Speculation mounts on Gus Malzahn's hiring at historic college football program

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Malzahn is a fixture of college football over the last few decades. Of course, he most famously coached Auburn for eight seasons and led them to a national championship runner-up. Since, he coached at UCF for four seasons (2021-24) before accepting a job as the offensive coordinator at Florida State. That career path doesn't strike you as one that's on track for another major head coaching position, but just the other day, Malzahn reportedly interviewed for the open Arkansas job.

That made his comments Sunday evening very interesting. After an announcement was made Sunday that Florida State head coach Mike Norvell would return for 2026, Malzahn and defensive coordinator Tony White spoke to media Sunday evening on behalf of the 5-6 Seminole team, who face Florida in the upcoming regular season finale. One reporter was bold enough to ask the FSU offensive coordinator point-blank whether he plans to stick with Norvell and the program beyond this season. His answer:

"Yeah," Malzahn said as his eyes darted around the room in front of him. "Yeah, I mean, my intent is to help us get bowl eligible and win this game, and that's exactly what my focus is."

That's not exactly an affirmative yes answer, but it's some sort of yes nonetheless. For certain, though, it's not the sort of yes that makes you think, for one second, that Malzahn is locked in. Not that he should be, either. We're talking about the longtime head coach of the Auburn Tigers who is a current coordinator for a program staring down the barrel of consecutive missed bowl games. If Malzahn has an opportunity to head up the Arkansas program, well, he probably ought to do it.

After all, Malzahn is deeply connected to Arkansas. He played for the Razorback program for a stint back in the 1980s before transferring to Henderson State in Arkadelphia to finish out his career. He even began his coaching career by working at three different high schools in Arkansas before finally making the jump to Arkansas offensive coordinator in 2006. He also made his first jump to head coach at Arkansas State back in 2012, but hasn't stopped back to coach in the Land of Opportunity since accepting the Auburn job.

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