Former Boise State coach Bryan Harsin makes worst hires list

Bryan Harsin wasn’t Chris Petersen, but the former Boise State quarterback kept his alma mater at the top of the Mountain West Conference following Petersen’s move to Washington.

Harsin coached the Broncos from 2014-2020 and compiled a 69-19 overall record with MWC titles in 2014, 2017 and 2019. Boise State won the Fiesta Bowl in Harsin’s first year at the helm and finished inside the AP Top 25 in four of his seven seasons. 

In Dec. 2020, SEC power Auburn surprisingly hired Harsin to take over for Gus Malzahn. The experiment was a failure. 

Auburn finished 6-7 overall during the 2021 season, the Tigers’ worst record since 2012. He was fired eight games into the following season with Auburn sitting at 3-5 overall and 1-4 in SEC play. 

Harsin’s 42.9 winning percentage (9-12 overall record) is the worst at Auburn for a non-interim coach since Earl Brown (1948–1950). 

John Talty of CBS Sports recently ranked the top 25 worst college football coaching hires of the last 25 years, and Harsin cracked the list at No. 19. 

“Auburn spent more than $21 million to fire Gus Malzahn, held off a booster push to promote Kevin Steele and then plucked Bryan Harsin away from Boise State,” Talty wrote. “It was an outside-the-box hire from the jump and Harsin never seemed to get comfortable within the insular Auburn community, including blowing off high-level boosters that proved costly. 

“Harsin started his first season strong, including a win over top-10 Ole Miss, but lost the last five games of the season and almost got fired as a result. He staved off an awkward investigation into his program, entered Year 2 on the hot seat and could only make it to Halloween before losing his job.”

The Broncos hired another alum to replace Harsin in Andy Avalos, who had spent the previous two seasons at Oregon as the defensive coordinator under Mario Cristobal. 

Avalos was fired midway through his third season at Boise State. He finished with a 22-14 overall record. 

Boise State named Spencer Danielson as the interim coach, and Danielson promptly led a rejuvenated Broncos team to the 2023 MWC title. Boise State won a second straight MWC championship last season and reached the College Football Playoff for the first time in program history. 

Harsin is now the offensive coordinator at California under former Boise State assistant Justin Wilcox. Avalos is the defensive coordinator at TCU.