Bryan Harsin sought answers but was determined to move on after yet another disappointment for his program.
This? A 21-17 loss to SEC West rivals LSU that saw Auburn slip away from a 17-point lead in the first half. It was the kind of loss that has become commonplace for Auburn under Harsin, who is now 9-9 as the program’s head coach, including 3-2 overall and 1-1 in the SEC game this season as the team wraps up its season opener Homestand with five games.
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Following his team’s recent setback, Harsin was asked if he was confident he’d finish this season as Auburn’s head coach given the schedule doesn’t ease up after the team wraps up its season-opening home stand. Auburn travels to No. 1 Georgia next week and then No. 14 Ole Miss (primed to break into the top-10 after a Week 5 win over Kentucky) the following week.
“That’s my daily job, to show up and make sure I’m prepared and that we’re preparing this football team,” Harsin said. “That doesn’t change at all and I told the team that. That’s how I’ve approached every day of every job I’ve had. It won’t be any different. Tomorrow we have things we need to get better at and win or lose you will always find ways to improve as a football team; You need to. That’s what really matters. That’s what I’m going to do every day and our players know that and everyone on our team knows that and that’s always been our mentality.”
Auburn’s stagnation under Harsin — with annihilated double-digit leads in five straight SEC games and pathetic second-half offensive efforts in eight straight games against the Power 5 competition — has increased the pressure on the embattled sophomore, whose seat is already warm become significantly hotter in the last three weeks.
Since starting last season 6-2, Auburn has gone 3-7 in their last 10 games under Harsin. That includes just 1-6 against the Power 5 competition, with the only win coming in overtime last week against Missouri, who lost in overtime to a casual fumble just short of the goal line.
“The program is exactly where it is now,” Harsin said when asked to rate the program over its first 18 games. “I mean, that’s really – you know what’s happening, what’s happened in the past – I mean we can focus on that now. You must do that. That is always our focus. We can’t go back and change. The records are what they are, but we cannot go back and change them now. What we do to move forward really matters. And that’s the message to our team and our people, and that always has to be the focus, win or lose, okay? Because you still have a lot of football to play. And our boys signed up to go out and play all these games. We all did.
“And if you take everything you’ve done in the past, good or bad, and rely on it too much, it will affect you in the future. And so we just have to keep learning from this one. What do we do now? What did we do well in this game and what do we need to do better?”
Harsin is signed to a six-year deal averaging $5.25 million per year through December 31, 2026. If he is fired without reason before the end of his contract, Harsin will be owed 70 percent of the remaining value of the deal.
“That’s life; it’s the same: control what you can, isn’t it?” said Harsin. “That’s what really matters. It’s the same message you convey to your players and the same things you convey over the course What you’ve learned from your career as a player and as a coach and all the things you do, I guess just as a person, whatever profession you’re in, control what you can, alright?
Tom Green is an Auburn beat reporter for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Tomas_Verde.