The majority of Auburn football fans over the past several years have been blaming Bryan Harsin for all of the program's problems, even though Hugh Freeze inherited a program that was way behind, but also exists in an NIL era where a team can turn things around overnight with donor support. The kind of donor support that Freeze has gotten.
Freeze has burned so much goodwill that the narrative is being called out by prominent figureheads. That's what you get for setting expectations for the 2025 season at merely a bowl game.
Paul Finebaum called out the tired and lazy Harsin excuse on WJOX-94.5 airwaves on Monday.
“I understood what their approach was a year ago, and you heard it a lot more than I did. But, when I was at Auburn during the season, you know, I got the song and dance from John Cohen about what they inherited. Okay, I bought it. But that’s over now. Hugh Freeze has had a couple of seasons, the recruiting looked to be on fire and now it doesn’t,” Finebaum said on "McElroy & Cubelic In The Morning" on Monday. “So, let’s quit going back and blaming everything on Bryan Harsin. That has to end. That is a terrible message from Cohen. It’s a terrible message from Freeze. They need to sell themselves and quit blaming other people.
“If they keep pushing this narrative, I’m not going to say it is going to blow up in their face. I think it already has blown up in their face. When you’re under assault and your message isn’t working, change the narrative.”
Freeze has been getting away with underwhelming results with talent that's better than a .500 finish. Yes, even with Payton Thorne. Actually, especially with Thorne last season after being benched for the first half of the Arkansas game.
He'll also find peace one day, especially if he successfully continues his NFL journey.
Anyway, this isn't to say Harsin deserves much defense. One way or another, he turned boosters off from spending on his program when he arrived in 2020, and it stayed that way until he was fired midway through the 2022 season. Damage was done over that timespan. That's undeniable.
But Freeze is getting the things Harsin wasn't and is producing the same results. With an easier schedule than usual, at least in 2024.
Something needs to be done about it other than claiming "potato man bad."