The 2021 and 2022 Auburn football recruiting classes yielded many commitments that have already left the Tigers program — with the 2021 class, in particular, being ravaged to the tune of 3/19 players still remaining. Meanwhile, AU’s record following both classes’ first seasons includes more losses than wins. In the span of 21 games on the Plains over the span of 14 months, Bryan Harsin was able to turn the program against itself, causing endless infighting and a program inquiry from AU’s brain trust due to alleged racist behavior toward Black players.
Needless to say, everything published about Harsin since has been negative, and the latest from Auburn Daily’s Lance Dawe is no different. Dawe called Harsin’s two recruiting “efforts,” the 2021 and 2022 classes, among the most underwhelming in program history.
“Bryan Harsin failed in several ways during his time as head coach at Auburn,” Dawe prefaced before saying, “Recruiting was one of the more highlighted areas of disappointment for Tiger fans as they watched their two recruiting classes underneath Harsin become two of the most underwhelming the program has ever seen. On top of all of this, stories following his firing confirm that Harsin was never really interested in doing recruiting himself. Odd, considering the “Crootin Finger” meme that spawned from his tenure.”
Bryan Harsin has lost all goodwill with Auburn football fans
Until the very end, many in the Auburn family were still vouching for Harsin; though many abandoned ship in the weeks preceding his October 31 firing due to the exodus of players into the transfer portal. Since his firing, though, and particularly after a sitdown interview with ESPN’s Chris Low in which Harsin deemed himself the victim, all goodwill is gone.
Given how far back the program was set under his watch, you’d be hard-pressed to find any Tiger fan to defend the Boise native until the end of time. You certainly won’t find it around these parts, where we were some of the last Harsin holdouts before reality set in.