Interesting article on the power struggle over the coaching search on the plains.

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An influential group of Auburn boosters pushed hard for the school to fire Malzahn after eight seasons despite a hefty $21.4 million buyout. They believed Auburn should never have given Malzahn a seven-year, $49 million contract in 2017 and were beyond ready to see a new man leading the program. These powerful boosters quietly solicited support from Board of Trustees members, finally getting the necessary numbers after Auburn lost to Texas A&M on Dec. 5. With Malzahn on the way out, they wanted to quickly promote defensive coordinator Kevin Steele to the permanent position.

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In his sixth year as Auburn’s defensive coordinator, Steele had culled support from those influential boosters over the years and boosted his stock in their eyes through his unit’s strong performance on the field. He “badly wanted the job,” according to a source, and would quickly accept an offer.

The plan was set: Fire Malzahn on Sunday and announce Steele as the next head coach within 48 hours.

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Allen Greene, who was hired as Auburn’s AD in 2018, wasn’t on board with immediately promoting Steele. The former Notre Dame baseball player made clear he wanted a national search that evaluated candidates beyond those only residing in Lee County. The pro-Steele camp was undeterred, however, believing they carried more influence than Greene and would get the coach they wanted.

The Steele plan hit a snag when Auburn president Jay Gogue sided with Greene and created a search committee to evaluate all viable candidates and not only Steele, who was named the interim coach on Sunday.

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There were search committee members initially open to the idea of Steele becoming the head coach, according to sources, but that openness waned after severe public backlash to the prospective hire. Fans launched a “Stop Steele” campaign and pummeled the Auburn administration and search committee members with emails, texts and tweets voicing their displeasure over Steele getting the job after reports he was a serious candidate.

The campaign worked, making it abundantly clear to the key people, including those that thought highly of Steele, that hiring him was no longer viable.

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That didn’t stop powerful Auburn boosters from trying to intimidate Greene and search committee members into hiring Steele, sources told AL.com. The boosters made clear to Greene that if he bucked their wishes and his hire wasn’t successful, they’d make sure to run him out of Auburn. The intimidation plan backfired, though, as it made Gogue even more entrenched behind the need for a proper search.

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