Harsin on new coordinators

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Harsin on new coordinators for 2022: 'They want to be great'

Jason Caldwell

3-4 minutes

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Late Kick Blitz: Does Auburn have any chance to win 9 games in 2022?

 

ATLANTA, Georgia—Heading into his second season at Auburn, Coach Bryan Harsin feels very good about the changes on his coaching staff with the moves of Jeff Schmedding and Eric Kiesau to coordinator positions along with Roc Bellantoni taking over the special teams. All three were on staff last year with the Tigers with both Schmedding and Kiesau going back with Harsin to his days at Boise State.

That familiarity is important and something that Harsin believes is a big deal for his team. On defense, that means Auburn getting someone to run that show that his coach believes is as good as anyone in the country.

“Jeff Schmedding is one of the best football coaches I have ever coached with,” Harsin said. “I'd like to say I've coached with some really good coaches and been around some great and fantastic people. He knows the game. He prepares himself. One of the best I've ever seen. He's able to articulate the vision and message that he wants to get to the staff and the players.

“He's one of those guys, as a head coach, you don't have to worry about. He's going to get the job done. It's more important to him than it is to me, and you want to be around guys like that.”

With a long background of coaching on offense at both wide receiver and quarterback, Kiesau is very familiar with Harsin’s style of play and what he wants out of an offense. That’s just part of what makes him a strong fit for what Auburn wants to do on offense right now, said Harsin.

“Have known him for a long time,” Harsin said. “Got a great story. We work really well together. I think we mesh well. I think the ideas I have, he has, the staff has, are all going to be implemented into what we do on the offensive side of the ball. He can organize people. He can align people. He can get his vision and message across very clearly.”

Rounding out the new coordinator list is Bellantoni. Auburn’s edge linebackers coach, the veteran will head up the special teams for the Tigers and is someone that Harsin is counting on to carry the message through every facet of the team this fall.

“He's been a head coach before, been around football quite a long time,” Harsin said. “He's one of those guys that knows the position that I'm in, how important that special teams coordinator is to relay the message to the entire football team. That's one of the beauties of your special teams coordinator, he gets the whole entire team.”

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Adding that he has seen the players respond to the coordinators in a big way since the end of last season, Harsin said all that’s left is to carry that over to the field. With his guys leading the way, Harsin is confident that’s the next step at Auburn.

“All three of those guys, I don't worry one bit about what they're doing each and every day and how they're doing it because their jobs are more important to them than it is to me,” Harsin said. “You just want to be surrounded by people like that that are driven and motivated. They want to be the best. They want to be great.”

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