Boise outlet claims disgraced ex-football HC was sabotaged by AU boosters

Boise, Idaho-based KVTB, specifically KVTB’s Tom Scott, claimed that former Auburn football head coach Bryan Harsin was sabotaged by AU’s boosters and was seen as an outsider; thus, explaining away his lack of success.

“It was in December of 2020 that Harsin left the Mountain West (and Boise State),” Scott prefaced before saying, “Three days after the Broncos’ loss to San Jose State in the MW title game, he accepted the head coaching job at Auburn. It was not a match made in heaven. Harsin was seen as an outsider from the get-go, and when the Tigers started losing games, boosters all but sabotaged him. He finished with a 9-12 record and, after being fired on Halloween last year, moved back to the Treasure Valley with his family.”

That was a lot of hearsay presented as facts. Not all of it was. Let’s break it down.

Auburn football did view Bryan Harsin as an outsider, but he brought the sabotaging onto himself

It’s definitely true that Harsin was viewed as an outsider when he came to the Plains. A proud Boise State graduate and former Broncos quarterback who saw success at his alma mater as a head coach, Harsin likely (and rightfully) brought those memories to AU. The boosters likely didn’t care, and maybe weren’t as impressed as they should’ve been.

But that’s life for an outsider moving to anywhere that isn’t a big city in the south. Specifically Alabama. Harsin didn’t need to let that affect his work ethic; which wasn’t where it needed to be. But he did.

And that brings us to Scott’s biggest lie: that Harsin was sabotaged by the boosters. No, Harsin sabotaged himself.

The February 2022 inquiry into Harsin’s tenure leading the Tigers brought out some ugly findings, and there could be a lot more dirt yet to be revealed.

That’s what did him in. Not an agenda from the boosters against him because he was from Boise.