2022-23 Coaching Search Thread

[Zeek 16,660]

Updated  11/10/2022

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Lane Kiffin - I still believe he is the favorite to win the job if you're having to put money on a candidate. Ole Miss can't get him a contract longer than 4 years which makes their lives a lot harder. Let's say we wanted to give him $70m over 7 years; Ole Miss would then have to give Kiffin $17.5m annually to match that figure. Nick Saban only gets 9.9m this year for some context. Many believe that Kiffin would have the fastest turnaround out of any candidate mentioned. The fear of him leaving seems a little silly to me considering that in the history of Auburn football a head coach has never left for a better job. A more logical concern is that his high school recruiting has been a little unimpressive at Ole Miss. I do think it's fair to defend that by looking at what Kiffin has done with the portal and the players they have recruited (Judkins and their two freshman starting OTs have been stellar). Those that want Kiffin need Alabama to win this week and keep the Rebels out of the SEC Championship Game. 

Top Candidates

Dan Lanning - currently the head coach at Oregon, he is only 36 years old and has absolutely skyrocketed up from his starting point. Kirby Smart said he was the best recruiter he has ever had at Georgia. Oregon is currently vying for a playoff spot and their offense has been fun to watch. Known as a defensive mind, it is a little interesting that Oregon's defense hasn't been playing a little better than they are. Some "football minds" believe this really might be our best fit and smartest option. He is a name that won't click with regular recruits off the bat. Still, he has been around the successful programs and should know the blueprint. If he makes the playoffs that would truly throw off the timing of the process.

Hugh Freeze - his wins over BYU and Arkansas are impressive. Especially considering Liberty is on their fourth quarterback after a string of injuries this season. I think he would recruit consistently in the top 10 here but I'm not sure what the actual ceiling would be for him. There are some critiques about his baggage and even his coaching career (Kiffin has debatably done better at Ole Miss than Freeze ever did). One way or another, Freeze knows ball and would get Auburn to being at least respectable. We know that had Auburn made a change in February it would have been to Freeze who is likely the cheapest option and one you can get the earliest.

In Consideration & Likely to be Interviewed

Deion Sanders - the reality is he is a high reward/high risk candidate in the eyes of those that matter. He could be phenomenal for Auburn but the jump from an HBCU to the SEC West is absolutely massive. Another concern is that he has really had much better coaches and players than his competition. How would he do when his team is less talented? How would he interact with the PTB at Auburn? Would he embrace Auburn and the culture? My take is that he would (at the very least) improve the talent on our roster and bring a boat load of excitement and PR to the program. He will get a very serious look.

Mark Stoops - I will start with why he is in consideration before giving my thoughts. He has taken a cellar-dweller program and made them pretty competitive in the East. They play pretty consistently and he has managed to recruit and evaluate pretty well at a school where it's tough to bring in talent. He is respected and well known among coaching circles and among players as well. That being said, I think he harshly tanked his stock this season with a tough loss to Ole Miss, embarrassing loss to South Carolina, and then an absolute skull dragging by Tennessee. Will Levis has looked pedestrian after having a tremendous amount of preseason hype. Not a fan of this even being an option and honestly Stoops is currently under one of the best contracts in sports.

Jeff Grimes - well respected in coaching circles, knows and loves Auburn, affordable, and could likely leave very soon if announced as the guy. Could be the best candidate to repair our offensive line problems. Still, it's a little unknown how he would recruit and I think he wouldn't exactly excite the fanbase. Still if you're looking for long term consistency he might be the best option. His lack of head coaching experience and age could be a bit of a concern too.

Mike Leach - it annoys me that he is this high in the tiers. Cohen likes Leach and has been floating his name to gauge reactions. The board made it pretty clear that they're not fans of the idea. I do believe he will get an interview at the very least and I feel somewhat reassured that Cohen said "what works at Mississippi State might not work for Auburn."

Matt Rhule - he is one of president Roberts' favorite candidates. So it is likely he at least gets an interview and a look. I don't think he makes sense for Auburn right now. Though he rebuilt a Baylor that was in shambles and is still viewed as a solid offensive mind with name recognition. Recruiting and coaching in the SEC is very different (as we saw with Bryan Harsin).

Outside Shot if Auburn Feels Like Getting Weird

Sonny Dykes - maybe I am being a little pessimistic on his chances but he doesn't meet a lot of the criteria that I believe we need. He is doing really well at TCU this season but overall he is only (79-63) as a head coach. His offense has looked dynamic but he doesn't have a lot of connections to the southeast recruiting grounds. He is a hot name right now and Auburn will evaluate him.

Dave Aranda- I don't understand the specifics of why Aranda isn't higher on the list. From what I understand he is a little bit quirky and Baylor is letting him be himself and they seem very content together. It might be a non-starter but Auburn is definitely doing their due diligence.

Lance Leipold - no connections to the southeast is a concern but holy crap that dude has made Kansas solid. That is no small accomplishment. Buffalo also looked nice under him. It's a shame he didn't get bigger opportunities sooner considering he is already 58.

Mike Elko - similar to Leipold it is clear that he can coach with how Duke is looking this year. Yet again it is a guy with very little connections to the southeast, I think that it would be a very unlikely hire.

Clay Helton - I don't think Auburn is this dumb but his name has been floated out there so I'll address it. He played at Auburn and was the head coach at USC. Now he is at Georgia Southern. Don't see the reasoning but he is worth mentioning if Auburn goes full JABA.

Joe Whitt Jr. - has coached at Auburn, Louisville, Atlanta Falcons, Green Bay Packers, and the Dallas Cowboys. He is only 44 and pretty well respected. It would be a very outside of the box hire and recruiting would be a bit of a question. He knows football and has a great energy. Went to high school in Auburn as well so it would be a great story if it somehow worked out for Auburn.

*BONUS NAMES*

Auburn isn't stupid but they're putting feelers out there for all kinds of top tier coaches as well. With a situation like Brian Kelly a lot of people never thought a coach would leave Notre Dame for a program like LSU. So names like Ryan Day, Dabo Swinney, Luke Fickell and many more will receive feelers to see if the possibility is even there. I don't think we see any of them materialize but it really sounds like we are wide open on this search.

[WarTim 3,459]

It’ll be Freeze or Kiffin. JMHO 

[W.E.D 11,070]

6 minutes ago, Zeek said:

Let's see how many pages this bad boy will reach.

Considering we're a solid 6 weeks out, gonna go 150.

 

[Hank2020 3,229]

1 minute ago, WarTim said:

It’ll be Freeze or Kiffin. JMHO 

Freeze-less money, greater risk

Kiffin-more money, less risk

[JBiGGiE 2,488]

2 minutes ago, Zeek said:

Let's see how many pages this bad boy will reach.

Currently, according to ON3 the hot board includes:

1. Lane Kiffin - allegedly Cohen's #1 choice
2. Matt Rhule
3. Deion Sanders
4. Hugh Freeze
5. Jeff Grimes
6. Mark Stoops
7. Charles Kelly

Lane and Freeze is just low hanging fruit. We'd be crazy to buyout Lane for as much as he costs and Freeze has been campaigning hard since 2018.

Personally I think the list should go:

1. Andy Reid

2a. Deion Sanders

2b. Jeff Grimes

3. Matt Rhule

4. Dave Clawson 

5. Jamey Chadwell 

[Viper 3,148]

9 minutes ago, Zeek said:

Deion Sanders

[AuCivilEng1 11,081]

So none of those guys. It’s never the hot board names. 

[gravejd 3,280]

I like #2, #3, and #5 in that list. 

I don't think we can pull Kiffen and i hope we don't throw stupid money at him like 10mil a year. He's good but he ain't "that" good. 

Freeze hell no he is a sleeze. 

Marks Stoop would not be a bad hire but nothing to get excited about. 

Charles Kelly has no connections to South and i think connection to South will be important after how poorly Harsin did. 

My 2 cents

[shuebru 39]

With the speed of the official word on Cohen to the firing of Harsin, maybe we can keep that speed going and have coach before this thread reaches 300 pages.  

[W.E.D 11,070]

3 minutes ago, Hank2020 said:

Freeze-less money, greater risk

Kiffin-more money, less risk

Don't think Freeze is really going to be much cheaper since he makes 5mm now. 7mm vs 9mm?

[WarEagle1983 2,185]

4 minutes ago, W.E.D said:

Considering we're a solid 6 weeks out, gonna go 150.

 

I'll take the OVER on that. 

[aubiefifty 17,470]

why would  rhule lose millions from his buy out if he takes a job this quick? does anyone know? i saw that but i rarely keep up with the pro's.

[WarEagle1983 2,185]

8 minutes ago, gravejd said:

I like #2, #3, and #5 in that list. 

I don't think we can pull Kiffen and i hope we don't throw stupid money at him like 10mil a year. He's good but he ain't "that" good. 

Freeze hell no he is a sleeze. 

Marks Stoop would not be a bad hire but nothing to get excited about. 

Charles Kelly has no connections to South and i think connection to South will be important after how poorly Harsin did. 

My 2 cents

I don't understand why people think we can't get Kiffen. I don't think we have to drastically over pay to get him. Let him run it his way and support him with NIL should be an easy sell. It's Ole Miss we're talking about. Even with the playoffs opening up, Ole Miss is not a contender to win a championship. Lane has built Ole Miss primarily through the portal. They're not winning any big recruiting battles. That opens up at Auburn for him and he has a real shot to beat the midget. Ole Miss is not some great spot to retire for someone like Lane. Auburn is a top 15 job in CFB. Unless Lane is waiting for a bigger/better program to open up....AU is several steps above Ole Miss. We constantly dismiss the Miss schools but now we feel like we can't steal a coach from them?

Edited October 31, 2022 by WarEagle1983

[cctiger 572]

10 minutes ago, gravejd said:

Charles Kelly has no connections to South and i think connection to South will be important after how poorly Harsin did

Kelly is from Ozark, Al. Played for Coach Dye, and was the DC or DB coach for Fla.St. when they won the NC in 2013. Just saying, he's from the south. This is not a "plug" for him on my part.

Edited October 31, 2022 by cctiger

[Viper 3,148]

11 minutes ago, JBiGGiE said:

Andy Reid

[Barnacle 9,064]

I wish Dan Lanning were getting more traction. Big buyout, I know, but I think he would be the best option on the board. 

[ShocksMyBrain 9,401]

4 minutes ago, aubiefifty said:

why would  rhule lose millions from his buy out if he takes a job this quick? does anyone know? i saw that but i rarely keep up with the pro's.

Maybe so he can do what he loves instead of sitting on the couch. 

[e808 3,028]

I still like Freeze as the number 1 guy and Kiffin as #2. Deion would create immediate buzz but I just don’t see him making a jump. IMO he might be open to listen but he is going to get so much backlash if he left now. He still has work to do regarding the HBCU and it’s not like he needs the money 

[JBiGGiE 2,488]

Just now, Viper said:

Just swinging for the fences 😅

[AUINSY 2,228]

9 minutes ago, WarEagle1983 said:

I don't understand why people think we can't get Kiffen. I don't think we have to drastically over pay to get him. Let him run it his way and support him with NIL should be an easy sell. It's Ole Miss we're talking about. Even with the playoffs opening up, Ole Miss is not a contender to win a championship. Lane has built Ole Miss primarily through the portal. They're not winning any big recruiting battles. That opens up at Auburn for him and he has a real shot to beat the midget. Ole Miss is not some great spot to retire for someone like Lane. Auburn is a top 15 job in CFB. Unless Lane is waiting for a bigger/better program to open up....AU is several steps above Ole Miss. We constantly dismiss the Miss schools but now we feel like we can't steal a coach from them?

exactly. we already stole their AD. let's just be the state of Mississippi's arch-nemesis and take the other one's head ball coach. regardless, it looks/sounds like Lane, Prime Time, and Freeze are serious candidates, so I'd say chances are high we take a head coach who is/was from the state.

Edited October 31, 2022 by AUINSY

[Viper 3,148]

1 minute ago, JBiGGiE said:

Just swinging for the fences 😅

Does he get to bring Mahomes with him?

[TigerHorn 1,357]

My list, FWIW

1. Grimes

2. Deion (1a if not for the health concerns)

Big gap

3. Rhule, Stoops, Moncken, or some random guy none of us are looking at. 

Lane is the one guy I don't want. 

Edited October 31, 2022 by TigerHorn

[fasttimes 356]

aside from rhule, who i don't think is a serious candidate, we won;t know about any of these until after the season.

[cole256 17,084]

As far as our football team being relevant again it's Sanders but I'm sure we'll make the wrong decision and anyone else will take at least a decade in making us a top ten program but the prototypical auburn fan demographic will be happy and extremely lenient and aggressive to the mediocre results over that span. 

That's my prediction

[AUinMS9528 1,086]