Former Auburn Head Coach Lands New Job

Two years after getting the axe from the Auburn Tigers, Bryan Harsin has made his return to a college football coaching staff.

Per a report by ESPN’s Chris Low and Adam Rittenberg, Harsin has been named the new offensive coordinator at Cal. 

Coincidently, this comes right after Auburn’s home-and-home series with the Golden Bears completed

Harsin, a 48-year-old native of Boise, Idaho, had a weak follow-up to the Gus Malzahn era on the Plains. Harsin’s record at Auburn was 9-12. However, there were some signature wins during that time, such as the Tigers’ first road win over LSU since 1999, a road win over No. 17 Arkansas and a win over No. 10 Ole Miss that propelled the team to No. 13 in the AP Poll.

That was the peak for Harsin at Auburn, however, as the Tigers finished the 2021 season on a five-game skid, including a 24-22 loss to No. 1 Alabama in quadruple overtime, after a 6-2 start to the season. Auburn finished 6-7, facing its first losing season since 2012.

Off-field drama and lackluster efforts on the recruiting trail following his first season with the program seemingly put Harsin on the hot seat in 2022. After a 2-0 start against Mercer and San Jose State, Auburn fell 41-12 to No. 22 Penn State at home, marking the beginning of the end.

Auburn lost four of its next five games and Harsin was relieved of his coaching duties. Auburn had lost 10 of its last 13 games and was seeing some of the worst results it ever had on the recruiting trail.

With the addition of Harsin to its staff, Cal is getting a coach with 10 years of experience at the helm of a program with an 85-36 record. Additionally, Harsin brings 12 years of experience as an assistant coach to the table, bringing his total to 22 years.

Cal averaged 26.1 points and 382.8 total yards per game in 2024, placing it at No. 13 and No. 9 in the ACC respectively.

Harsin will have his work cut out for him getting Cal’s offense to a place to compete with top ACC programs such as Clemson and Miami.