National football writer doesn't think Auburn would be capable of luring a premiere head football coach
Bryan Harsin is currently the head coach of Auburn football, but it's widely believed that his days are numbered.
Andy Staples, writing a mailbag for The Athletic, was asked about the potential of Auburn to pull a "USC/LSU" and bring in a massive hire for head coach.
Staples responded that while Auburn does fit the description of a "destination job" - "The Tigers can win the national title. They won one in 2010. They played for one in 2013. They won the SEC West in 2017 and beat the two teams that played for the national title in the process. They sit in a recruit-rich area and have money, passion and existing resources." - he doesn't see the ability for Auburn to lure a top-tier head coach at the moment.
"It has been less than two years since current Florida coach Billy Napier (then at Louisiana-Lafayette) and current Oklahoma coach Brent Venables (then Clemson’s defensive coordinator) turned down Auburn. In the intervening months, a cadre of Auburn donors tried to engineer a coup against coach Bryan Harsin. On top of that, Auburn’s two chief rivals probably are the nation’s best two programs."
"So does that seem like the kind of place that would draw a decorated coach away from a secure, high-paying job? And which coach is left in such a position that we’d be as shocked as we were when Riley or Kelly moved?"
He goes on to name top tier head coaches that definitely would not leave their current gigs for Auburn, citing Clemson's Dabo Swinney, Alabama's Nick Saban, Georgia's Kirby Smart, Michigan's Jim Harbaugh, Ohio State's Ryan Day - before ending on one name that could theoretically move: Mark Stoops of Kentucky.
"I suppose Mark Stoops leaving Kentucky would produce a high level of shock, but I doubt he’d leave for Auburn."
Do you think Auburn has the potential to hire a top-tier head coach, and if so, who would it be?
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