Auburn football: USA Today scolds Bryan Harsin, Mike Leach for vaccine stance
Auburn football head coach Bryan Harsin has been a popular target of those who openly advocate for the COVID-19 vaccine.
Joining him in USA Today’s lashing of the Tigers HC was Mississippi’s State’s sideline leader Mike Leach.
In a piece titled “Mike Leach, Bryan Harsin invite distraction by keeping COVID-19 vaccination status private,” USA Today’s Blake Toppmeyer pitched in towards the very distraction he is writing about by calling both coaches out for their relative silence on the matter:
"Regardless of what you think about the COVID-19 vaccine or vaccine mandates, it’s undeniable that Auburn football coach Bryan Harsin and Mississippi State football coach Mike Leach are inviting a wholly unnecessary distraction for their football programs by continuing to keep their vaccination status private amid their respective employer’s vaccine mandate."
Of course, the lack of an answer when both have been asked about their vaccine status isn’t uniform with the response of others in the SEC like Nick Saban and Lane Kiffin.
December 8th is the circled day on the calendar for both schools, when all university personnel at both schools will need to be fully inoculated with either both shots of the Moderna or Pfeizer COVID-19 vaccine, or one Johnson & Johnson vaccine with an additional 14 days between, making November 24th the cutoff for the jab.
If neither coach gets the shot, Toppmeyer feels they are putting themselves above the programs they lead:
"Coaches preach sacrifice and a team-first mentality, but nothing about this charade is productive for the team. Their silence equates to selfishness. These coaches are valuing secrecy over promoting a distraction-free environment."
At the end of the day, we don’t expect their to be much controversy come early December. Harsin might be vaccinated for all we know.
Either way, we hope the national media’s focus can shift to whatever the result is for Auburn football for the next five Saturdays instead of this.