Malzahn: Hot seat ‘just part of this job’

HOOVER | Being the head coach at Auburn and drawing a $7 million salary comes with a lot of expectations.

Gus Malzahn has those same expectations and that’s why he’s not backing down from any claims that he enters his seventh season at Auburn on the proverbial hot seat.

The Tigers finished 8-5 last year and have lost four or more games in each of the last five seasons. Malzahn is 6-13 against Auburn’s biggest rivals: Alabama, Georgia and LSU.

“Yeah, you know, I’ve got a job that expects to win championships. I knew that when I took this job. I love the fact that that’s part of the job description here,” Malzahn said. “In the years you don’t win championships, you hear stuff like this. I guess I’ve been a head coach six years, and four of those year, you hear hot seat this, hot seat that. That’s just part of this job. So I understand that.

“We weren’t happy with the way that we only won eight games last year. I know our players weren’t. We had guys that came back, and like I said earlier, they’re hungry. That’s just part of this job description. I love that fact, and we need to play our best football.”

Auburn ended the season with a 63-14 beatdown of Purdue in the Music Bowl. That momentum and the return of eight players that considered declaring for the 2019 NFL Draft, has Malzahn confident the Tigers can complete for championships this fall.

“I think the fact that we have so many older guys that chose to come back, I think it makes a difference just from our team aspect, how hungry are, how motivated they are. It’s kind of felt that way the whole offseason,” Malzahn said. “I think the fact that we ended the season with a good bowl victory, we played our best game, then the guys excited to come back — I think that momentum has really carried to come back.

“They’re a real hungry team, and I really feel like they have something to prove. There’s been times in the past that I’ve felt like we’ve had teams like that. This year feels no different.”