Analyst lauds beloved ex-interim Auburn football HC for winning with one of SEC's worst teams

Raiders Today's Ezekiel Trezevant IV lauded Cadillac Williams for being able to even go .500 in four games as the interim head coach of an Auburn football program in 2022 that had the SEC's worst record along with Texas A&M and Vanderbilt.

"After Auburn fired their most recent head coach, Bryan Harsin, Williams was named interim head coach," Trezevant prefaced before saying, "He went 2-2 with one of the worst teams in arguably the best conference in college football."

Coming off the Bryan Harsin era, AU was at a low morale-wise. That Williams was able to inspire his men and put up spread-covering (or pushing) efforts in each contest showed the difference a change at head coach can make.

Williams reached the Tigers locker room quicker -- in the span of a few days ahead of a Mississippi State game in Starkville Auburn almost came back and won -- than Harsin did in his 22 months in charge.

Williams will now coach in the NFL, something he's long been eyeing, as the Las Vegas Raiders' running back coach. That interim head coaching stint was indelible on his journey to the highest level of football.

Auburn football still recovering from Bryan Harsin era

What Cadillac brought the Tigers in 2022 can never be discounted. But it's not as though it undid all the damage his predecessor caused.

Harsin's lack of effort on the recruiting trail nearly compromised the program's blue-chip ratio and had recruits admitting that his presence was a deterrent to the Plains. Hugh Freeze has been able to fix things on both fronts, but it wasn't enough to move the needle forward much in 2023. Though, let's be real, Freeze's insistence on Payton Thorne as QB1 is equally as guilty of being the culprit here.

It's a long road to recovery for AU. And the GPS says there's still some distance to cover on this same highway.