Auburn football fans hope door doesn’t hit Derek Mason on way out to OK State
Another one has officially bitten the dust for the Auburn football program’s inaugural coaching staff of the Bryan Harsin.
Derek Mason is now officially the defensive coordinator for Oklahoma State after the Cowboys registered interest in recent weeks. Of course, DC was the post he held on the Plains after going winless in his final season at Vanderbilt as head coach in 2020.
Mason was present and partly responsible for many of the defensive recruits the Tigers landed this offseason. His loss is far from something to celebrate, but Auburn football fans are also not letting it get them down too much.
Check out some of the replies to the announcement that Mason would be in charge of the OK State defense:
Y’all did auburn a favor thank you 🤝 https://t.co/1uExwlMw69
— A1 Auburn Fan 🦚 (@A1Auburn) January 26, 2022
Man gonna rush 3 DL and drop eight players into zone coverage every time😂 good luck
— TBwilly (@TWillyAu) January 26, 2022
I love Mason but there's no way around he didn't succeed, he himself said he'd never had the talent he did at AU and blew it!
— War Dam Me! 💪🦅👀 (@UnoitsAUme) January 26, 2022
Umm you may want to watch all our other games besides the Iron Bowl bc I don’t think “defensive mind” means what think it does lol
— NolaTiger91 (@NolaTiger91) January 26, 2022
Luckily for Mason, he will not have to face Mississippi State next year. https://t.co/bk7gjVd1Nm
— Kyle (@AllAubarn) January 26, 2022
And last but not least, Auburn DL Marcus Harris also chimed in…
😂😂🤦🏾♂️ https://t.co/TYsoBXfDro
— Marcus Harris🎱 (@li_marcus15) January 26, 2022
Mason certainly had his shining moments in 2021–shutting out eventual SEC Champions Alabama in the first three quarters of the Iron Bowl being his most notable–but the secondary was often blowing coverages and leaving guys wide open to the dismay of Tiger fans everywhere.
Let’s hope Harsin and co. could find a suitable replacement that could maintain the level of consistency AU’s frontline displayed in 2021 but can also fill the coverage holes that were glaring this past season as well.