Coach Harsin, REALLY...YOU GO TO ESPN TO PLEAD YOUR CASE??? WOW, this message is for Coach Harsin and I pray you to read it. THIS IS ABOUT YOU NOT AUBURN...SO STOP SPINNING IT... If you haven't noticed, being an SEC HEAD COACH is a lot more than X's & O's. I've been a longtime AU booster, on the upper-end. Although that shouldn't matter, WHAT DOES MATTER is YOU ALIENATING AUBURN FOOTBALL...from the players themselves to other coaches on your staff to admin and ancillary staff within the Athletics Department to the most important of all...THE AUBURN FAMILY. In my 40+ years as an AU man, an AU Alumnus, a season ticket holder, a "booster", etc I have NOT HEARD FROM ANYONE that has said you have made a single attempt to connect, build relationships, goodwill, or simply put...YOU HAVE ISOLATED YOURSELF FROM THE AUBURN FAMILY...NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND... Of course, you want to be AU's Coach and not walk considering it would cost you over $20M USD to walk away or to be fired with cause. I pray the rumors that are floating are just that, rumors. But, for you to say you were not given guidelines on how much you could pay an OC is BS and I know that for a fact. You have access to a large piggy bank so to speak and it's your choice how you allocate those funds. Take a page or a chapter from Coach Bruce Pearl...whether he was sincere or not the moment he landed in AU to be announced as our new Head Coach he acted enthusiastically...he went out of his way to engage with the players, with coaches and staffs of the other sport programs, with the AU student body and with THE AUBURN FAMILY. He has experienced success but it took him several years before he reaped what he sowed. He MADE AN EFFORT. By you locking down the AU football program, prohibiting players to speak to the media, prohibiting any assistant coaches from speaking with the media...AND YOU, YOURSELF LOCKING OUT EVERY LOCAL SPORTS MEDIA/BEAT WRITER FROM AU ATHLETICS what do you expect?
AU is not used to losing and seeing not a few players but more than half of our Top 10 Nationally ranked recruiting class depart for other schools, losing coordinators and staff to other schools at the rate you have is alarming. It would be different if these players and coaches were leaving for championship-caliber programs but we are losing players to UCF, Indiana, Ole Miss, Louisiana Lafayette and Coordinators to OKLAHOMA....STATE!!! Why do you finally come out of hiding and speak to ESPN to be your advocate? Do you have any idea the history of them creating or manipulating causing false narratives to become embedded into the minds of recruits and the masses across the country...WHY DID YOU NOT invite the local beat writers and state, regional media to discuss this issue with??? Do you think deflecting blame for AU not having a top 10 recruiting class, losing 5 games in a row when the team had double-digit 4th quarter leads in 4 of those 5 and having some unproven, novice coach be announced as the new AU OC only to have him wait until 2 days before singing day to give AU the middle finger is going to convince anyone to have faith in what you are stating...You do realize you did not land a single recruit during Feb signing period...NOT ONE... including a couple that I know for a fact gave AU "silent verbal commitments" as recently as 3 weeks ago...do you not realize until those kids sign on the dotted line you can not let up...You refused to speak to any local beat writers at the senior bowl only giving a weak press conference where you stated not having an OC was in essence, "no big deal to the QB's...they can just come and talk with me if they have questions followed by you stating IF AU hires an OC that the QB's have no need to be concerned because the OC will follow the plan you have set forth...."other words, regardless who the OC is you are going to dictate the offense...
To some degree, all of this would be digestible if you had earned the right to shun the Auburn Family but you haven't. Now you are trying to spin this like if forces are building against you that it's not your fault...you were hired to coach so let you coach...NO, YOU WERE HIRED AS AUBURN'S HEAD COACH AND PAID MILLIONS... AND THAT JOB IS A LOT MORE THAN X'S & O'S & Jimmy and Joes... If you want to support, respect you should have embraced the Auburn Family, the culture with respect to making an effort to at least act lack you care but I haven't seen it. You are the first coach in my lifetime who has made NO effort to connect... and now after you failed miserably and it's more than a few players not willing to put in the work...or being paid by some NIL deal...YOU SIR SEEM TO HAVE NO CLUE...EVEN NOW...WHAT IT TAKES TO BE A SUCCESSFUL COACH IN THE SEC... I pray that changes and you have a heart to heart talk with the AU powerbrokers because you throwing others under the bus, deflecting responsibility or not taking the blame regardless if you are 100% in the right...doing what you did with Chris Lowe by undermining every media member in Alabama and the AU admin is not and has not caused anyone to pause and think that we were tough on you... If you mean what you say THEN AS YOU SAY COACH HARSIN...STOP WITH THE BULLSH*T AND CHANGE YOUR WAYS OR GET THE HELL OUT BEFORE YOU DESTROY OUR BELOVED PROGRAM.
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