Bryan Harsin understands the hustle and bustle that accompany the change of coach, so he told Auburn’s current coaches to enjoy Christmas with their families. After that, they would worry about what came next.
“We are going to get into the X’s and O’s,” said Harsin. “We will get into the subject a little later, these conversations that will obviously include the coaches we brought. But it is very simple. We want to win championships. And we want to do it in a certain way, we want to do it with the class, we want to do it with integrity ”.
Harsin was hired to take on Auburn on Tuesday and arrived at the university on Thursday. An hour after his arrival, he gave his introductory press conference and set out his plans to fill the rest of his team.
The plan, he said, is to find the right people. It is to emphasize the selection rather than the speed of the process.
“It is extremely important that we have the right people here, it is extremely important that we have the right coaches here, it is extremely important that we have coaches who understand,” said Harsin.
Auburn is currently preparing for his New Year’s Day game against Northwestern at the Citrus Bowl. Harsin said he told the players and the team to continue their preparations. Instead of changing things immediately, he said he asked what he could do to help, how he could support them.
“Give the coaches who are here now who are working very hard their full attention, focus on the task at hand and make sure that when you go to practice, you do it the right way,” said Harsin who told the players .
Although Harsin only knows a few of the coaches on Auburn’s team, he knows they are good people. He has a good idea of Auburn’s character, so if the university hired them, they should fit that mold, he said.
Harsin is aware that the next few days, especially when the bowling game is over, will be stressful. That’s why he wanted the coaches, as well as the players, to enjoy Friday and enjoy Christmas with their families.
After filling in his team, Harsin realizes that these coaches will have an impact on the performance of current players, as well as recruitment. He said he wants people to bring out the best and also give current players the best possible training.
While at Boise State, Harsin said he was able to work with assistants who understood his goal of treating football as a development game, on and off the field. From “the beginning”, Harsin will make sure that those who work with Auburn in the future understand his goals.
The principles Harsin espouses are very similar to those of the Auburn creed, he said: hard work, education, knowledge, honesty, truthfulness, a healthy mind, a healthy body, mutual help, love, country and service.
“So we have to find the right people,” said Harsin. “And we are going to recruit skill at every stage. They are not just coaches. It’s everybody. Everyone who will be on this program needs to be aligned and understand the importance of what we are trying to do ”.
Harsin has received many text messages and phone calls since he was hired. There are many people out there who want to join the Auburn coaching staff. After Christmas, he will start reading these messages.
“I’m going to work with Allen (Greene) on this,” said Harsin. “I’m going to work with people here who have been in Auburn so that I can get a better understanding of things, and we are going to start bringing this team together and making sure that the things that we are doing along the way – we take care of our players as we form the team , we communicate with our players to let them know what’s going on, and then we’ll build from there. “
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