The emotional whiplash of the Bryan Harsin era of Auburn football will continue for at least, or perhaps more aptly, at most, the duration of the 2022 college football season — this at least according to On3’s Justin Hokanson on October 7.
With that said, Hokanson included a juicy carrot of a caveat for those going crazy at the idea of Harsin’s coaching career continuing on the Plains: a ‘behind-the-scenes movement’ to find his replacement has already begun.
Things are trending towards Bryan Harsin finishing the season. But it's unavoidable at this point. We have to begin discussing the behind-the-scenes movement to find Auburn's head football coach for 2023.
— Justin Hokanson (@_JHokanson) October 7, 2022
Frontrunners for AD and yes, HC, exist.
(On3+) 🔗 https://t.co/QURGCN1YC6 pic.twitter.com/L9abSYq5w3
That is good news for those hoping for more stability this season, but it also serves as a less-than-favorable look for Auburn football for having let the narrative by Week 4 of the season become ‘will AU fire its coach’…
The Bryan Harsin era of Auburn football was pegged to perish after Georgia
October 8 has to be the least anticipated game on the 2022 Auburn football schedule. Georgia has been beating Auburn Between the Hedges for a decade and a half straight and has been putzing around the past two weeks against Missouri and Kent State. In need of a bounce back, the Bulldogs can use Auburn as a springboard back to a chance at No. 1 — especially if Nick Saban correctly predicts a closer game between Alabama and Texas A&M than the media is pegging.
With Landen King taking a redshirt, it’s starting to seem like certain players are tuning out the rest of the season. It similarly wouldn’t be surprising not to see T.J. Finley again for the rest of the campaign given comments by his father made on Locked on Auburn.
Opelika-Auburn News deputy editor Justin Lee predicted that the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry game was the likely ending point of the Bryan Harsin era, but even if the Iron Bowl is instead — or perhaps the Birmingham Bowl again — the season is already over for some.