Tuesdays with Gorney: Auburn's candidate list shouldn't be very long
Auburn is looking for a new head coach as Bryan Harsin lasted only 21 games, the shortest tenure for any coach on The Plains since at least 1930. A group of candidates is already emerging and in today’s Tuesdays with Gorney, Rivals national recruiting director Adam Gorney breaks down some of them and makes his pick as to who should be next to coach the Tigers:
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There are some interesting names being thrown around for the Auburn job - and they’ve been mentioned for months since it was clear Harsin wasn’t going to be the long-term answer for the Tigers.
Some I get. One I don’t understand much at all.
Lane Kiffin is rumored to be a top candidate for the job and he would be a phenomenal hire who has now coached in the SEC. He’s done a terrific job at Ole Miss but why would moving to Auburn be an attractive situation for him other than the excitement of rebuilding the program back into national relevance?
Does Kiffin really want to play second fiddle to Nick Saban in his own state? Does he want to deal with those recruiting difficulties where most top players in Alabama want to play for the Crimson Tide?
There have been rumors for years that Kiffin is not entirely enthralled about living in Oxford and that he’s looked at jobs or opportunities back West or elsewhere but moving to Auburn doesn’t scratch that itch at all.
I get why Auburn would be interested but not so much Kiffin, who’s headed for back-to-back 10-win seasons with the Rebels. In comparison, Auburn has won 10 or more games three times in the last 15 years. I get that Auburn has more history and a bigger stadium but would Kiffin give up all he’s built at Ole Miss to start over?
Unless there are extenuating circumstances, doesn’t that feel like a lateral move at best?
Baylor offensive coordinator Jeff Grimes is a very interesting name and has a really intriguing connection to Auburn. The offensive line coach there from 2009-12, Grimes turned down a move to Texas to coach under Mack Brown and stayed with the Tigers. When Gus Malzahn was hired to replace Gene Chizik, Grimes was let go.
This isn’t exactly payback but Grimes has shown a loyalty to Auburn before and coming back as head coach could be fulfilling. Plus, I’ve loved his playcalling acumen at Baylor. It’s inventive and deceptive without feeling like a sideshow. Will the Auburn faithful want someone, though, who’s been an offensive line coach for most of his career and not just a flashy play-caller with a big play sheet stuck in front of his face?
Deion Sanders is an incredibly interesting name and out of anyone on this early list could be the best recruiter for Auburn. If football really is about getting the Jimmys and Joes, and Sanders has resources at the SEC level and there’s NIL backing through collectives, then Coach Prime could put an interesting product on the field.
Former No. 1 prospect Travis Hunter picked Jackson State because he said numerous times he wanted to play for the best cornerback to ever do it. Numerous top prospects have visited Jackson State this season because of Sanders’ cachet and they’ve told me why not play for a Hall of Famer? It’s an intriguing proposition but there are also major risks involved, namely he’s never coached in the Power Five or had expectations nearly at the Auburn level.
Kentucky coach Mark Stoops is an interesting possibility as well. Does he feel like he's reached the apex of what he could do at Kentucky and is looking for another opportunity to rebuild a program and make Auburn a national player again? He's certainly done a phenomenal job with the Wildcats but there's always going to be a sense that he plays second fiddle there especially with coach John Calipari running the Kentucky men's basketball program. That tension bubbled up a little earlier this season.
Stoops is a terrific coach who has two 10-win seasons in Lexington and he'd be an interesting choice at Auburn – a no-nonsense approach but also one where players want to win for him. Is he flashy enough to beat Alabama in recruiting, though, and would the fan base be thrilled by the hire? That's to be determined.
Which brings me to my pick: Hugh Freeze.
What he did at Ole Miss was extraordinary and some of his successes matched or exceeded that of Johnny Vaught (and the stadium in Oxford is partially named after him). In some ways, Freeze taking over at Auburn would mirror his ascendancy at Ole Miss after the ugly end to Houston Nutt’s time there.
Wins were vacated by the NCAA and there was an obviously embarrassing scandal that ended his time in Oxford but on the field, Freeze was a winner. His win totals went up for four of the five years Freeze coached at Ole Miss and peaked at 10 wins in 2015 when the Rebels also won the Sugar Bowl.
Freeze has been phenomenal as Liberty’s coach, winning eight games twice, 10 games once and this season’s team is 7-1 heading into its stretch run.
There are obvious and considerable alleged recruiting improprieties during his time at Ole Miss and an escort service scandal that led to his departure. It’s something that might be too much for Auburn to risk bringing Freeze back into the SEC when this hire is now so important following the Harsin debacle. That’s something for new athletics director John Cohen and the Auburn decision-makers to figure out.
I would argue Freeze has served his penance. It’s time for his vast coaching acumen to be back in the SEC and to rebuild a program that is aching for national relevancy again.