Here’s a weird twist from the highest-profile firing to date: Gus Malzahn has now becomes one of the hottest coaching candidates in the country. The game didn’t pass up an accomplished, smart, veteran, big-time SEC head coach when Malzahn was fired Sunday. Alabama did. And isn’t that what gets every Auburn coach in the end?
In this case, it had to be particularly galling that Nick Saban had completely overhauled his offensive philosophy at the same time Malzahn couldn’t take Auburn’s to the next level. Still, it was no disgrace being fired Sunday three years into a seven-year, $49 million deal. Gus woke up every morning for eight years at Auburn with a reality that will always be on The Plains: playing in the shadow of Alabama.
Malzahn was good. Just not Auburn good.
And whatever job he gets next — Arizona should be lobbing him a call right now – that piece of personal torture will be removed from his professional life. The expectations at Auburn were — and will continue to be — oversized. The man beat Saban three times. If Hugh Freeze gets the job, Gus will be replaced with a coach who beat Nick twice.
It will cost Auburn, oh, only a combined $40 million to buyout Malzahn and hire a new staff. But that’s life in the SEC — and college football — even in the middle of COVID-19. What the still-emerging silly season has taught us is that massive financial losses will not impact the college football industrial machine.
At least not at Auburn, Illinois, Arizona, South Carolina and more likely to come.
Malzahn will get a new start. He can chill for a year or two doing TV if he desires. His coaching chops, though, do fit nicely in the Pac-12 at a program like Arizona if he chooses. The man basically refined and perfected the modern run-pass option. It was that still-emerging RPO game that helped beat Bama in 2013’s Kick Six game.
Malzahn still believes in a power running game and a physical defense. Half the programs in the country could derive from that philosophy. The man won a national championship as a coordinator and played for another as a head coach while winning the SEC West twice.
Meanwhile, Auburn gets a fresh start in jettisoning Malzahn.
No matter who it hires, the program certainly doesn’t get out from underneath Alabama’s shadow. Even when Tommy Tuberville was winning six Iron Bowls in a row, Auburn was the second-best program in the state. That may never change. This may be the most dominant Alabama squad of the Saban era. Tack all that on the Alabama success, tradition and talent.
Athletic directors everywhere lack patience. They really lack patience at Auburn. Ask Gene Chizik, who was shown the door two years after winning a national championship. Ask Gus, who went a respectable 3-5 against Alabama. Chillingly, Chizik has never been a head coach since that time. At age 55, Malzahn shouldn’t be done.
It wasn’t enough for Malzahn at a place that looks at Bama and perpetually sees what could be.
Freeze, the clear frontrunner, is a younger, more outgoing, similarly accomplished version of Malzahn. If the planets align, a deal should come together quickly. Both coaches employ super agent Jimmy Sexton.
Irony of ironies, Freeze led Liberty to its best season ever with Auburn quarterback cast-off Malik Willis. Malzahn couldn’t win (enough) with five-star prospect Bo Nix. They are in many ways mirror images of each other — quarterback makers who have found success against Saban. Malzahn replaced Freeze at Arkansas State in 2012 after Freeze left for Ole Miss.
Freeze has paid his penance. While his name wasn’t on the NCAA public infractions report at Ole Miss, Freeze was in charge of program suffered a two-year bowl ban for recruiting and academic violations. He resigned from Ole Miss after the university discovered a program-issued phone had been used to contact escort services.
As bad as all of Freeze’s personal and professional failings may have been, Ole Miss hasn’t had a winning season since he led the Rebels in 2015 (10-3). They are failings, though. Ole Miss’ three-year NCAA probation ended 13 days ago.
Liberty was one of the few FBS programs that would hire Freeze after all the tumult. He went through the career-polishing car wash keeping his nose clean. CBS Sports reported that a potential return to the SEC was already vetted with the conference when South Carolina had interest. The road seems clear for Freeze’s triumphant return to the league.
Remember that, for a while, Freeze was radioactive for many ADs.
It’s clear Malzahn had worn out his welcome with the Tigers. His inability to develop quarterbacks became a major drawback. He hasn’t really had a difference maker at the position since Nick Marshall. That was six years ago.
Nix’s development — or lack thereof — after two seasons might have been a final straw. It’s someone else’s problem now.
It’s time Freeze got a second chance.
That’s not to say Malzahn didn’t do a hell of a job with his best chance.