Harsin on Williams' dismissal: 'A change needed to be made'

AUBURN | There was no incident or altercation. Nothing out of the ordinary happened that caused Bryan Harsin's decision to let Cornelius Williams go as Auburn's wide receivers coach on Sunday. The Auburn coach just felt a change was needed.

"I felt like in order for us to continue to progress like I feel like we need to, a change needed to be made, and it needed to be made now," Harsin said. "So I made that decision."

It was quite a shock considering the timing with the Tigers just four games into the season and Williams brand new to the staff, coming over from Troy during the offseason as part of Harsin's first staff at Auburn. Even the head coach admitted that it isn't ideal to fire a coach at this time of the season and that he's never done it before. However, he's confident he made the right choice while also praising Williams for his contribution to Auburn, calling him a "good man" and someone that showed up every day ready to work.

We might never know why the ultimate decision came, but after the last two weeks, the play of the wide receivers has been a concern. Dropped passes, running of wrong routes and other mental mistakes that Auburn can't afford were apparent in the loss to Penn State and a comeback victory over Georgia State. There was no so-called tipping point.

"It was what I felt like we needed to do over time that was going to be something I feel like can help us as we move forward in that room and at that position and for the future as we keep building this program," Harsin said.

Taking Williams' place is Eric Kiesau, who worked with Harsin at Boise State. Listening to the coach, it's clear that Harsin considers Kiesau a better option, and the change was necessary.

"We have to give ourselves the best opportunity with the people in place to go out there and play really good football and be a team that can go and compete, and be the type of team that can play for championships," Harsin said.