re: Coaching Search Thread

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wouldn’t mind Durkin if he brings top O coordinator

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We are firing Freeze to elevate Durkin?

Rhett Lashlee is laughing at us.

At this point, we bring back Chizik.

I'm not at this point yet.. but just of the fun of it.

My list would be very short and if I couldn't get one of them then I would just keep Freeze and wait. There's no point in making a hire for the 5th choice when they will most likely end up in the same situation. If its not a clear upgrade then its not worth it.

I'd start with Kiffin. I hate the man, but I'd give him whatever he wants. He was basically coming here last time until the last minute.. offer him a little more money and get him in.

Cignetti- Maybe harder with his buyout, but you do what it takes right now. His buyout drops by a million after Nov.

Frankilin. SEC ties, done about all he can do a Penn St. He does have a poor record against ranked teams, but I think his system would fit really well here.

That's my list as of today. I wouldn't go any further down. If you can't get one of them then don't settle for a lesser coach just because its a new name. I'd have Lanning on there, but zero chance we can afford him.

I love how we immediately just fall back into this idiotic logic of "we must hire a name-brand proven coach (who will never leave their current school anyway)" even though this isn't even the path that most of the great programs themselves followed.

Great programs don't hire "proven" head coaches, they identify the next great head coach. Texas, Oregon, Ohio State, Notre Dame, Georgia, Clemson, Oklahoma all have head coaches that were hired as an assistant coach at the time. We could have hired Lanning when we hired Harsin or Kirby when we hired Gus, but we didn't have the balls.

Now we want to hire Cignetti? Go and find the next Curt Cignetti. How did Indiana find him? Cignetti wasn't perceived as what he is today when they hired him.

there’s a name that no one has mentioned yet

- established P4 HC
- winningest HC in history at his current school
- 21-6 in his last 27 games, including multiple wins over ranked teams
- finished top 25 last year, currently ranked this year
- salary towards the bottom of P4
- low buyout ($2 m)
- seems to understand the current situation of NIL, in fact gave up $1 m annually on his recent extension to help fund his current school’s recruiting efforts

only major stumbling block: he would almost certainly want complete control of the program, which probably would eliminate him from consideration

Arkansas just fired Sam Pittman

This is all so stupid.

Who the hell would take the Auburn job?

We fired Gus two seasons removed from a Top 15 finish and and Iron Bowl win, and after a season in which he won 60% of his conference games.

We fired Harsin after 2 seasons and gave him $17 million to go away.

Now you people want to fire Hugh after 3 seasons.

Do you seriously think anyone with a working brain would take this job? We’re stuck with what we have for another couple of seasons.

If we stick with Freeze, we’ll continue to recruit well and lose a bunch of close games as our program very slowly continues to improve.

If we fire Freeze, we will lose more money to buyouts… we’ll hire an even worse option for a HC, only one that doesn’t recruit as well, and we’ll lose games even more lopsidedly.

Take your pick. Those are your options.

Good school. Beautiful campus. Deep talent at every position. NIL backing. Great facilities. In the middle of NFL prospects. There are plenty of reasons.

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we’ll continue to recruit well

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Have you taken a look at this upcoming class?

Unfortunately, it's been 3 years and AU is so inept offensively I see what talent we have on that side of the ball leaving after this season. Like others have said, Hugh now has results that go like "come here as WR and get less than 700 yards a year" and "come here as a RB and get 8 carries in two games".