Unexpected Source Shares Interesting Insight on Auburn Football's Coaching Search

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Back in 2022, the Auburn Tigers were in quite a tough spot.

Their Gus Malzahn replacement, Bryan Harsin, had fallen flat on his face over a few seasons with the Tigers, and the group was looking for a new head coach. Several rumors were circulating at the time, but one in particular always seemed to catch fire whenever it was mentioned: Deion Sanders.

Recently, Fly War Eagle's Andrew Hughes sat down with Sanders for an interview, and in that time, the topic of Auburn's interest in him came up. Sanders, despite the wide variety of rumors of his chances to end up on the Plains at that time, was quick to address the validity of the rumors.

"None whatsoever," he said. "Not one call, not one email, nothing."

So, Auburn seemingly never showed any interest in Sanders, despite the consistent rumors that he was a top candidate in the search. Sanders even dismissed the rumors that he had flown to Atlanta to interview for the job back in 2022, which were quite prevalent at the time.

Instead, the Tigers turned to Hugh Freeze, who ironically seemed to have quite a similar approach to Sanders, at least in recruiting. Both tend to focus on bigger, higher-rated names in recruiting, with less focus being diverted to aspects like the offensive line.

We saw what happens without a strong offensive line last year with both the Tigers and the Buffaloes, as Tigers quarterback Jackson Arnold was sacked a staggering 30 times last season, despite not playing in all of the Tigers' games. Kaidon Salter, who struggled less with holding onto the ball for extended periods of time with the Buffs, was sacked 19 times.

So, would Sanders have been a better fit for the Plains? I believe he may have been slightly better than Freeze, though I would still take new Auburn head coach Alex Golesh over him. The main difference between Sanders and Freeze is that Sanders at least seems to have a handle on his program, holding his players to high standards, both on and off the field.

However, Alex Golesh seems to have the best of both worlds- he goes and gets the best, like Freeze and Sanders, but he also focuses heavily on every aspect of recruiting, not just skill players. We have seen that consistently with both his first Auburn Transfer Portal class, as well as his 2027 recruiting class, which currently stands among the 10 best in the country.

Additionally, Golesh is already clearly holding his players to higher standards than Freeze ever did, as evidenced by the litany of interview snippets from Auburn players, both new and returning. Will the wins follow? Only time will tell, but it is clear to me that Auburn is in a better spot than ever.

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This article was originally published on www.si.com/college/auburn as Unexpected Source Shares Interesting Insight on Auburn Football's Coaching Search.

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