks or NFL.  Every single name I've heard brought forward half love them and the other half hates them.  Some OC are simply good recruiters with the title of OC or it's just the opposite.  It's the damnedest thing I've ever seen.

[bigbird 60,624]

1 hour ago, ThurstontheWelshCorgi said:

I didnt know what to expect other than that we had an extremely capable roster outside of widereceivers..

Probably the 3rd biggest mystery of the off-season.   Saying we had an extremely capable OL or QB loses a lot of credibility

[woodford 3,688]

4 minutes ago, SRBautigerfan said:

The hard part is knowing who that is.  According to this board and Auburn twitter there isn't a "unanimous" can't-miss OC in the college ranks or NFL.  Every single name I've heard brought forward half love them and the other half hates them.  Some OC are simply good recruiters with the title of OC or it's just the opposite.  It's the damnedest thing I've ever seen.

That's a good point and I certainly don't have the answer

[AURealist 2,185]

1 minute ago, woodford said:

Like it's been mentioned on here recently, Auburn is about to have a new president and possibly a new AD. There won't be a timeline when that happens. I respect Harsin's background but we have no idea if he actually understands that he has to own the recruiting trail to have a shot in this league. 

If he can't hire a staff that can bring in a top 15-20 class this year and a top 10-15 class next year then we're just spinning our wheels. 

Mark Stoops had several years to build his program because that's Kentucky. They never expected division titles. This is Auburn and we expect to compete for the West every year or at least be competitive doing it. I don't care for our high level boosters or even our culture for that matter because it probably has scared coaches away. Auburn needs to quit d*cking around and swing for the fences in this OC search. We need talent ASAP. We have to be competitive in Athens in 10 months. You have to show recruits there is a bright future with the program.

I don't disagree with your sentiments - as an Auburn fan.  

To be honest, I don't know what Auburn University wants from its football program. They seem to want a clean program, sure.  Maybe they don't really care about having a championship-level team.  I used to assume that they did, but now, I'm not so sure.  So many decisions they've made are inexplicable if that's the case.

I also once believed that the AU HC job was a dream job for any aspiring coach.  That any sane person would love to live in Auburn.  That Auburn the only reason we couldn't get a great coach was because we just didn't go after them or just didn't want to spend the money. 

But lately I've been thinking that maybe Auburn HC isn't a dream job.  That maybe we can't get the best to consider us.  Maybe we're such pikers and are so bad at negotiation that the big fish don't take our management seriously. 

Maybe we have Harsin now because he's literally the best we could get.  And if that's the case, he's exactly what we deserve.   

[DAG 34,122]

The thing about this staff is I feel like they over think. Some calculations and strategic thinking is good, but we do not have to re-invent the wheel here. The staff is still trying to figure out their identity. The glaring issue is the arms race in the SEC West keeps getting worse. 

[ThurstontheWelshCorgi 576]

3 minutes ago, bigbird said:

Probably the 3rd biggest mystery of the off-season.   Saying we had an extremely capable OL or QB loses a lot of credibility

Senior laden o-line with a freshman of year qb .. Yup we were capable.. Potent running backs one of which broke a thousand yards finally. I think the widereceiving corp was God awful this year and sure, nix isn't the best passer at times

[bigbird 60,624]

6 minutes ago, ThurstontheWelshCorgi said:

Senior laden o-line with a freshman of year qb .. Yup we were capable..

No, on the OL we weren't and haven't been since 2017.

[selias 2,398]

7 minutes ago, ThurstontheWelshCorgi said:

Senior laden o-line

Experienced =/= good

[McLoofus 35,182]

8 minutes ago, ThurstontheWelshCorgi said:

freshman of year qb

It's hard to adequately emphasize how little that has to do with where he is or where he should be relative to his peers two years later. 

[ThurstontheWelshCorgi 576]

5 minutes ago, bigbird said:

No, on the OL we weren't and haven't been since 2017.

I'm willing to walk back the "extremely" capable' part but I do believe we were capable. Oh well

[Gowebb11 9,544]

1 hour ago, wde21 said:

I just feel like the stage is too big for him and he had no idea what SEC football would be like.

Kirby just got blown out by Bama with 19 Five stars on the roster. Our guy took them to 4 OT. He also beat a top 10 Ole Miss team, broke a 20 year losing streak in Baton Rouge, and beat a CFP ranked Arky team on the road. He took us to PSU in front of 107,000 and competed until the clock ran out. So no, the stage is not too big for him. There have been obvious high points and low points and much work is ahead. That much is true. But I’m willing to give him more time and judge him over 3-4 years, not just 1. 

 

 

Edited December 6, 2021 by Gowebb11

[bigbird 60,624]

3 minutes ago, ThurstontheWelshCorgi said:

I'm willing to walk back the "extremely" capable' part but I do believe we were capable. Oh well

Our passpro wasn't bad, it definitely improved but I think that is more of a product of the staff scheming around them.  The run blocking has been atrocious since Kerryon left.  

[McLoofus 35,182]

2 minutes ago, bigbird said:

Our passpro wasn't bad, it definitely improved but I think that is more of a product of the staff scheming around them.  The run blocking has been atrocious since Kerryon left.  

Our pass pro was just adequate enough to expose how bad the WRs were. 

I started the season out on Team OL Isn't THAT Bad but then came around to agreeing with your assessment above. Pass pro and run blocking were very different products. 

[aucanucktiger 1,812]

I thought 10-2, based on Auburn's historically quick, impressive accomplishsments by incoming coaches. Except our O line, the tools were there. Didn't see struggle vs Ga State and collapse by our talented D vs Miss St coming. On a bright note, many quick turnarounds by new Auburn coaches (Dye, Tubs, Chiz) actually took 2 - 3 years. Tator Tot & Malzahn were immediate but let's not get greedy. 🙂 Ask Dan Mullen if that timeframe works now...

[im4aual 489]

I expected better than what we got.  Four of our six losses were due to poor coaching, and we could still end up with a losing season.  Not an acceptable season by any measure.  

[woodford 3,688]

36 minutes ago, ThurstontheWelshCorgi said:

Senior laden o-line with a freshman of year qb .. Yup we were capable.. Potent running backs one of which broke a thousand yards finally. I think the widereceiving corp was God awful this year and sure, nix isn't the best passer at times

My man, age doesn't matter with that group. They are no bueno. End of discussion.