1
00:00:10,039 --> 00:00:13,720
Speaker 1: All right, here we go Emergency time. First emergency podcast

2
00:00:13,760 --> 00:00:15,760
Speaker 1: We've done. Had to get to you this week, though, really,

3
00:00:15,840 --> 00:00:18,480
Speaker 1: even if we didn't have an emergency, I had to

4
00:00:18,520 --> 00:00:21,279
Speaker 1: talk to you guys. This is a Late Kick Extra

5
00:00:21,480 --> 00:00:24,919
Speaker 1: Emergency edition, you know, the little red flashy emoji lights

6
00:00:24,960 --> 00:00:27,200
Speaker 1: and everything. And the reason I had to talk to

7
00:00:27,200 --> 00:00:30,000
Speaker 1: you regardless, and Brian Harson gave us a perfect reason

8
00:00:30,040 --> 00:00:32,360
Speaker 1: to getting hired by Auburn, which I'm going to talk

9
00:00:32,400 --> 00:00:34,760
Speaker 1: about at length in just a second, is because you

10
00:00:34,800 --> 00:00:37,800
Speaker 1: answered the challenge. I don't know if you've realized this.

11
00:00:37,840 --> 00:00:40,400
Speaker 1: If you follow me on Twitter, you have at Late Kick, Josh,

12
00:00:40,760 --> 00:00:43,440
Speaker 1: not only did we surpass one thousand five star reviews,

13
00:00:43,640 --> 00:00:47,600
Speaker 1: we've gone over eleven hundred five star reviews. I cannot

14
00:00:47,640 --> 00:00:49,440
Speaker 1: begin to thank you guys enough. I'm going to talk

15
00:00:49,440 --> 00:00:52,520
Speaker 1: about this a lot more after the season is over,

16
00:00:52,560 --> 00:00:54,360
Speaker 1: and after we got some time to sort of unwind

17
00:00:54,400 --> 00:00:56,760
Speaker 1: and really get a little bit looser with this thing,

18
00:00:56,880 --> 00:01:00,400
Speaker 1: talk about some a more wide variety, let's say, of

19
00:01:00,480 --> 00:01:02,680
Speaker 1: content topics and whatnot. We're going to talk a whole

20
00:01:02,720 --> 00:01:04,520
Speaker 1: lot more because I've got some things in the works

21
00:01:04,600 --> 00:01:06,520
Speaker 1: that I really think you guys will like. I know that,

22
00:01:06,560 --> 00:01:09,240
Speaker 1: because you've been the ones who have asked for these things.

23
00:01:09,360 --> 00:01:11,480
Speaker 1: But I wanted to thank you for that. Okay, that's

24
00:01:11,480 --> 00:01:13,920
Speaker 1: not what the emergency podcast is about this morning, of course,

25
00:01:14,280 --> 00:01:15,920
Speaker 1: but I wanted to thank you for that. I'm going

26
00:01:16,000 --> 00:01:18,680
Speaker 1: to make a really weird sounding transition here because I'm

27
00:01:18,720 --> 00:01:20,960
Speaker 1: also going to cut this for YouTube, and so it's

28
00:01:21,000 --> 00:01:23,479
Speaker 1: going to sound like I'm restarting, and it's because I am.

29
00:01:23,520 --> 00:01:26,200
Speaker 1: So here's what that sounds like. All Right, here we

30
00:01:26,240 --> 00:01:29,280
Speaker 1: go Auburn a new head coach on the planes. The

31
00:01:29,319 --> 00:01:32,920
Speaker 1: Tigers have hired Brian Harson. What do we think about this?

32
00:01:33,040 --> 00:01:36,080
Speaker 1: He's coming from Boise State, obviously been there several years.

33
00:01:36,680 --> 00:01:39,720
Speaker 1: Really wished that they would have waited until after Christmas

34
00:01:39,760 --> 00:01:42,520
Speaker 1: so we could do a nice, fancy in studio reaction.

35
00:01:42,720 --> 00:01:45,720
Speaker 1: But I, like many of you, am home for the holidays.

36
00:01:45,800 --> 00:01:48,240
Speaker 1: Merry Christmas, by the way, Marry early Christmas to you all,

37
00:01:48,960 --> 00:01:51,840
Speaker 1: and to all a good morning. You like that? Yeah?

38
00:01:52,000 --> 00:01:54,240
Speaker 1: Keep that in there, Jordan, and keep that in their column.

39
00:01:54,320 --> 00:01:57,520
Speaker 1: So let's talk about this. I am of the opinion

40
00:01:58,320 --> 00:02:01,279
Speaker 1: that there are reasons to feel bad about this higher

41
00:02:01,520 --> 00:02:04,320
Speaker 1: and great about this Higher. So I'm gonna sort of

42
00:02:04,480 --> 00:02:07,280
Speaker 1: not ride the fence. I'm gonna tell you, I'm not

43
00:02:07,320 --> 00:02:10,800
Speaker 1: necessarily sure which area I'm coming down on, but let

44
00:02:10,840 --> 00:02:12,919
Speaker 1: me give you the reasons for both. Okay, so we're

45
00:02:12,919 --> 00:02:15,160
Speaker 1: gonna go through who this is what we think he's

46
00:02:15,200 --> 00:02:17,240
Speaker 1: gonna be. Like, I'm gonna get your opinion on this,

47
00:02:17,320 --> 00:02:21,000
Speaker 1: I'm sure throughout the day in weeks to come. I

48
00:02:21,160 --> 00:02:24,600
Speaker 1: don't like judging HighRes immediately, not because I don't want

49
00:02:24,600 --> 00:02:27,120
Speaker 1: to take a stance. I think it's impossible to judge

50
00:02:27,160 --> 00:02:30,400
Speaker 1: highers immediately because there's way too much unknown. That's like

51
00:02:30,480 --> 00:02:32,360
Speaker 1: if you were to have to put your life on

52
00:02:32,440 --> 00:02:35,160
Speaker 1: the line predicting a football game, even if you're confident

53
00:02:35,280 --> 00:02:38,280
Speaker 1: you know who the better team is. One bob play,

54
00:02:38,360 --> 00:02:40,760
Speaker 1: bounce of ball play. It's in a little acronym we

55
00:02:40,800 --> 00:02:45,080
Speaker 1: own around here. One bob play. One tipped pass that

56
00:02:45,280 --> 00:02:48,040
Speaker 1: gets picked off and goes for a touchdown that changes

57
00:02:48,080 --> 00:02:50,440
Speaker 1: the outcome of a game, right, Does it count? Of

58
00:02:50,520 --> 00:02:52,360
Speaker 1: course it counts. There's just no way you could have

59
00:02:52,360 --> 00:02:54,440
Speaker 1: seen it coming. So there's no way for us to

60
00:02:54,480 --> 00:02:56,680
Speaker 1: even so much as know who's going to be on

61
00:02:56,720 --> 00:03:00,760
Speaker 1: Brian Harson's staff right now. What are the dynamic behind

62
00:03:00,800 --> 00:03:02,600
Speaker 1: the scenes. You know, there were reasons that I'm going

63
00:03:02,639 --> 00:03:04,960
Speaker 1: to talk about in just a second that some people

64
00:03:05,120 --> 00:03:06,960
Speaker 1: may have looked at this job and didn't find it

65
00:03:07,000 --> 00:03:09,639
Speaker 1: as desirable. It's not cause Auburn's not a great place.

66
00:03:09,800 --> 00:03:11,840
Speaker 1: It's not because there aren't a lot of resources, but

67
00:03:11,919 --> 00:03:13,880
Speaker 1: there were some other things behind the scenes. How much

68
00:03:13,919 --> 00:03:16,799
Speaker 1: are those going to contribute to what he can or

69
00:03:16,880 --> 00:03:19,920
Speaker 1: ultimately can't do there. Those are among the many, many

70
00:03:19,960 --> 00:03:22,640
Speaker 1: reasons why I don't think you can grade hires. So

71
00:03:22,680 --> 00:03:25,040
Speaker 1: here's what I will tell you. Here's the reason you

72
00:03:25,080 --> 00:03:29,240
Speaker 1: should be excited. If you want a world class football coach.

73
00:03:29,600 --> 00:03:32,040
Speaker 1: I think you have that. If that's the bout you're

74
00:03:32,040 --> 00:03:33,440
Speaker 1: looking at a check and it makes a lot of

75
00:03:33,440 --> 00:03:35,680
Speaker 1: sense because you're hiring a football coach to run a

76
00:03:35,680 --> 00:03:38,080
Speaker 1: football program. I think you got a really, really good

77
00:03:38,120 --> 00:03:41,160
Speaker 1: guy here. So let's quickly introduce him. You know, like

78
00:03:41,280 --> 00:03:45,000
Speaker 1: twenty five second snapshot, who's Brian Harrison. Well, he spent

79
00:03:45,080 --> 00:03:48,440
Speaker 1: ten years under Chris Peterson, who I thought was one

80
00:03:48,480 --> 00:03:52,360
Speaker 1: of the all time criminally underrated head coaches in America.

81
00:03:52,400 --> 00:03:54,400
Speaker 1: He was ten years under Peterson when he was up

82
00:03:54,400 --> 00:03:56,760
Speaker 1: at Boise and then he was co offensive coordinator at

83
00:03:56,760 --> 00:03:59,920
Speaker 1: Texas for a couple of years, he followed Gus Malzam.

84
00:04:00,040 --> 00:04:02,760
Speaker 1: When Gus Malsan left Arkansas State to come to Auburn,

85
00:04:03,200 --> 00:04:06,280
Speaker 1: Harson takes over at Arkansas State, and then he goes

86
00:04:06,280 --> 00:04:09,240
Speaker 1: to Boise. He's been up there several years now. Overall,

87
00:04:09,560 --> 00:04:14,080
Speaker 1: seventy six and twenty four. That's a pretty stellar head

88
00:04:14,120 --> 00:04:17,479
Speaker 1: coaching record. Seventy six and twenty four in nine seasons

89
00:04:17,760 --> 00:04:22,239
Speaker 1: as a head coach. So let's dive in. Let's unwrap

90
00:04:22,279 --> 00:04:26,279
Speaker 1: the package here. It was beyond out of left field.

91
00:04:26,560 --> 00:04:30,160
Speaker 1: I was out in very, very rural I cannot stress

92
00:04:30,240 --> 00:04:33,120
Speaker 1: to you in strong enough terms how rural the areas

93
00:04:33,360 --> 00:04:37,560
Speaker 1: of Georgia that I was in yesterday evening when this

94
00:04:37,640 --> 00:04:40,039
Speaker 1: news broke, and I couldn't so much as get a

95
00:04:40,040 --> 00:04:42,960
Speaker 1: cell signal, much less get anything recorded. I hopped on

96
00:04:43,080 --> 00:04:45,359
Speaker 1: with Brendan Marcelo as soon as I got into some

97
00:04:45,560 --> 00:04:48,000
Speaker 1: semblance of normalcy and some semblance of being able to

98
00:04:48,040 --> 00:04:51,479
Speaker 1: find a cell signal. But I was way out in there.

99
00:04:51,560 --> 00:04:54,280
Speaker 1: So it was almost one of those deals where you're

100
00:04:54,360 --> 00:04:55,840
Speaker 1: driving along and then all of a sudden you get

101
00:04:55,839 --> 00:04:58,240
Speaker 1: fourteen texts and you realize, oh, I must not have

102
00:04:58,279 --> 00:05:00,440
Speaker 1: had signal for a while, and there it is. It's

103
00:05:01,040 --> 00:05:05,080
Speaker 1: Brian Harson, who That's what some of my folks were

104
00:05:05,080 --> 00:05:07,520
Speaker 1: asking me. I know who Harson is, but certainly out

105
00:05:07,520 --> 00:05:11,200
Speaker 1: of left field. So here are the reasons, some of

106
00:05:11,240 --> 00:05:16,440
Speaker 1: them why. I have heard folks since some pessimism, let's

107
00:05:16,440 --> 00:05:20,679
Speaker 1: just say, express some doubt. And it's cause there aren't

108
00:05:20,800 --> 00:05:23,400
Speaker 1: SEC ties here and a lot of folks think you

109
00:05:23,480 --> 00:05:26,280
Speaker 1: need those to succeed. Or funny, it's urban. Meyer didn't

110
00:05:26,279 --> 00:05:27,720
Speaker 1: have many of those, by the way, when he came

111
00:05:27,720 --> 00:05:29,800
Speaker 1: from Utah. I'm going to touch on Urban in just

112
00:05:29,800 --> 00:05:34,280
Speaker 1: a second. Actually, also the recruiting ties. Does he have hardcore,

113
00:05:34,520 --> 00:05:38,440
Speaker 1: hard wired recruiting ties to the South? Well, no, not necessarily.

114
00:05:39,320 --> 00:05:42,120
Speaker 1: Is he ready for this world? The SEC likes to

115
00:05:42,160 --> 00:05:45,080
Speaker 1: fancy itself as its own ecosystem. I don't disagree with that.

116
00:05:45,480 --> 00:05:47,160
Speaker 1: Is he ready to hop into it? I don't know

117
00:05:47,600 --> 00:05:51,360
Speaker 1: outsiders have done it before. So let's circle back to Meyer. Everyone,

118
00:05:51,760 --> 00:05:54,719
Speaker 1: if you're going to go outside the conference footprint, and

119
00:05:54,800 --> 00:05:57,320
Speaker 1: to be honest, staying in it has had very mixed

120
00:05:57,360 --> 00:05:59,479
Speaker 1: results as of late. So I don't think it's a

121
00:05:59,480 --> 00:06:02,080
Speaker 1: crime to try and look elsewhere. You know, you ask

122
00:06:02,200 --> 00:06:06,039
Speaker 1: Tennessee or South Carolina, like, how fruitful has it been

123
00:06:06,279 --> 00:06:08,800
Speaker 1: to just blindly stay inside the SEC footprint and go

124
00:06:08,880 --> 00:06:11,240
Speaker 1: find guys that know the South. There's more to it

125
00:06:11,279 --> 00:06:13,920
Speaker 1: than that. So Florida once upon a time went and

126
00:06:13,920 --> 00:06:16,240
Speaker 1: got a guy from Utah named Urban Meyer. And I

127
00:06:16,320 --> 00:06:19,960
Speaker 1: remember very vividly there were people down here. If you

128
00:06:20,000 --> 00:06:22,520
Speaker 1: were of a certain age, you remember it too, who laughed,

129
00:06:22,560 --> 00:06:24,520
Speaker 1: They kind of smirked. It's kind of a running joke.

130
00:06:25,640 --> 00:06:27,880
Speaker 1: Some dude from out in the Rocky Mountains is going

131
00:06:27,960 --> 00:06:30,440
Speaker 1: to come down here. He's about to get a taste

132
00:06:30,640 --> 00:06:32,920
Speaker 1: of what it's like in the SEC. Well, the problem was,

133
00:06:33,120 --> 00:06:35,720
Speaker 1: the SEC got a much bigger taste of Urban Meyer

134
00:06:36,200 --> 00:06:39,600
Speaker 1: than it ever got of him, and or he ever

135
00:06:39,640 --> 00:06:42,080
Speaker 1: got a bit rather and so he all he did

136
00:06:42,120 --> 00:06:44,680
Speaker 1: was changed the way things happened down here. Now, since then,

137
00:06:45,120 --> 00:06:47,320
Speaker 1: many guys have been hired from outside the South. There

138
00:06:47,320 --> 00:06:50,120
Speaker 1: haven't been more Urban Myers. But that's what people are

139
00:06:50,160 --> 00:06:53,440
Speaker 1: looking for. If you're going outside the footprint, that's the

140
00:06:53,480 --> 00:06:56,960
Speaker 1: blueprint you want. The Urban Meyer is Brian Harson that

141
00:06:57,040 --> 00:06:59,160
Speaker 1: there's no reason to believe that, But then again, there

142
00:06:59,200 --> 00:07:01,560
Speaker 1: was no Reasonabliever Meyer was going to exactly do what

143
00:07:01,640 --> 00:07:05,360
Speaker 1: he did at Florida before that. However, so let's talk

144
00:07:05,400 --> 00:07:09,760
Speaker 1: about the opposite of pessimism optimism. Just because a guy

145
00:07:09,800 --> 00:07:11,800
Speaker 1: hasn't done it down here before, it doesn't mean he

146
00:07:11,840 --> 00:07:13,720
Speaker 1: can't do it down here and I want to just

147
00:07:13,760 --> 00:07:16,600
Speaker 1: go back. This does not automatically mean anything. When folks

148
00:07:16,600 --> 00:07:18,240
Speaker 1: want to throw this in your face. If you're an

149
00:07:18,280 --> 00:07:22,840
Speaker 1: optimistic Auburn fan today, great, If you're a pessimistic Auburn fan,

150
00:07:23,080 --> 00:07:25,000
Speaker 1: that's not great. But I also understand it. But for

151
00:07:25,040 --> 00:07:28,360
Speaker 1: those of you who like the hire, like it, just

152
00:07:28,680 --> 00:07:32,080
Speaker 1: like it. I don't. I'm not necessarily sure why everyone

153
00:07:32,520 --> 00:07:34,640
Speaker 1: has to make sure that everyone agrees with them. If

154
00:07:34,680 --> 00:07:37,440
Speaker 1: you post on Twitter that you like the higher and

155
00:07:38,040 --> 00:07:41,280
Speaker 1: you only get four likes and no retweets, oh, it

156
00:07:41,360 --> 00:07:44,800
Speaker 1: makes you feel bad. Why who cares live your life

157
00:07:44,800 --> 00:07:46,960
Speaker 1: feel the way you want to feel? And Here's how

158
00:07:47,000 --> 00:07:50,520
Speaker 1: I'd feel about it. I'd look around and I'd say,

159
00:07:50,520 --> 00:07:53,520
Speaker 1: hold on a second. Some of the same folks criticizing

160
00:07:53,640 --> 00:07:55,720
Speaker 1: this hire, even though half of them didn't know who

161
00:07:55,720 --> 00:07:58,200
Speaker 1: Brian Harson was when you hired him. Some of you

162
00:07:58,240 --> 00:07:59,640
Speaker 1: may not have, some of you may have to google

163
00:07:59,680 --> 00:08:02,400
Speaker 1: his name. These are the same folks who may cheer

164
00:08:02,720 --> 00:08:06,560
Speaker 1: Will mus Chant being hired or may cheer Jeremy Pruitt

165
00:08:06,600 --> 00:08:08,520
Speaker 1: being hired. And I'm just telling you there's a lot

166
00:08:08,520 --> 00:08:11,880
Speaker 1: of stuff in this conference that's not working out, and

167
00:08:11,960 --> 00:08:13,640
Speaker 1: so I'm not going to blame you if you want

168
00:08:13,680 --> 00:08:16,520
Speaker 1: to go a different direction like yours may not work

169
00:08:16,520 --> 00:08:18,960
Speaker 1: out either, But I'd a whole lot rather fail trying

170
00:08:19,000 --> 00:08:21,560
Speaker 1: in a different way than fail doing it the same

171
00:08:21,600 --> 00:08:23,760
Speaker 1: way that a bunch of other folks are already doing

172
00:08:23,880 --> 00:08:27,200
Speaker 1: and not getting results from it. So on that front,

173
00:08:27,280 --> 00:08:29,760
Speaker 1: I'm with you now, having said that there's a lot

174
00:08:29,840 --> 00:08:33,080
Speaker 1: of unknown here. I did not get struck immediately with

175
00:08:33,160 --> 00:08:36,200
Speaker 1: this hire as thinking, oh, they got it, they nailed it.

176
00:08:36,240 --> 00:08:38,440
Speaker 1: I don't feel that way. I got a lot of

177
00:08:38,520 --> 00:08:41,360
Speaker 1: question about this. I got a lot of hesitation about this.

178
00:08:41,840 --> 00:08:45,360
Speaker 1: But here's where my doubt isn't. My doubt isn't in

179
00:08:45,400 --> 00:08:48,080
Speaker 1: the arena of does this dude know football or not?

180
00:08:48,240 --> 00:08:51,080
Speaker 1: That's not it, not at all. In fact, I have

181
00:08:51,400 --> 00:08:55,240
Speaker 1: very little doubt. Using common sense and then validating it

182
00:08:55,280 --> 00:08:58,000
Speaker 1: by talking to some people in the industry and speaking

183
00:08:58,040 --> 00:09:00,360
Speaker 1: to a couple of coaching buddies of mine, I don't

184
00:09:00,400 --> 00:09:03,040
Speaker 1: doubt for a second this dude knows football. You don't

185
00:09:03,080 --> 00:09:06,440
Speaker 1: accidentally go seventy six and twenty four. I'm telling you

186
00:09:06,520 --> 00:09:10,760
Speaker 1: right now. You may take over someone's gold mine and

187
00:09:11,000 --> 00:09:13,800
Speaker 1: run it for a season, maybe two at most, you're

188
00:09:13,880 --> 00:09:17,600
Speaker 1: not going nine full head coaching seasons and being that

189
00:09:17,800 --> 00:09:20,880
Speaker 1: far above five hundred. And keep in mind he's doing

190
00:09:20,880 --> 00:09:23,520
Speaker 1: it in rural Idaho, like he didn't take over a

191
00:09:23,600 --> 00:09:26,040
Speaker 1: California program or something like that. I mean, he's at

192
00:09:26,040 --> 00:09:28,640
Speaker 1: a place I've always thought all things equals should be

193
00:09:28,679 --> 00:09:31,680
Speaker 1: at a disadvantage. So all things equal, like, no one's

194
00:09:31,720 --> 00:09:36,200
Speaker 1: got an advantage over the other. Inherently they do. Cause inherently,

195
00:09:36,240 --> 00:09:37,920
Speaker 1: the closer you are to the coast, the closer you

196
00:09:37,960 --> 00:09:40,760
Speaker 1: are to the talent, especially in the southwestern portion of

197
00:09:40,760 --> 00:09:43,439
Speaker 1: the United States. So you went up there consistently, you're

198
00:09:43,440 --> 00:09:45,720
Speaker 1: doing something right. I don't doubt this guy is a

199
00:09:45,760 --> 00:09:49,000
Speaker 1: football mind. It takes a lot more than that. If

200
00:09:49,040 --> 00:09:51,120
Speaker 1: we were hiring him at Auburn, if you're hiring him

201
00:09:51,120 --> 00:09:54,760
Speaker 1: as an offensive coordinator, you got your offensive coordinator. You're

202
00:09:54,800 --> 00:09:57,600
Speaker 1: hiring him as head coach though, so that means about

203
00:09:57,800 --> 00:10:00,439
Speaker 1: thirty percent of his day to day is football, and

204
00:10:00,520 --> 00:10:04,360
Speaker 1: about seventy percent is much bigger than on field matters.

205
00:10:04,360 --> 00:10:06,600
Speaker 1: It ultimately leads to what the product looks like on

206
00:10:06,679 --> 00:10:09,000
Speaker 1: the field. But being a head coach, and I would

207
00:10:09,120 --> 00:10:12,600
Speaker 1: argue being a head coach, that ratio, it continues to

208
00:10:12,640 --> 00:10:16,320
Speaker 1: move more and more towards the administrative being a majority

209
00:10:16,360 --> 00:10:20,240
Speaker 1: of your workload, and less and less every year is

210
00:10:20,679 --> 00:10:24,520
Speaker 1: the percentage of direct on field matters. So you got

211
00:10:24,520 --> 00:10:27,320
Speaker 1: a football mind, I don't doubt that. Is it A

212
00:10:27,320 --> 00:10:29,600
Speaker 1: guy ready to lead one of the fifteen best jobs

213
00:10:29,600 --> 00:10:32,080
Speaker 1: in America, one of the fifteen most high profile programs

214
00:10:32,080 --> 00:10:34,240
Speaker 1: in America. And that may be conservative, it may be

215
00:10:34,320 --> 00:10:37,040
Speaker 1: top ten. We could argue about that, but this is

216
00:10:37,080 --> 00:10:41,000
Speaker 1: obviously a step up from Boise. He himself would admit that.

217
00:10:42,200 --> 00:10:44,400
Speaker 1: Moving on some of the other thoughts I had here,

218
00:10:45,480 --> 00:10:48,679
Speaker 1: this was not Auburn's first choice. I don't care what

219
00:10:48,720 --> 00:10:51,240
Speaker 1: they tell you, I don't care what they leake to anyone.

220
00:10:51,960 --> 00:10:54,599
Speaker 1: Whatever anyone else reports, that's fine, I'm telling you, and

221
00:10:54,640 --> 00:10:56,839
Speaker 1: I'm very confident in telling you this was not their

222
00:10:56,880 --> 00:10:59,720
Speaker 1: first choice. This is not the first program that's hired

223
00:11:00,080 --> 00:11:01,800
Speaker 1: a head coach that was down their list a little

224
00:11:01,800 --> 00:11:04,240
Speaker 1: ways and tried to pass it off as their first choice.

225
00:11:04,720 --> 00:11:07,480
Speaker 1: I get how it works. You at this point, if

226
00:11:07,480 --> 00:11:09,800
Speaker 1: you follow this sport any length of time, you get

227
00:11:09,800 --> 00:11:11,720
Speaker 1: how it works. We don't need to waste our time

228
00:11:11,760 --> 00:11:16,199
Speaker 1: on that. It doesn't matter if it works out. It

229
00:11:16,320 --> 00:11:19,800
Speaker 1: doesn't matter if he was your first or fourteenth choice

230
00:11:19,880 --> 00:11:22,120
Speaker 1: or somewhere in between, doesn't matter. Is it going to

231
00:11:22,200 --> 00:11:26,000
Speaker 1: work out. If it does, it's irrelevant. If it doesn't,

232
00:11:26,120 --> 00:11:29,800
Speaker 1: it's still irrelevant. What's gonna happen is gonna happen either way.

233
00:11:31,040 --> 00:11:34,160
Speaker 1: Remember though, the reason I bring that up as much

234
00:11:34,160 --> 00:11:37,679
Speaker 1: as I say it's irrelevant. Here's where it's important. When

235
00:11:37,720 --> 00:11:39,599
Speaker 1: we're trying to project how this guy is going to

236
00:11:39,679 --> 00:11:42,720
Speaker 1: do at Auburn, it's very important to remember there were

237
00:11:42,800 --> 00:11:45,280
Speaker 1: candidates who turned them down. And I'm not talking about

238
00:11:45,360 --> 00:11:48,960
Speaker 1: Urban Meyer and Lincoln Riley and Brian Kelly. Those guys

239
00:11:49,080 --> 00:11:53,199
Speaker 1: have obvious reasons to turn Auburn down. They are either

240
00:11:53,200 --> 00:11:55,040
Speaker 1: in a position in retirement where they don't want to

241
00:11:55,080 --> 00:11:56,480
Speaker 1: come out of it to go to Auburn, or they

242
00:11:56,520 --> 00:11:58,959
Speaker 1: have better jobs already and they're not going to take

243
00:11:59,000 --> 00:12:03,199
Speaker 1: a step down on the ladder. That's understandable. A Kirby

244
00:12:03,200 --> 00:12:06,840
Speaker 1: Smart's not leaving Georgia for Auburn. However, you would think

245
00:12:06,880 --> 00:12:10,400
Speaker 1: in a normal world a Billy Napier would leave Louisiana,

246
00:12:10,800 --> 00:12:15,280
Speaker 1: not State Louisiana, for Auburn. You would think that he didn't.

247
00:12:15,920 --> 00:12:19,280
Speaker 1: He has his reasons. What are they? I know what

248
00:12:19,320 --> 00:12:21,439
Speaker 1: the message boards have said, I know what Twitter has said.

249
00:12:21,480 --> 00:12:23,480
Speaker 1: What are they? I'm going to ask that rhetorically. I'm

250
00:12:23,480 --> 00:12:25,160
Speaker 1: gonna leave it out there. I think more will be

251
00:12:25,160 --> 00:12:28,080
Speaker 1: said about this down the road. What are they? What

252
00:12:28,240 --> 00:12:31,200
Speaker 1: are those reasons? Is the first question. And the second

253
00:12:31,280 --> 00:12:35,600
Speaker 1: question is did those reasons just vanish? The reasons that

254
00:12:35,720 --> 00:12:38,160
Speaker 1: turn some people away from this job and turn them off?

255
00:12:38,600 --> 00:12:41,840
Speaker 1: Did those reasons vanish? Are they still there? And Brian

256
00:12:41,880 --> 00:12:46,280
Speaker 1: Harson is just so I'm not gonna say ignorant, but

257
00:12:46,360 --> 00:12:49,800
Speaker 1: just unaware of the situation having lived so far away

258
00:12:49,800 --> 00:12:54,160
Speaker 1: from this, or there could be a third possible scenario here,

259
00:12:54,240 --> 00:12:56,760
Speaker 1: and that's he understands it and he's just willing to

260
00:12:56,800 --> 00:13:00,240
Speaker 1: accept it. Now, you see why I'm talking about not

261
00:13:00,360 --> 00:13:03,720
Speaker 1: wanting to grade hires. If I'm grading the football higher,

262
00:13:03,760 --> 00:13:06,800
Speaker 1: it's an a. If I'm grading the coaching hire, I

263
00:13:06,840 --> 00:13:09,559
Speaker 1: have no clue because I don't know how he processes that.

264
00:13:09,920 --> 00:13:13,560
Speaker 1: I spoke to someone earlier tonight who is very adept

265
00:13:13,600 --> 00:13:16,080
Speaker 1: in understanding Brian Harson. You can't find a lot of

266
00:13:16,080 --> 00:13:18,200
Speaker 1: that in the South, where I come from and where

267
00:13:18,200 --> 00:13:24,160
Speaker 1: I came from, but this person did. And this is

268
00:13:24,240 --> 00:13:26,520
Speaker 1: not a guy, this Brian Harson cat. He is not

269
00:13:26,600 --> 00:13:29,040
Speaker 1: a pushover. He's not a guy who's going to go

270
00:13:29,120 --> 00:13:32,000
Speaker 1: with the flow. He's not a nice guy. He's not

271
00:13:32,040 --> 00:13:35,000
Speaker 1: a nod his head, keep his mouth shut, show up

272
00:13:35,000 --> 00:13:37,640
Speaker 1: on Saturday and coach the team, and otherwise, don't really

273
00:13:37,720 --> 00:13:39,920
Speaker 1: raise much of a fuss. We'll worry about running the

274
00:13:39,920 --> 00:13:42,880
Speaker 1: football program. He's not the kind of guy, by all accounts,

275
00:13:43,200 --> 00:13:45,560
Speaker 1: that's going to live that world, or live in that world,

276
00:13:45,840 --> 00:13:48,240
Speaker 1: or be of that world, not for long. So I

277
00:13:48,240 --> 00:13:50,320
Speaker 1: don't know if it's an oil and water mixture, and

278
00:13:50,400 --> 00:13:53,359
Speaker 1: both parties just don't realize it yet. I can't imagine

279
00:13:53,400 --> 00:13:55,080
Speaker 1: that's the case. I mean, I would hope that this

280
00:13:55,320 --> 00:13:59,280
Speaker 1: was pretty thoroughly vetted. So that is another reason why

281
00:13:59,280 --> 00:14:01,640
Speaker 1: it's just impossible to say, because it's impossible to know.

282
00:14:01,920 --> 00:14:04,439
Speaker 1: There were reasons. Here's the bottom line. There were reasons

283
00:14:04,440 --> 00:14:07,439
Speaker 1: people were turned off by this job. If those reasons

284
00:14:07,480 --> 00:14:11,240
Speaker 1: are still there, then Number one, I don't know how

285
00:14:11,280 --> 00:14:14,560
Speaker 1: Brian Harson adapts to it. Number Two, I don't know

286
00:14:14,600 --> 00:14:16,480
Speaker 1: how much it matters how good a football coach he

287
00:14:16,640 --> 00:14:20,400
Speaker 1: is if those problems are still persistent. Now here's what's

288
00:14:20,440 --> 00:14:23,640
Speaker 1: interesting listening to some folks that have been close to this,

289
00:14:24,040 --> 00:14:26,640
Speaker 1: watching some folks report this. Are folks over at Auburn

290
00:14:26,720 --> 00:14:29,120
Speaker 1: undercover dot Com have done a really good job on this.

291
00:14:29,920 --> 00:14:33,320
Speaker 1: You'd be led to believe Alan Green, the athletic director

292
00:14:33,360 --> 00:14:35,440
Speaker 1: over there, ended up getting his way. I think that's

293
00:14:35,520 --> 00:14:39,280
Speaker 1: really really important because not everyone behind the scenes thought

294
00:14:39,280 --> 00:14:43,040
Speaker 1: that was possible not too long ago. So that sounds

295
00:14:43,080 --> 00:14:46,480
Speaker 1: like it's a good thing, and it probably is, but

296
00:14:46,560 --> 00:14:48,680
Speaker 1: it could have shades of gray attached to it. And

297
00:14:48,720 --> 00:14:51,320
Speaker 1: here is one of the shades. One of the shades

298
00:14:51,520 --> 00:14:55,000
Speaker 1: among many is in the normal world, you'd love the

299
00:14:55,080 --> 00:14:58,080
Speaker 1: athletic director to be making decisions in the athletic department.

300
00:14:58,120 --> 00:15:01,200
Speaker 1: But you and I also know, to some degree or another,

301
00:15:02,080 --> 00:15:05,160
Speaker 1: things run at Auburn at their own unique pace, with

302
00:15:05,320 --> 00:15:09,880
Speaker 1: their own, unique, powerful influences behind the scenes. The reason

303
00:15:09,880 --> 00:15:13,160
Speaker 1: that those powerful influences are allowed to exist is because

304
00:15:13,240 --> 00:15:16,800
Speaker 1: they pay their way into existence. If you had a

305
00:15:17,000 --> 00:15:20,000
Speaker 1: nine hundred million dollar net worth, you could buy your

306
00:15:20,040 --> 00:15:22,120
Speaker 1: way into pretty much any club you wanted to be in,

307
00:15:22,920 --> 00:15:26,000
Speaker 1: politically or otherwise. Now, this is kind of like politics,

308
00:15:26,000 --> 00:15:29,080
Speaker 1: only it's a little more important. It's sec football. But

309
00:15:29,160 --> 00:15:31,160
Speaker 1: you know what I mean here. Just because you have

310
00:15:31,240 --> 00:15:34,080
Speaker 1: made a fortune. However, in the world of pressure treated

311
00:15:34,160 --> 00:15:37,480
Speaker 1: lumber does not necessarily mean you're an expert on football. However,

312
00:15:37,560 --> 00:15:40,200
Speaker 1: in college football, it does mean you have plenty big

313
00:15:40,280 --> 00:15:44,840
Speaker 1: enough net worth about yourself to buy access. You also

314
00:15:45,000 --> 00:15:47,040
Speaker 1: need that money. If you're a university, if you're going

315
00:15:47,120 --> 00:15:49,360
Speaker 1: to keep up with the Alabamas and LSUS and A

316
00:15:49,400 --> 00:15:52,520
Speaker 1: and M's and Georgia's, etc. Well, that's a facilities race,

317
00:15:52,560 --> 00:15:55,240
Speaker 1: and an arms race. That's a staffing race, that's an

318
00:15:55,280 --> 00:15:58,360
Speaker 1: analyst race. That's a recruiting budget race. That's a million

319
00:15:58,440 --> 00:16:01,160
Speaker 1: different other things that you you have to be filling

320
00:16:01,200 --> 00:16:04,040
Speaker 1: the coffers for on an annual basis. That's why that

321
00:16:04,160 --> 00:16:07,080
Speaker 1: kind of money has to flow through your program. And

322
00:16:07,240 --> 00:16:11,560
Speaker 1: if those entities do not like the way a coaching

323
00:16:11,600 --> 00:16:15,160
Speaker 1: search went, they are far less likely to open their checkbook.

324
00:16:15,320 --> 00:16:18,160
Speaker 1: That's the bottom line. It was a problem when Malson

325
00:16:18,360 --> 00:16:21,400
Speaker 1: was there. That's one of I am convinced one of

326
00:16:21,560 --> 00:16:24,960
Speaker 1: the contributing factors to what finally pulled the trigger on

327
00:16:25,120 --> 00:16:28,800
Speaker 1: his firing at what seemed like the most inopportune time

328
00:16:29,400 --> 00:16:34,080
Speaker 1: fiscally COVID, all these things going on. As it turns out,

329
00:16:34,120 --> 00:16:36,320
Speaker 1: you didn't have a candidate at the forefront ready to

330
00:16:36,360 --> 00:16:38,360
Speaker 1: take the job, but they wanted to get rid of

331
00:16:38,400 --> 00:16:41,560
Speaker 1: them anyway, because they really knew. Ultimately the folks that

332
00:16:41,600 --> 00:16:45,440
Speaker 1: we need, unfortunately are not as willing to play ball

333
00:16:45,520 --> 00:16:48,560
Speaker 1: until this guy's out of here. Well, that's all well

334
00:16:48,600 --> 00:16:51,120
Speaker 1: and good, But if they didn't get someone to replace

335
00:16:51,160 --> 00:16:53,720
Speaker 1: Malzon they like anymore than they did Malson, I don't

336
00:16:53,760 --> 00:16:57,440
Speaker 1: really know what difference we have there. That is yet

337
00:16:57,480 --> 00:17:01,560
Speaker 1: another reason why the overall quality of this hire remains

338
00:17:01,640 --> 00:17:03,640
Speaker 1: to be seen. What is this staff going to be?

339
00:17:04,119 --> 00:17:07,439
Speaker 1: That's a really great question. Part of I think the

340
00:17:07,520 --> 00:17:10,440
Speaker 1: reason why some candidates out there were turned off by

341
00:17:10,440 --> 00:17:13,520
Speaker 1: this is because I think that there were some demands

342
00:17:13,560 --> 00:17:17,119
Speaker 1: made on Auburn's side about staffing. This is always going

343
00:17:17,200 --> 00:17:18,639
Speaker 1: to be denied, of course, no one's ever going to

344
00:17:18,680 --> 00:17:21,280
Speaker 1: admit that from Auburn, but on pretty good authority I've

345
00:17:21,320 --> 00:17:24,040
Speaker 1: heard that that was the case, and with a couple

346
00:17:24,119 --> 00:17:27,760
Speaker 1: of different candidates they looked at from their camps. I've

347
00:17:27,840 --> 00:17:31,680
Speaker 1: gotten wind that that's the case. Okay, So that's Auburn's

348
00:17:31,760 --> 00:17:33,879
Speaker 1: right to do that, just as it's their right to say, no,

349
00:17:34,000 --> 00:17:36,680
Speaker 1: I'm not coming there if I can't decide one hundred

350
00:17:36,680 --> 00:17:38,639
Speaker 1: percent of who's on my staff. Well, how's that going

351
00:17:38,680 --> 00:17:41,040
Speaker 1: to work with Brian Harson? Again, We're either to believe

352
00:17:41,320 --> 00:17:44,240
Speaker 1: that that was just always false, or we could be

353
00:17:44,320 --> 00:17:46,959
Speaker 1: led to believe that that's true and Brian Harson has

354
00:17:47,000 --> 00:17:49,600
Speaker 1: agreed to it, or we could believe that it was true.

355
00:17:49,600 --> 00:17:53,280
Speaker 1: But then Auburn got desperate and they pulled that necessity

356
00:17:53,320 --> 00:17:56,080
Speaker 1: off the table. Brian Harson's the guy that gets to

357
00:17:56,119 --> 00:17:57,520
Speaker 1: hire his own staff. I don't know how that's going

358
00:17:57,600 --> 00:17:59,360
Speaker 1: to work. I have no clue. I know. When you're

359
00:17:59,359 --> 00:18:01,600
Speaker 1: coming in here for to the SEC, at the very least,

360
00:18:01,640 --> 00:18:04,520
Speaker 1: you better have some guys that are retained, whether it

361
00:18:04,560 --> 00:18:07,080
Speaker 1: be an onfield coaches role or an analyst role, who

362
00:18:07,200 --> 00:18:11,000
Speaker 1: know the recruiting scene in the SEC. Mike Leach was

363
00:18:11,240 --> 00:18:13,399
Speaker 1: smart enough to do that. There are some guys that

364
00:18:13,800 --> 00:18:15,960
Speaker 1: you don't know the names of but there's some behind

365
00:18:16,000 --> 00:18:19,719
Speaker 1: the scenes types who really know the scene in Mississippi

366
00:18:19,760 --> 00:18:22,399
Speaker 1: High School and JUCO recruiting, and michae Leach kept him

367
00:18:22,400 --> 00:18:24,600
Speaker 1: around because he knows I haven't been down here in

368
00:18:24,600 --> 00:18:27,360
Speaker 1: a generation. I don't know the South well. Brian Harson,

369
00:18:27,760 --> 00:18:29,680
Speaker 1: if he's got the half decent head on his shoulders,

370
00:18:29,760 --> 00:18:33,439
Speaker 1: understands that as well. So that staffing question, I know

371
00:18:33,480 --> 00:18:35,080
Speaker 1: a lot of you have been asking about that in

372
00:18:35,119 --> 00:18:38,639
Speaker 1: my DMS and email. I don't know yet. I have

373
00:18:38,720 --> 00:18:40,439
Speaker 1: no idea. I haven't heard from him any more than

374
00:18:40,480 --> 00:18:43,640
Speaker 1: you've heard from him. So the roster needs overhauling here.

375
00:18:43,680 --> 00:18:45,399
Speaker 1: I think that's pretty obvious. That was going to be

376
00:18:45,440 --> 00:18:48,600
Speaker 1: obvious even if Malzan stayed. So it's certainly obvious now

377
00:18:48,640 --> 00:18:52,040
Speaker 1: if you're going to compete for an SEC championship, Auburn's

378
00:18:52,119 --> 00:18:54,359
Speaker 1: roster is not good enough. They're players. Their football players

379
00:18:54,359 --> 00:18:56,879
Speaker 1: aren't good enough right now to beat Alabama and to

380
00:18:56,920 --> 00:18:59,880
Speaker 1: beat Georgia. They're just not. So got to get better

381
00:18:59,840 --> 00:19:03,639
Speaker 1: than recruiting has to ramp up a SAP. You have

382
00:19:04,320 --> 00:19:07,439
Speaker 1: obviously not a whole lot that you can do with

383
00:19:07,600 --> 00:19:10,240
Speaker 1: this current class, but there is a whole lot you

384
00:19:10,280 --> 00:19:13,359
Speaker 1: can do in the transfer portal, and so it's possible,

385
00:19:13,440 --> 00:19:15,399
Speaker 1: and this is gonna be one of the first test runs,

386
00:19:15,400 --> 00:19:18,720
Speaker 1: I guess, of getting a new staff in at the time.

387
00:19:18,800 --> 00:19:21,600
Speaker 1: The transfer portal is about to open up really really

388
00:19:22,119 --> 00:19:24,760
Speaker 1: like you've never seen it before. And I don't know

389
00:19:24,800 --> 00:19:27,520
Speaker 1: how much talent infusion you could have and how much

390
00:19:27,600 --> 00:19:30,840
Speaker 1: roster overturned you could have over the course of one offseason.

391
00:19:31,400 --> 00:19:34,119
Speaker 1: However much that is, I think, whether it's Shane Beemer

392
00:19:34,160 --> 00:19:37,199
Speaker 1: at South Carolina or Brian Harson now at Auburn, I

393
00:19:37,200 --> 00:19:39,520
Speaker 1: got to get used to saying that, I think you're

394
00:19:39,520 --> 00:19:42,120
Speaker 1: gonna see it push to its very limits. I will

395
00:19:42,160 --> 00:19:44,919
Speaker 1: say that hopefully they have spring ball. Hopefully for everyone,

396
00:19:45,040 --> 00:19:49,160
Speaker 1: myself included, you included, they have spring football. But overall,

397
00:19:49,560 --> 00:19:52,600
Speaker 1: this was weird. This was a really weird coaching search.

398
00:19:53,000 --> 00:19:55,359
Speaker 1: It was really strange the way it worked down the

399
00:19:55,400 --> 00:19:58,520
Speaker 1: stretch because Gus Malson won his last game and he

400
00:19:58,680 --> 00:20:02,919
Speaker 1: was fired, which lead you obviously to understand, well, that

401
00:20:02,960 --> 00:20:05,440
Speaker 1: means the decision had to be made before the last game,

402
00:20:05,480 --> 00:20:07,440
Speaker 1: because otherwise, if they had waited to the last weekend

403
00:20:07,480 --> 00:20:09,399
Speaker 1: and they saw him win, no one's firing him for that.

404
00:20:09,600 --> 00:20:13,000
Speaker 1: And so if they knew before the last weekend. Question

405
00:20:13,160 --> 00:20:15,560
Speaker 1: that I have and many of you have had, is well,

406
00:20:15,560 --> 00:20:18,240
Speaker 1: why didn't you fire him well beforehand and get a

407
00:20:18,240 --> 00:20:20,919
Speaker 1: head start on the coaching search Like Carolina. Carolina already

408
00:20:20,960 --> 00:20:22,760
Speaker 1: had a head coach hired by the end of the year.

409
00:20:23,200 --> 00:20:25,360
Speaker 1: Auburn hadn't even started by the end of the year.

410
00:20:26,080 --> 00:20:28,159
Speaker 1: I don't know that it would have changed things, but

411
00:20:28,240 --> 00:20:31,160
Speaker 1: I will say it started off in a discombobulated fashion.

412
00:20:31,520 --> 00:20:34,639
Speaker 1: I think it finished in a discombobulated fashion. I do

413
00:20:34,720 --> 00:20:37,280
Speaker 1: not believe Brian Harson was the first choice for Auburn.

414
00:20:37,320 --> 00:20:40,280
Speaker 1: I think it's far from that. However, I also think

415
00:20:40,320 --> 00:20:42,600
Speaker 1: there's reason to believe he could be a great Hire

416
00:20:42,960 --> 00:20:45,560
Speaker 1: could very well be a great Hire football. I don't

417
00:20:45,600 --> 00:20:49,040
Speaker 1: have much of a question. In the football arena he

418
00:20:49,160 --> 00:20:52,960
Speaker 1: checks the boxes for me. In the leadership sec CEO

419
00:20:53,080 --> 00:20:57,359
Speaker 1: arena he does. I can't be answered right now because

420
00:20:57,359 --> 00:20:59,680
Speaker 1: there are too many unknowns, But that's where I stand

421
00:20:59,720 --> 00:21:03,560
Speaker 1: on Brian Harson, new head coach at Auburn. Going to

422
00:21:03,640 --> 00:21:07,000
Speaker 1: be fun times over on the planes. I am really

423
00:21:07,040 --> 00:21:09,479
Speaker 1: glad that you guys were able to hop on with

424
00:21:09,520 --> 00:21:12,760
Speaker 1: me for an emergency podcast this morning, So thank you

425
00:21:12,800 --> 00:21:15,280
Speaker 1: so much for joining me. This has been a late

426
00:21:15,359 --> 00:21:19,040
Speaker 1: kick emergency podcast. Thanks so much and God bless