One of the first steps that newly-hired head coach Bryan Harsin will do at Auburn is put together his coaching staff.
Harsin says he’ll spend Christmas with his family and then instantly start formulating his staff for next season.
Though, he definitely won’t have any issues finding guys interested in joining him.
“Let me say this: There is no shortage of interest from coaches that want to be part of this Auburn program. My phone’s been blowing up,” Harsin said. “I haven’t had a chance — I mean, I’ve got a lot of text messages. I haven’t had a chance to get back to all of them. I don’t know who every single one of them is. My number’s out there. They’re reaching out. They’re trying to connect. And I can tell you this: You know I’ve been in other positions before when there’s been opportunities — and not like this.”
As for who Harsin chooses, his goal is to work with athletic director Allen Greene to create a winning staff that can help the players and fit Auburn’s culture.
“Who are going to be the men that are going to come in here and lead these players? And I’m going to work with Allen on that,” Harsin said. “I’m going to work with folks here that have been at Auburn so I can have a better understanding of things, and we’ll start to put together that staff and make sure that the things that we’re doing along the way — we take care of our players as we put together the staff, we communicate with our players so they know what’s going on, and then we will build from there.”
Harsin knows he has to get the right people for Auburn.
“So it's critically important that we get the right people in here,” Harsin said. “It's critically important that we get the right coaches in here. It's critically important that we get coaches in here that understand like I feel right now of what Auburn really stands for, and that they're gonna be able to go into those rooms with those players. Because every one of those coaches will be leading those units. And they have to walk in there with the same type of conviction for our program, and then what it is we do. So we have to find the right people.”
After going through some coaching transition periods himself as a coordinator and as a player at Boise State, Harsin knows it can be difficult.
“I know that they’re all good men. They’ve worked extremely hard. They’re obviously successful. That’s why they’re in the positions that they’re in,” Harsin said about the Auburn staff. “As the head coach, changes or other opportunities come up — it’s hard. It’s hard on the family. So what I told the coaches in Boise and what I told the coaches here at Auburn is, over the next couple of days, go enjoy your families. Have a merry Christmas. And be focused on that.”
“And I know I’m asking them to do something very difficult right now. And then, we get on the other side of Christmas, then we’ll have the chance to have more conversations and figure out what we’re going to do here at Auburn and how we start to put together this staff with the same goals, the same focus that I mentioned earlier, and the right type of people to be here at Auburn.”
While Harsin works to put together his staff for the 2021 season, interim head coach Kevin Steele and the current Auburn staff are working to prepare for Auburn’s New Year’s matchup with Northwestern in the Citrus Bowl.
Harsin said he does anticipate being at the bowl game, but the current staff will handle all the coaching.
“Yeah so, I had a chance to Zoom with the current staff now. I was able to speak with them. It was brief, but I got a chance to talk to them,” Harsin said. “I know some of the coaches here just through the coaching fraternity. But I did get a chance to talk to them. It was simple. What I told them is, ‘What can I do to help you? What can I do to support you? What can I do to make sure that you guys have everything you need to get these guys prepared to go play against Northwestern?’”
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