⚡ CFB Dashboard

The way the timelines get skewed in everyone’s heads are insane. Some of this is what is public, and some is just a recap of what was said by others here … Jay Jacobs was hired after JetGate c. 2004. Dr Walker was forced into retirement over JetGate in 2004 and replaced by Ed Richardson as interim until Dr. Gogue was named president in 2007. Gogue retired in 2017 and Leath was named President. Jacobs was essentially a lame duck at that time (I think they were letting him ride it out to get his state retirement) and basically had no say in managing football. When Gus beat UGA and Bama in 2017, his agent floated he was getting overtures from Arkansas. Leath having absolutely no clue what he was doing and Raymond Harbert apparently being the president of the Gus fan club, the two of them agreed to an LOI before the SECCG that gave Gus a $50 mm contract (I think 75% guaranteed, so buyout of $37.5 mm. May have been 100%, though). Leath allegedly did that all on his own without any BOT member other than Harbert even knowing the terms, much less approving it. When other trustees found out, they even looked into trying to have it rescinded, but obviously the ramifications of a coach not being able to trust his contract would be disastrous, so Auburn was stuck with it. Jacobs’s planned resignation date came in 2018, and Leath replaced him with ADAG. ADAG’s honeymoon with his boss came to an abrupt end when he had to refuse a direct order to fire an employee (Bruce Pearl). Ultimately Leath didn’t fire Greene over it, but the fact Leath wanted to unilaterally fire Pearl combined with Gus’s contract and a whole ton of other insanity got him pushed out by 2019, replaced again by Gogue as an interim. At that point ADAG was reasonably popular and expected to play a key role in Auburn’s next coaching change if and when it came, but then COVID happened and he apparently took the position he didn’t actually have to be on campus or ever see anyone in person. For whatever reason, that didn’t sit well with Auburn PTBs who still felt like they didn’t know him, and somewhere at or around that time, under pressure from PTBs, Gogue brought in General Burgress to effectively monitor every step ADAG made, the intent probably being to report he wasn’t doing his job and could be terminated. However, General Burgess’s report turned out to be that ADAG was actually doing all components of the job remotely. Some people still didn’t like that assessment. The decision to fire Gus was made abruptly after the Miss State loss at the end of 2020 (but it had been brewing in the background as Steele and Gardner had allegedly been telling boosters for some time ranging from 2 months to 2 years that Gus wasn’t really running all aspects of his program and they could do it better). Unclear how much real agency ADAG had in firing Gus, but instead of him being responsible to hire his successor, a search committee was put together to make recommendations to the president. There was a push to hire Steele and the fan backlash was violent, in part because of his past head coaching record, in part because of the rumors circulating he’d been conspiring against Gus, and largely because it wreaked of PTBs meddling. So there were legit concerns about hiring him even from those that wanted him, and a consensus quickly formed around Cristobal. But that same week the Washington Huskies got a few positive COVID tests and had to opt out of the PAC-12 championship, which slid Cristobal into having to coach another game. Phil Knight and Oregon did not want any rumors of their coach leaving to overshadow a conference title game and distract the team (too late), so they pressured him to release a statement he’d signed an extension at Oregon with money that would keep him there, and that’s just what happened—Oregon announced the extension. Except he hadn’t actually signed anything. So while he was coaching in their conference championship, his agent was working out a deal with Auburn. At least some people on the Auburn side (Greene? A faction of PTBs?) thought they had a done deal, but when the proposal was run by Dr. Gogue, he and burgess thought the elevated amount Cristobal was asking for to turn down Oregon’s new offer was too much money. So they said no. At that point all hell breaks loose, and at least some of the folks pushing for Steele dig their feet in. The Texas job comes open and Sark pulls out. Napier gets wind of all that’s going on and he’s out. We’re getting to the end of December and Gogue decides enough is enough—he tells Greene he’s got 48 hours to find coach or he’s going to hire Steele. So ADAG hires Harsin without doing a scintilla of background checking on him (whether he’d even been working on that for more than the 48 hour window is unclear). That not only irreparably ends the PTBs relationships with Greene, it gives them active disdain for Harsin on day one. Unclear whether they really come around to give him an opportunity or not, but over the course of the next year he absolutely loses any love he had from the Auburn side, and then there’s the coup … During the February coup, if Auburn fired Harsin, they were going to need a coach to take his place. So the same boosters organizing the coup look around at what coach who can win in the sec was currently available, and as it turns out, Hugh Freeze had beaten Saban twice and could leave Liberty any day. Heck the whole story sure did seem a lot like hiring Bruce Pearl, right? So Gogue orders an investigation as to whether Harsin had done any wrongdoing. That investigation determines Auburn likely cannot fire him for cause, and none of the PTBs are willing to fork out $18mm (at least not without getting a lot of unofficial rights to control football in return, I assume) to get rid of him. So they move forward with a plan to fire him at the end of the season unless he miraculously turns the team around. They go through that whole summer knowing a coaching search is coming, and Freeze sees that and really sells himself to some of them. At some point he shows up in Auburn telling folks at a restaurant he’s looking for a house, and word gets out he’s told people he’s already been promised the job if it comes open. Harsin lays his egg against Penn State. Auburn hires Cohen. Auburn flirts with Lane Kiffin. Kiffin believes it’s his job to take. Some reporter in MS gets information from someone and leaks that. Kiffin gets ticked off and comes back to Auburn with an outrageous offer. Freeze ends up getting the job after all. Anyone who knows more than I do and wants to refute any part of that can and absolutely should do so.