Some folks here are really excited about Harsin and it seems to be based on some really good offenses at Boise. That is valid but it was also 15 years ago and under an offensive head coach who has had good offenses without Harsin. After Boise OC, this is Harsin's career:

• co-OC at Texas 2011-2012. Weird that he took a co-OC job. In 2011 Texas had a losing conf record and had the 3rd lowest scoring offense in the B12. In 2012 Texas went 5-4 in conf and had the 4th lowest scoring offense in the B12. Not great.
• 2013 he took over as HC at Ark St. The year before he took over, Ark St won their conference and had the highest scoring offense in their conference. In his year as HC they finished tied for 1st and the offense was 5th (out of 8). Not great.
• 2014 - 2020 he was HC of Boise. They did well, regularly finishing near or at the top of their conference in record and scoring. This is good.
• 2021-2022 he was HC at Auburn. The prior 2 years were 2020 (covid year) where Auburn finished 6-4 in conf with a middle of the pack offense and 2019 where they finished #14 in the country with the #3 scoring offense in the SEC. In 2021 Auburn went 3-5 with the 3rd worst offense in the SEC. In 2022 Auburn went 2-6 with the 4th worst offense. Not good.
• He was unemployed for a couple years. Not a great sign.

To me, this looks like he did great whenever he was at Boise and not so great whenever he left Boise. The one time he was an OC at a power conference school was as co-OC at Texas and that didn't go very well. It was also over a decade ago so perhaps he's improved.

There's not really a track record of taking over something in bad shape and making it good. There is a track record of taking over something in great shape with lots of advantages over the competition and keeping it great. That's unfortunately not the situation he's walking into here.

Yes, a lot of us are lukewarm on the hire overall but understand that he is the most qualified OC Wilcox has ever had and can get.

Fans of programs at his previous stops say he's a competent schemer and game day playcaller but a non-recruiter and an aggravating personality. Good thing OC demands more of the former and less of the latter.

We've been an average at best program with a coach nearing the end of his contract and fighting for another extension. It's not a great situation for OCs looking at us from the outside. Can you name any better candidates Wilcox was likely to attract?

Harsin was just "fine" as OC at Texas. He was hamstrung by a poor roster of QBs (David Ash - who played well but had concussions, and Case McCoy who was severely limited).

concernedparent said:

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Yes, a lot of us are lukewarm on the hire overall but understand that he is the most qualified OC Wilcox has ever had and can get.

Fans of programs at his previous stops say he's a competent schemer and game day playcaller but a non-recruiter and an aggravating personality. Good thing OC demands more of the former and less of the latter.

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Competent isn't good enough. We have average to below average talent. If we have average to below average coaching in addition to that then how do we get above average results? Just hope for really good luck? I mean, the schedule is some good luck so hope that we get a bunch of flukey turnovers and win close games all year?

Harsin is also not the most qualified OC Wilcox has had. I think Spavital is more qualified personally. Unless by "qualified" you mean "strength of prior relationship with Wilcox" in which case sure. If qualified means "has succeeded in a situation similar to the one he's entering" then no. In any case, comparing to prior Wilcox hires is way too low a bar.

Hiring the Mark Fox of offensive coordinators because he's qualified doesn't seem like a good approach to turning things around. The right approach is to clean house but if we're insisting on being dumb and sticking with Wilcox we could at least try at the coordinator level. Go find some young up and comer at a lower level that's doing great things and hasn't gotten their chance at a major program yet. Like Mark Fox was supposed to be, this feels like a high floor low ceiling hire. We need a high ceiling.

boredom said:

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Some folks here are really excited about Harsin and it seems to be based on some really good offenses at Boise. That is valid but it was also 15 years ago and under an offensive head coach who has had good offenses without Harsin. After Boise OC, this is Harsin's career:

• co-OC at Texas 2011-2012. Weird that he took a co-OC job. In 2011 Texas had a losing conf record and had the 3rd lowest scoring offense in the B12. In 2012 Texas went 5-4 in conf and had the 4th lowest scoring offense in the B12. Not great.
• 2013 he took over as HC at Ark St. The year before he took over, Ark St won their conference and had the highest scoring offense in their conference. In his year as HC they finished tied for 1st and the offense was 5th (out of 8). Not great.
• 2014 - 2020 he was HC of Boise. They did well, regularly finishing near or at the top of their conference in record and scoring. This is good.
• 2021-2022 he was HC at Auburn. The prior 2 years were 2020 (covid year) where Auburn finished 6-4 in conf with a middle of the pack offense and 2019 where they finished #14 in the country with the #3 scoring offense in the SEC. In 2021 Auburn went 3-5 with the 3rd worst offense in the SEC. In 2022 Auburn went 2-6 with the 4th worst offense. Not good.
• He was unemployed for a couple years. Not a great sign.

To me, this looks like he did great whenever he was at Boise and not so great whenever he left Boise. The one time he was an OC at a power conference school was as co-OC at Texas and that didn't go very well. It was also over a decade ago so perhaps he's improved.

There's not really a track record of taking over something in bad shape and making it good. There is a track record of taking over something in great shape with lots of advantages over the competition and keeping it great. That's unfortunately not the situation he's walking into here.

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Auburn was his outlier. Terrible support from the AD (the AD that hired him was fired within months of hiring Harsin because Harsin was deemed "and 'outsider', and "not one of our own") and from the influential Auburn donor community. And his prolific tenure as HC at Boise was not "20 years ago", as you conveniently, and disingenuously, tried to 'disappear' it from his resume. It was only 4 yrs ago, man. And he's stated on podcasts that he's had HC feelers and offers during his time away, but 'decided' take a break to be with family, and to be present for his son's senior yr of HS fb and to mentor him through the recruiting process. He likely would not have taken this OC position had it not been Wilcox - his friend and former colleague - who was reaching out. He undoubtedly could've done better.

Pittstop said:

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boredom said:

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Some folks here are really excited about Harsin and it seems to be based on some really good offenses at Boise. That is valid but it was also 15 years ago and under an offensive head coach who has had good offenses without Harsin. After Boise OC, this is Harsin's career:

• co-OC at Texas 2011-2012. Weird that he took a co-OC job. In 2011 Texas had a losing conf record and had the 3rd lowest scoring offense in the B12. In 2012 Texas went 5-4 in conf and had the 4th lowest scoring offense in the B12. Not great.
• 2013 he took over as HC at Ark St. The year before he took over, Ark St won their conference and had the highest scoring offense in their conference. In his year as HC they finished tied for 1st and the offense was 5th (out of 8). Not great.
• 2014 - 2020 he was HC of Boise. They did well, regularly finishing near or at the top of their conference in record and scoring. This is good.
• 2021-2022 he was HC at Auburn. The prior 2 years were 2020 (covid year) where Auburn finished 6-4 in conf with a middle of the pack offense and 2019 where they finished #14 in the country with the #3 scoring offense in the SEC. In 2021 Auburn went 3-5 with the 3rd worst offense in the SEC. In 2022 Auburn went 2-6 with the 4th worst offense. Not good.
• He was unemployed for a couple years. Not a great sign.

To me, this looks like he did great whenever he was at Boise and not so great whenever he left Boise. The one time he was an OC at a power conference school was as co-OC at Texas and that didn't go very well. It was also over a decade ago so perhaps he's improved.

There's not really a track record of taking over something in bad shape and making it good. There is a track record of taking over something in great shape with lots of advantages over the competition and keeping it great. That's unfortunately not the situation he's walking into here.

---

And he's stated on podcasts that he's had HC feelers and offers during his time away, but 'decided' take a break to be with family, and to be present for his son's senior yr of HS fb and to mentor him through the recruiting process. He likely would not have taken this OC position had it not been Wilcox - his friend and former colleague - who was reaching out.

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Have you ever worked in a corporate job in your life? "Leaving a job to spend with family" is almost always code for getting fired, just like "taking a gap year to spend time with family" is code for not getting call backs from interviews but don't want to admit being unemployed and fruitlessly searching

The key difference is that he could be paid millions of dollars not to work.

DoubtfulBear said:

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Have you ever worked in a corporate job in your life? "Leaving a job to spend with family" is almost always code for getting fired, just like "taking a gap year to spend time with family" is code for not getting call backs from interviews but don't want to admit being unemployed and fruitlessly searching

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Cheers ☕️ https://t.co/CHNhU9OqDK

— Bryan Harsin (@CoachHarsin) January 7, 2025

DoubtfulBear said:

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Pittstop said:

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boredom said:

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Some folks here are really excited about Harsin and it seems to be based on some really good offenses at Boise. That is valid but it was also 15 years ago and under an offensive head coach who has had good offenses without Harsin. After Boise OC, this is Harsin's career:

• co-OC at Texas 2011-2012. Weird that he took a co-OC job. In 2011 Texas had a losing conf record and had the 3rd lowest scoring offense in the B12. In 2012 Texas went 5-4 in conf and had the 4th lowest scoring offense in the B12. Not great.
• 2013 he took over as HC at Ark St. The year before he took over, Ark St won their conference and had the highest scoring offense in their conference. In his year as HC they finished tied for 1st and the offense was 5th (out of 8). Not great.
• 2014 - 2020 he was HC of Boise. They did well, regularly finishing near or at the top of their conference in record and scoring. This is good.
• 2021-2022 he was HC at Auburn. The prior 2 years were 2020 (covid year) where Auburn finished 6-4 in conf with a middle of the pack offense and 2019 where they finished #14 in the country with the #3 scoring offense in the SEC. In 2021 Auburn went 3-5 with the 3rd worst offense in the SEC. In 2022 Auburn went 2-6 with the 4th worst offense. Not good.
• He was unemployed for a couple years. Not a great sign.

To me, this looks like he did great whenever he was at Boise and not so great whenever he left Boise. The one time he was an OC at a power conference school was as co-OC at Texas and that didn't go very well. It was also over a decade ago so perhaps he's improved.

There's not really a track record of taking over something in bad shape and making it good. There is a track record of taking over something in great shape with lots of advantages over the competition and keeping it great. That's unfortunately not the situation he's walking into here.

---

And he's stated on podcasts that he's had HC feelers and offers during his time away, but 'decided' take a break to be with family, and to be present for his son's senior yr of HS fb and to mentor him through the recruiting process. He likely would not have taken this OC position had it not been Wilcox - his friend and former colleague - who was reaching out.

---

Have you ever worked in a corporate job in your life? "Leaving a job to spend with family" is almost always code for getting fired, just like "taking a gap year to spend time with family" is code for not getting call backs from interviews but don't want to admit being unemployed and fruitlessly searching

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Um, don't believe there was ever any confusion that he was "fired" from Auburn. They ( the donors & the new AD) were itching to get rid of him from the moment they fired the AD who hired him. It just took them a season and a half to drum up enough outrage. He was fired halfway through his second season at Auburn - with a $15M buyout. He wasn't in any hurry to jump back in right away. He was flush. But, hey, your gnarly, snarly, 'damn the torpedoes', "that's my story, and I'm sticking to it" narrative is fine with me if that's what makes you feel like a boss. Have at it.

Pittstop said:

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boredom said:

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Some folks here are really excited about Harsin and it seems to be based on some really good offenses at Boise. That is valid but it was also 15 years ago and under an offensive head coach who has had good offenses without Harsin. After Boise OC, this is Harsin's career:

• co-OC at Texas 2011-2012. Weird that he took a co-OC job. In 2011 Texas had a losing conf record and had the 3rd lowest scoring offense in the B12. In 2012 Texas went 5-4 in conf and had the 4th lowest scoring offense in the B12. Not great.
• 2013 he took over as HC at Ark St. The year before he took over, Ark St won their conference and had the highest scoring offense in their conference. In his year as HC they finished tied for 1st and the offense was 5th (out of 8). Not great.
• 2014 - 2020 he was HC of Boise. They did well, regularly finishing near or at the top of their conference in record and scoring. This is good.
• 2021-2022 he was HC at Auburn. The prior 2 years were 2020 (covid year) where Auburn finished 6-4 in conf with a middle of the pack offense and 2019 where they finished #14 in the country with the #3 scoring offense in the SEC. In 2021 Auburn went 3-5 with the 3rd worst offense in the SEC. In 2022 Auburn went 2-6 with the 4th worst offense. Not good.
• He was unemployed for a couple years. Not a great sign.

To me, this looks like he did great whenever he was at Boise and not so great whenever he left Boise. The one time he was an OC at a power conference school was as co-OC at Texas and that didn't go very well. It was also over a decade ago so perhaps he's improved.

There's not really a track record of taking over something in bad shape and making it good. There is a track record of taking over something in great shape with lots of advantages over the competition and keeping it great. That's unfortunately not the situation he's walking into here.

---

Auburn was his outlier. Terrible support from the AD (the AD that hired him was fired within months of hiring Harsin because Harsin was deemed "and 'outsider', and "not one of our own") and from the influential Auburn donor community. And his prolific tenure as HC at Boise was not "20 years ago", as you conveniently, and disingenuously, tried to 'disappear' it from his resume. It was only 4 yrs ago, man. And he's stated on podcasts that he's had HC feelers and offers during his time away, but 'decided' take a break to be with family, and to be present for his son's senior yr of HS fb and to mentor him through the recruiting process. He likely would not have taken this OC position had it not been Wilcox - his friend and former colleague - who was reaching out. He undoubtedly could've done better.

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his OC role at Boise was a long time ago (I said 15 years, he was OC at Boise 2006-2010 which is 15+ years ago). His HC job at Boise I included and credit him for. You didn't read the actual post?

His non-Boise offenses at Texas, Auburn, and Ark St were mediocre to bad. His Boise offenses were good. All 3 times he was OC or HC somewhere other than Boise his offenses were in the bottom half of their conference. When he was at Boise his offenses were near the top. Maybe he produces like he's at Boise. Maybe Boise is the outlier. Boise seems to do well with or without him so I'm inclined to believe that Boise is the outlier rather than every other job he's had all being outliers. We'll see.

I'll be honest, I have no idea where the Mark Fox "X's & O's" guru thing came from. I watched his teams at Georgia and they were extremely mediocre in an era where SEC basketball as a whole was extremely mediocre. I was down on that hire from day 1 but I gave it a chance and it was worse than even the most intense pessimist would have predicted.

I see Harsin/Rolovich differently, and very possibly through blue & gold tinted glasses. Idk if it's a home run but the reasons to be excited are that Harsin knows how to coach with Wilcox and has the cachet and track record to be able to override him and avoid internal strife. Rolovich seems to be the X's & O's guy on the staff who will bring the creativity and modernity. The individual position coaches will be responsible for recruiting, Anae is doing a good job, retaining AT was a smart move, Cefalo has promise but is TBD, etc.

So I don't see it as a Fox situation and I do think there's promise there but we'll see next fall. It could very possibly crash & burn and be Wilcox's last year. But I think there's more reason for optimism than pessimism and I think it's very far removed from a Fox-type blunder

DoubtfulBear said:

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Pittstop said:

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boredom said:

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Some folks here are really excited about Harsin and it seems to be based on some really good offenses at Boise. That is valid but it was also 15 years ago and under an offensive head coach who has had good offenses without Harsin. After Boise OC, this is Harsin's career:

• co-OC at Texas 2011-2012. Weird that he took a co-OC job. In 2011 Texas had a losing conf record and had the 3rd lowest scoring offense in the B12. In 2012 Texas went 5-4 in conf and had the 4th lowest scoring offense in the B12. Not great.
• 2013 he took over as HC at Ark St. The year before he took over, Ark St won their conference and had the highest scoring offense in their conference. In his year as HC they finished tied for 1st and the offense was 5th (out of 8). Not great.
• 2014 - 2020 he was HC of Boise. They did well, regularly finishing near or at the top of their conference in record and scoring. This is good.
• 2021-2022 he was HC at Auburn. The prior 2 years were 2020 (covid year) where Auburn finished 6-4 in conf with a middle of the pack offense and 2019 where they finished #14 in the country with the #3 scoring offense in the SEC. In 2021 Auburn went 3-5 with the 3rd worst offense in the SEC. In 2022 Auburn went 2-6 with the 4th worst offense. Not good.
• He was unemployed for a couple years. Not a great sign.

To me, this looks like he did great whenever he was at Boise and not so great whenever he left Boise. The one time he was an OC at a power conference school was as co-OC at Texas and that didn't go very well. It was also over a decade ago so perhaps he's improved.

There's not really a track record of taking over something in bad shape and making it good. There is a track record of taking over something in great shape with lots of advantages over the competition and keeping it great. That's unfortunately not the situation he's walking into here.

---

And he's stated on podcasts that he's had HC feelers and offers during his time away, but 'decided' take a break to be with family, and to be present for his son's senior yr of HS fb and to mentor him through the recruiting process. He likely would not have taken this OC position had it not been Wilcox - his friend and former colleague - who was reaching out.

---

Have you ever worked in a corporate job in your life? "Leaving a job to spend with family" is almost always code for getting fired, just like "taking a gap year to spend time with family" is code for not getting call backs from interviews but don't want to admit being unemployed and fruitlessly searching

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"Taking a gap year", as you so 'snarkily' put it, isn't "code" for jack when you've just deposited a $15M buyout into your bank account. You don't need to stalk interviews when you have that kind of cheese laying around.

Pittstop said:

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DoubtfulBear said:

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Pittstop said:

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boredom said:

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Some folks here are really excited about Harsin and it seems to be based on some really good offenses at Boise. That is valid but it was also 15 years ago and under an offensive head coach who has had good offenses without Harsin. After Boise OC, this is Harsin's career:

• co-OC at Texas 2011-2012. Weird that he took a co-OC job. In 2011 Texas had a losing conf record and had the 3rd lowest scoring offense in the B12. In 2012 Texas went 5-4 in conf and had the 4th lowest scoring offense in the B12. Not great.
• 2013 he took over as HC at Ark St. The year before he took over, Ark St won their conference and had the highest scoring offense in their conference. In his year as HC they finished tied for 1st and the offense was 5th (out of 8). Not great.
• 2014 - 2020 he was HC of Boise. They did well, regularly finishing near or at the top of their conference in record and scoring. This is good.
• 2021-2022 he was HC at Auburn. The prior 2 years were 2020 (covid year) where Auburn finished 6-4 in conf with a middle of the pack offense and 2019 where they finished #14 in the country with the #3 scoring offense in the SEC. In 2021 Auburn went 3-5 with the 3rd worst offense in the SEC. In 2022 Auburn went 2-6 with the 4th worst offense. Not good.
• He was unemployed for a couple years. Not a great sign.

To me, this looks like he did great whenever he was at Boise and not so great whenever he left Boise. The one time he was an OC at a power conference school was as co-OC at Texas and that didn't go very well. It was also over a decade ago so perhaps he's improved.

There's not really a track record of taking over something in bad shape and making it good. There is a track record of taking over something in great shape with lots of advantages over the competition and keeping it great. That's unfortunately not the situation he's walking into here.

---

And he's stated on podcasts that he's had HC feelers and offers during his time away, but 'decided' take a break to be with family, and to be present for his son's senior yr of HS fb and to mentor him through the recruiting process. He likely would not have taken this OC position had it not been Wilcox - his friend and former colleague - who was reaching out.

---

Have you ever worked in a corporate job in your life? "Leaving a job to spend with family" is almost always code for getting fired, just like "taking a gap year to spend time with family" is code for not getting call backs from interviews but don't want to admit being unemployed and fruitlessly searching

---

"Taking a gap year", as you so 'snarkily' put it, isn't "code" for jack when you've just deposited a $15M buyout into your bank account. You don't need to stalk interviews when you have that kind of cheese laying around.

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How many fired coaches just sit on their hands while sitting on their buyout checks? Dan Mullen and Bill Belichick both took on broadcaster roles as they patiently waited for their next role.

Meanwhile no one wanted anything to do with Harsin, which is why it took two years of searching for his old DC to finally reach out. Said DC is now on his 5th OC, and 4th in 4 seasons, and didn't even trust Harsin enough to not hire another coach on playcalling duties at the same time.

DoubtfulBear said:

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Pittstop said:

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DoubtfulBear said:

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Pittstop said:

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boredom said:

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Some folks here are really excited about Harsin and it seems to be based on some really good offenses at Boise. That is valid but it was also 15 years ago and under an offensive head coach who has had good offenses without Harsin. After Boise OC, this is Harsin's career:

• co-OC at Texas 2011-2012. Weird that he took a co-OC job. In 2011 Texas had a losing conf record and had the 3rd lowest scoring offense in the B12. In 2012 Texas went 5-4 in conf and had the 4th lowest scoring offense in the B12. Not great.
• 2013 he took over as HC at Ark St. The year before he took over, Ark St won their conference and had the highest scoring offense in their conference. In his year as HC they finished tied for 1st and the offense was 5th (out of 8). Not great.
• 2014 - 2020 he was HC of Boise. They did well, regularly finishing near or at the top of their conference in record and scoring. This is good.
• 2021-2022 he was HC at Auburn. The prior 2 years were 2020 (covid year) where Auburn finished 6-4 in conf with a middle of the pack offense and 2019 where they finished #14 in the country with the #3 scoring offense in the SEC. In 2021 Auburn went 3-5 with the 3rd worst offense in the SEC. In 2022 Auburn went 2-6 with the 4th worst offense. Not good.
• He was unemployed for a couple years. Not a great sign.

To me, this looks like he did great whenever he was at Boise and not so great whenever he left Boise. The one time he was an OC at a power conference school was as co-OC at Texas and that didn't go very well. It was also over a decade ago so perhaps he's improved.

There's not really a track record of taking over something in bad shape and making it good. There is a track record of taking over something in great shape with lots of advantages over the competition and keeping it great. That's unfortunately not the situation he's walking into here.

---

And he's stated on podcasts that he's had HC feelers and offers during his time away, but 'decided' take a break to be with family, and to be present for his son's senior yr of HS fb and to mentor him through the recruiting process. He likely would not have taken this OC position had it not been Wilcox - his friend and former colleague - who was reaching out.

---

Have you ever worked in a corporate job in your life? "Leaving a job to spend with family" is almost always code for getting fired, just like "taking a gap year to spend time with family" is code for not getting call backs from interviews but don't want to admit being unemployed and fruitlessly searching

---

"Taking a gap year", as you so 'snarkily' put it, isn't "code" for jack when you've just deposited a $15M buyout into your bank account. You don't need to stalk interviews when you have that kind of cheese laying around.

---

How many fired coaches just sit on their hands while sitting on their buyout checks? Dan Mullen and Bill Belichick both took on broadcaster roles as they patiently waited for their next role.

Meanwhile no one wanted anything to do with Harsin, which is why it took two years of searching for his old DC to finally reach out. Said DC is now on his 5th OC, and 4th in 4 seasons, and didn't even trust Harsin enough to not hire another coach on playcalling duties at the same time.

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There aren't enough broadcasting jobs to employ every fired coach. Also, not every coach is cut out to be a broadcaster. Besides, if he's off broadcasting on Saturdays, he wouldn't be around to watch his son's high school games on Friday night, which is something Harsin said he really wanted to do.

You're really reaching hard to justify your bad take at this point.

I personally have real reservations about Harsin. What he ran at Boise worked because they had the best talent in their league. He is more a multiple pro set type and you generally need good personnel for that to work well.

I am hoping that Rolovich gets some real influence in regards to the scheme. His offense is less reliant on having superior talent. But all schemes work better with better personnel.

I do think Harsin is a good football man and capable of adjusting. But he has been out of it for a while. The past 2 years have really changed college football. There is no continuity. Players are very mobile. Rosters turn over at an alarming rate. So offenses have to be tailored to account for that mobility. They become simpler to operate. You do not have the luxury of multiple seasons for players to improve within your scheme. They need to be good to go now by game 1.

You can see teams change literally overnight. Indiana went from 3-9 to 11-1. ASU went from 3-9 to 11-3. FSU went the other way from 13-1 to 2-10. You have to adapt your schemes to fit the personnel. You no longer have the luxury of stacking recruiting classes and building an offense. You need to re create a scheme every Spring and Fall as your roster changes. You can have a base scheme but alter play calls/formations to fit what your personnel in a given year does well.

This is why I am hopeful that Rolovich has influence over the scheme. His offense is less dependent on great personnel.

DoubtfulBear said:

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Pittstop said:

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DoubtfulBear said:

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Pittstop said:

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boredom said:

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Some folks here are really excited about Harsin and it seems to be based on some really good offenses at Boise. That is valid but it was also 15 years ago and under an offensive head coach who has had good offenses without Harsin. After Boise OC, this is Harsin's career:

• co-OC at Texas 2011-2012. Weird that he took a co-OC job. In 2011 Texas had a losing conf record and had the 3rd lowest scoring offense in the B12. In 2012 Texas went 5-4 in conf and had the 4th lowest scoring offense in the B12. Not great.
• 2013 he took over as HC at Ark St. The year before he took over, Ark St won their conference and had the highest scoring offense in their conference. In his year as HC they finished tied for 1st and the offense was 5th (out of 8). Not great.
• 2014 - 2020 he was HC of Boise. They did well, regularly finishing near or at the top of their conference in record and scoring. This is good.
• 2021-2022 he was HC at Auburn. The prior 2 years were 2020 (covid year) where Auburn finished 6-4 in conf with a middle of the pack offense and 2019 where they finished #14 in the country with the #3 scoring offense in the SEC. In 2021 Auburn went 3-5 with the 3rd worst offense in the SEC. In 2022 Auburn went 2-6 with the 4th worst offense. Not good.
• He was unemployed for a couple years. Not a great sign.

To me, this looks like he did great whenever he was at Boise and not so great whenever he left Boise. The one time he was an OC at a power conference school was as co-OC at Texas and that didn't go very well. It was also over a decade ago so perhaps he's improved.

There's not really a track record of taking over something in bad shape and making it good. There is a track record of taking over something in great shape with lots of advantages over the competition and keeping it great. That's unfortunately not the situation he's walking into here.

---

And he's stated on podcasts that he's had HC feelers and offers during his time away, but 'decided' take a break to be with family, and to be present for his son's senior yr of HS fb and to mentor him through the recruiting process. He likely would not have taken this OC position had it not been Wilcox - his friend and former colleague - who was reaching out.

---

Have you ever worked in a corporate job in your life? "Leaving a job to spend with family" is almost always code for getting fired, just like "taking a gap year to spend time with family" is code for not getting call backs from interviews but don't want to admit being unemployed and fruitlessly searching

---

"Taking a gap year", as you so 'snarkily' put it, isn't "code" for jack when you've just deposited a $15M buyout into your bank account. You don't need to stalk interviews when you have that kind of cheese laying around.

---

How many fired coaches just sit on their hands while sitting on their buyout checks? Dan Mullen and Bill Belichick both took on broadcaster roles as they patiently waited for their next role.

Meanwhile no one wanted anything to do with Harsin, which is why it took two years of searching for his old DC to finally reach out. Said DC is now on his 5th OC, and 4th in 4 seasons, and didn't even trust Harsin enough to not hire another coach on playcalling duties at the same time.

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I am pretty sure Mike Vrabel took his buyout and sat on his hands for a year versus broadcasting, and he's one of the hottest coaching names out there.

Some people choose to take time off when they lose their jobs. Some get right back on a horse. Assuming Harsin didn't have an opportunity to work seems unnecessary, especially when his buyout is more money than most people will earn in their lifetime.

adujan said:

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DoubtfulBear said:

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Pittstop said:

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DoubtfulBear said:

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Pittstop said:

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boredom said:

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Some folks here are really excited about Harsin and it seems to be based on some really good offenses at Boise. That is valid but it was also 15 years ago and under an offensive head coach who has had good offenses without Harsin. After Boise OC, this is Harsin's career:

• co-OC at Texas 2011-2012. Weird that he took a co-OC job. In 2011 Texas had a losing conf record and had the 3rd lowest scoring offense in the B12. In 2012 Texas went 5-4 in conf and had the 4th lowest scoring offense in the B12. Not great.
• 2013 he took over as HC at Ark St. The year before he took over, Ark St won their conference and had the highest scoring offense in their conference. In his year as HC they finished tied for 1st and the offense was 5th (out of 8). Not great.
• 2014 - 2020 he was HC of Boise. They did well, regularly finishing near or at the top of their conference in record and scoring. This is good.
• 2021-2022 he was HC at Auburn. The prior 2 years were 2020 (covid year) where Auburn finished 6-4 in conf with a middle of the pack offense and 2019 where they finished #14 in the country with the #3 scoring offense in the SEC. In 2021 Auburn went 3-5 with the 3rd worst offense in the SEC. In 2022 Auburn went 2-6 with the 4th worst offense. Not good.
• He was unemployed for a couple years. Not a great sign.

To me, this looks like he did great whenever he was at Boise and not so great whenever he left Boise. The one time he was an OC at a power conference school was as co-OC at Texas and that didn't go very well. It was also over a decade ago so perhaps he's improved.

There's not really a track record of taking over something in bad shape and making it good. There is a track record of taking over something in great shape with lots of advantages over the competition and keeping it great. That's unfortunately not the situation he's walking into here.

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And he's stated on podcasts that he's had HC feelers and offers during his time away, but 'decided' take a break to be with family, and to be present for his son's senior yr of HS fb and to mentor him through the recruiting process. He likely would not have taken this OC position had it not been Wilcox - his friend and former colleague - who was reaching out.

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Have you ever worked in a corporate job in your life? "Leaving a job to spend with family" is almost always code for getting fired, just like "taking a gap year to spend time with family" is code for not getting call backs from interviews but don't want to admit being unemployed and fruitlessly searching

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"Taking a gap year", as you so 'snarkily' put it, isn't "code" for jack when you've just deposited a $15M buyout into your bank account. You don't need to stalk interviews when you have that kind of cheese laying around.

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How many fired coaches just sit on their hands while sitting on their buyout checks? Dan Mullen and Bill Belichick both took on broadcaster roles as they patiently waited for their next role.

Meanwhile no one wanted anything to do with Harsin, which is why it took two years of searching for his old DC to finally reach out. Said DC is now on his 5th OC, and 4th in 4 seasons, and didn't even trust Harsin enough to not hire another coach on playcalling duties at the same time.

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I am pretty sure Mike Vrabel took his buyout and sat on his hands for a year versus broadcasting, and he's one of the hottest coaching names out there.

Some people choose to take time off when they lose their jobs. Some get right back on a horse. Assuming Harsin didn't have an opportunity to work seems unnecessary, especially when his buyout is more money than most people will earn in their lifetime.

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Mike Vrabel was not working for a whole three months before getting picked up by the Browns. Do some research first.

Eastern Oregon Bear said:

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DoubtfulBear said:

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Pittstop said:

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DoubtfulBear said:

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Pittstop said:

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boredom said:

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Some folks here are really excited about Harsin and it seems to be based on some really good offenses at Boise. That is valid but it was also 15 years ago and under an offensive head coach who has had good offenses without Harsin. After Boise OC, this is Harsin's career:

• co-OC at Texas 2011-2012. Weird that he took a co-OC job. In 2011 Texas had a losing conf record and had the 3rd lowest scoring offense in the B12. In 2012 Texas went 5-4 in conf and had the 4th lowest scoring offense in the B12. Not great.
• 2013 he took over as HC at Ark St. The year before he took over, Ark St won their conference and had the highest scoring offense in their conference. In his year as HC they finished tied for 1st and the offense was 5th (out of 8). Not great.
• 2014 - 2020 he was HC of Boise. They did well, regularly finishing near or at the top of their conference in record and scoring. This is good.
• 2021-2022 he was HC at Auburn. The prior 2 years were 2020 (covid year) where Auburn finished 6-4 in conf with a middle of the pack offense and 2019 where they finished #14 in the country with the #3 scoring offense in the SEC. In 2021 Auburn went 3-5 with the 3rd worst offense in the SEC. In 2022 Auburn went 2-6 with the 4th worst offense. Not good.
• He was unemployed for a couple years. Not a great sign.

To me, this looks like he did great whenever he was at Boise and not so great whenever he left Boise. The one time he was an OC at a power conference school was as co-OC at Texas and that didn't go very well. It was also over a decade ago so perhaps he's improved.

There's not really a track record of taking over something in bad shape and making it good. There is a track record of taking over something in great shape with lots of advantages over the competition and keeping it great. That's unfortunately not the situation he's walking into here.

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And he's stated on podcasts that he's had HC feelers and offers during his time away, but 'decided' take a break to be with family, and to be present for his son's senior yr of HS fb and to mentor him through the recruiting process. He likely would not have taken this OC position had it not been Wilcox - his friend and former colleague - who was reaching out.

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Have you ever worked in a corporate job in your life? "Leaving a job to spend with family" is almost always code for getting fired, just like "taking a gap year to spend time with family" is code for not getting call backs from interviews but don't want to admit being unemployed and fruitlessly searching

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"Taking a gap year", as you so 'snarkily' put it, isn't "code" for jack when you've just deposited a $15M buyout into your bank account. You don't need to stalk interviews when you have that kind of cheese laying around.

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How many fired coaches just sit on their hands while sitting on their buyout checks? Dan Mullen and Bill Belichick both took on broadcaster roles as they patiently waited for their next role.

Meanwhile no one wanted anything to do with Harsin, which is why it took two years of searching for his old DC to finally reach out. Said DC is now on his 5th OC, and 4th in 4 seasons, and didn't even trust Harsin enough to not hire another coach on playcalling duties at the same time.

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There aren't enough broadcasting jobs to employ every fired coach. Also, not every coach is cut out to be a broadcaster. Besides, if he's off broadcasting on Saturdays, he wouldn't be around to watch his son's high school games on Friday night, which is something Harsin said he really wanted to do.

You're really reaching hard to justify your bad take at this point.

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Dan Mullen was also advising for Lake Oconee Academy during his broadcasting career. Why the hell couldn't he watch his son's game on Friday night? Kirk Herbstreit regularly travels cross country to cover Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday games.

Stop making excuses for a coach that clearly had no better options but to be part time playcaller for a losing HC on his 9th season.

DoubtfulBear said:

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Pittstop said:

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DoubtfulBear said:

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Pittstop said:

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boredom said:

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Some folks here are really excited about Harsin and it seems to be based on some really good offenses at Boise. That is valid but it was also 15 years ago and under an offensive head coach who has had good offenses without Harsin. After Boise OC, this is Harsin's career:

• co-OC at Texas 2011-2012. Weird that he took a co-OC job. In 2011 Texas had a losing conf record and had the 3rd lowest scoring offense in the B12. In 2012 Texas went 5-4 in conf and had the 4th lowest scoring offense in the B12. Not great.
• 2013 he took over as HC at Ark St. The year before he took over, Ark St won their conference and had the highest scoring offense in their conference. In his year as HC they finished tied for 1st and the offense was 5th (out of 8). Not great.
• 2014 - 2020 he was HC of Boise. They did well, regularly finishing near or at the top of their conference in record and scoring. This is good.
• 2021-2022 he was HC at Auburn. The prior 2 years were 2020 (covid year) where Auburn finished 6-4 in conf with a middle of the pack offense and 2019 where they finished #14 in the country with the #3 scoring offense in the SEC. In 2021 Auburn went 3-5 with the 3rd worst offense in the SEC. In 2022 Auburn went 2-6 with the 4th worst offense. Not good.
• He was unemployed for a couple years. Not a great sign.

To me, this looks like he did great whenever he was at Boise and not so great whenever he left Boise. The one time he was an OC at a power conference school was as co-OC at Texas and that didn't go very well. It was also over a decade ago so perhaps he's improved.

There's not really a track record of taking over something in bad shape and making it good. There is a track record of taking over something in great shape with lots of advantages over the competition and keeping it great. That's unfortunately not the situation he's walking into here.

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And he's stated on podcasts that he's had HC feelers and offers during his time away, but 'decided' take a break to be with family, and to be present for his son's senior yr of HS fb and to mentor him through the recruiting process. He likely would not have taken this OC position had it not been Wilcox - his friend and former colleague - who was reaching out.

---

Have you ever worked in a corporate job in your life? "Leaving a job to spend with family" is almost always code for getting fired, just like "taking a gap year to spend time with family" is code for not getting call backs from interviews but don't want to admit being unemployed and fruitlessly searching

---

"Taking a gap year", as you so 'snarkily' put it, isn't "code" for jack when you've just deposited a $15M buyout into your bank account. You don't need to stalk interviews when you have that kind of cheese laying around.

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How many fired coaches just sit on their hands while sitting on their buyout checks? Dan Mullen and Bill Belichick both took on broadcaster roles as they patiently waited for their next role.

Meanwhile no one wanted anything to do with Harsin, which is why it took two years of searching for his old DC to finally reach out. Said DC is now on his 5th OC, and 4th in 4 seasons, and didn't even trust Harsin enough to not hire another coach on playcalling duties at the same time.

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Dude, you should quit while you're 'behind'. Sometimes you just gotta figure out when to stop digging.

Let's consider Tim DeRuyter, a great DC at Cal. He had been a successful DC, then went to Fresno St. as HC where he had initial success before he crashed and burned and was fired. Great schematically, not so much with recruiting or getting along with players. We took a step downward when he left, but he went on to a good year at Oregon (though admittedly not so much at Texas Tech). His lack of success as HC did not impair his ability as DC at Cal.

DoubtfulBear said:

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Pittstop said:

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DoubtfulBear said:

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Pittstop said:

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boredom said:

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Some folks here are really excited about Harsin and it seems to be based on some really good offenses at Boise. That is valid but it was also 15 years ago and under an offensive head coach who has had good offenses without Harsin. After Boise OC, this is Harsin's career:

• co-OC at Texas 2011-2012. Weird that he took a co-OC job. In 2011 Texas had a losing conf record and had the 3rd lowest scoring offense in the B12. In 2012 Texas went 5-4 in conf and had the 4th lowest scoring offense in the B12. Not great.
• 2013 he took over as HC at Ark St. The year before he took over, Ark St won their conference and had the highest scoring offense in their conference. In his year as HC they finished tied for 1st and the offense was 5th (out of 8). Not great.
• 2014 - 2020 he was HC of Boise. They did well, regularly finishing near or at the top of their conference in record and scoring. This is good.
• 2021-2022 he was HC at Auburn. The prior 2 years were 2020 (covid year) where Auburn finished 6-4 in conf with a middle of the pack offense and 2019 where they finished #14 in the country with the #3 scoring offense in the SEC. In 2021 Auburn went 3-5 with the 3rd worst offense in the SEC. In 2022 Auburn went 2-6 with the 4th worst offense. Not good.
• He was unemployed for a couple years. Not a great sign.

To me, this looks like he did great whenever he was at Boise and not so great whenever he left Boise. The one time he was an OC at a power conference school was as co-OC at Texas and that didn't go very well. It was also over a decade ago so perhaps he's improved.

There's not really a track record of taking over something in bad shape and making it good. There is a track record of taking over something in great shape with lots of advantages over the competition and keeping it great. That's unfortunately not the situation he's walking into here.

---

And he's stated on podcasts that he's had HC feelers and offers during his time away, but 'decided' take a break to be with family, and to be present for his son's senior yr of HS fb and to mentor him through the recruiting process. He likely would not have taken this OC position had it not been Wilcox - his friend and former colleague - who was reaching out.

---

Have you ever worked in a corporate job in your life? "Leaving a job to spend with family" is almost always code for getting fired, just like "taking a gap year to spend time with family" is code for not getting call backs from interviews but don't want to admit being unemployed and fruitlessly searching

---

"Taking a gap year", as you so 'snarkily' put it, isn't "code" for jack when you've just deposited a $15M buyout into your bank account. You don't need to stalk interviews when you have that kind of cheese laying around.

---

How many fired coaches just sit on their hands while sitting on their buyout checks? Dan Mullen and Bill Belichick both took on broadcaster roles as they patiently waited for their next role.

Meanwhile no one wanted anything to do with Harsin, which is why it took two years of searching for his old DC to finally reach out. Said DC is now on his 5th OC, and 4th in 4 seasons, and didn't even trust Harsin enough to not hire another coach on playcalling duties at the same time.

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And you know for a fact Rolovich is here to meddle into play calling? I'm very sure duties/responsibilities have all been vetted before hires were made. And they will obviously collaborate on certain aspects of the offense. That's what a staff does.

Yes you are reaching.

DoubtfulBear said:

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Pittstop said:

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DoubtfulBear said:

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Pittstop said:

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DoubtfulBear said:

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Pittstop said:

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DoubtfulBear said:

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Pittstop said:

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boredom said:

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Some folks here are really excited about Harsin and it seems to be based on some really good offenses at Boise. That is valid but it was also 15 years ago and under an offensive head coach who has had good offenses without Harsin. After Boise OC, this is Harsin's career:

• co-OC at Texas 2011-2012. Weird that he took a co-OC job. In 2011 Texas had a losing conf record and had the 3rd lowest scoring offense in the B12. In 2012 Texas went 5-4 in conf and had the 4th lowest scoring offense in the B12. Not great.
• 2013 he took over as HC at Ark St. The year before he took over, Ark St won their conference and had the highest scoring offense in their conference. In his year as HC they finished tied for 1st and the offense was 5th (out of 8). Not great.
• 2014 - 2020 he was HC of Boise. They did well, regularly finishing near or at the top of their conference in record and scoring. This is good.
• 2021-2022 he was HC at Auburn. The prior 2 years were 2020 (covid year) where Auburn finished 6-4 in conf with a middle of the pack offense and 2019 where they finished #14 in the country with the #3 scoring offense in the SEC. In 2021 Auburn went 3-5 with the 3rd worst offense in the SEC. In 2022 Auburn went 2-6 with the 4th worst offense. Not good.
• He was unemployed for a couple years. Not a great sign.

To me, this looks like he did great whenever he was at Boise and not so great whenever he left Boise. The one time he was an OC at a power conference school was as co-OC at Texas and that didn't go very well. It was also over a decade ago so perhaps he's improved.

There's not really a track record of taking over something in bad shape and making it good. There is a track record of taking over something in great shape with lots of advantages over the competition and keeping it great. That's unfortunately not the situation he's walking into here.

---

And he's stated on podcasts that he's had HC feelers and offers during his time away, but 'decided' take a break to be with family, and to be present for his son's senior yr of HS fb and to mentor him through the recruiting process. He likely would not have taken this OC position had it not been Wilcox - his friend and former colleague - who was reaching out.

---

Have you ever worked in a corporate job in your life? "Leaving a job to spend with family" is almost always code for getting fired, just like "taking a gap year to spend time with family" is code for not getting call backs from interviews but don't want to admit being unemployed and fruitlessly searching

---

"Taking a gap year", as you so 'snarkily' put it, isn't "code" for jack when you've just deposited a $15M buyout into your bank account. You don't need to stalk interviews when you have that kind of cheese laying around.

---

How many fired coaches just sit on their hands while sitting on their buyout checks? Dan Mullen and Bill Belichick both took on broadcaster roles as they patiently waited for their next role.

Meanwhile no one wanted anything to do with Harsin, which is why it took two years of searching for his old DC to finally reach out. Said DC is now on his 5th OC, and 4th in 4 seasons, and didn't even trust Harsin enough to not hire another coach on playcalling duties at the same time.

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Dude, you should quit while you're 'behind'. Sometimes you just gotta figure out when to stop digging.

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The fact that you can't refute my claim tells me all I need to know about who is "behind" or "digging"

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Not "can't". More that it ceased being worth the effort. A while back.

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Wow, such a great comeback. Little baby can't win an argument so he needs to take his toys and pout back to his mommy

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Getting pretty darn petulant now, aren't you? How old are you by the way?

At every stop in his career except for Arkansas State, Harsin's team scored more points the year he arrived than they did the year before. At three of the five stops (not Ark St or Auburn), the team scored fewer points the year after Harsin left than in his final season. And in many of those cases Harsin is either replacing or being replaced by an excellent coach like Chris Petersen, Gus Malzahn or Blake Anderson.

I have wanted Wilcox fired for over three years but I cannot help but be impressed with the offensive staff he built this offseason. Harsin, Rolovich, Anae and Cefalo. For the first time wince 2021, I have a non-negligible degree of belief in Wilcox being successful here. I'm expecting us to be well-coached on both sides of the ball this season.