Former Auburn Head Coach Gus Malzahn Retires

The former Auburn Tigers head coach calls it a career after one season as FSU's offensive coordinator

The Gus Bus has reached it's final destination | Jake Crandall via Imagn Content Services, LLC

The “Gus Bus,” as it’s become known, seems to have finally reached its final stop. On Monday, Florida State announced that former Auburn Tigers head coach Gus Malzahn is retiring from coaching after one year as their offensive coordinator.

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Malzahn, who coached at Auburn for seven seasons, began his collegiate coaching career as an offensive coordinator at Arkansas in 2006. He then took a job with Tulsa as an assistant head coach/co-offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach, a highly involved position, which he served in from 2007 to 2008. 

After Tulsa, Malzahn’s Auburn journey finally began. He took a position as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach in 2009 under Gene Chizik, and won a BCS National Championship with the Tigers in 2010. Malzahn also earned a Broyles Award in 2010 for his part in cultivating Chizik’s undefeated National Championship team.

In 2012, Malzahn left Auburn to take a job as the head coach of Arkansas State, his first-ever collegiate head coaching position. He didn’t stay for long, though; Auburn had fallen off the wagon in spectacular fashion and was in need of a new head coach, so Malzahn stepped up.

In 2013, he led the Tigers to one of the greatest turnarounds in SEC history, including an SEC Championship win and a BCS National Championship runner-up finish. For that impressive season that included famous moments like the “Kick Six” and the “Prayer In Jordan-Hare,” Malzahn just about swept the board for head coaching awards.

In fact, Malzahn landed himself the Bear Bryant Award, the Bobby Bowden Award, SEC Coach of the Year, Sporting News Coach of the Year, AP Coach of the Year, and many other coach of the year awards from various sources and publications, all for his work in 2013.

From 2013 to 2020 with the Tigers, Malzahn posted a collective 53-27 record, including six consecutive bowl wins. In 2020, Malzahn was removed from the position after a disappointing stretch of seasons, and the saga of disappointing Auburn head coaching began.

From Auburn, Malzahn took a head coaching position at UCF before finishing his career at Florida State in 2025. Malzahn’s retirement will echo across the Auburn community, as he’s one of the more beloved coaches in the history of the program. Without a doubt, few on the Plains will ever forget the “Gus Bus.”