Bryan Harsin could land on his feet with another Power Five job right away

Bryan Harsin is out at Auburn, but he will have plenty of options this upcoming offseason.

Just because Bryan Harsin did not work out at Auburn does not mean he is a terrible head coach.

Quite the contrary, in fact. While Harsin went a dismal 9-12 in parts of two seasons at Auburn, he did well in his two previous coaching stops. Harsin went 69-19 in seven seasons at his alma mater of Boise State. The Broncos won three Mountain West championships under his watch, making it to the Fiesta Bowl in 2014. He also led Arkansas State to a Sun Belt championship back in 2012.

Although Boise State could probably use him, do not be shocked if Harsin sticks in the Power Five.

Auburn fires Bryan Harsin: Why head coach will not be out of a job for very long

No matter how rough it got down on The Plains, this was a bad fit from the start. A Group of Five coach from Boise, Idaho left his alma mater to take over an SEC school in the tougher of the two divisions whose biggest rivals happen to be Alabama and Georgia. What did you think was going to happen?! Regardless, Harsin could land a new job this offseason, possibly at the Power Five level.

Including Auburn, there are six Power Five head-coaching vacancies to be had. Although more will certainly be opening up, you could argue that Harsin would be the top candidate at Colorado, a finalist for the gig at Arizona State and a potential fit at Nebraska. Admittedly, he does not need to take the Nebraska job, as his reputation may not be able to recover from that if he fails in Lincoln.

As for Arizona State and Colorado, those gigs make so much more sense. With Arizona State, Harsin, a former quarterback, would be situated in The Valley, a metroplex where quarterbacking play seems to be getting better by the year at the high school level. While this is Oregon offensive coordinator Kenny Dillingham’s dream job, Harsin has won big before over in the Mountain West.

Besides Dillingham, Arizona State could be in the running to hire either Matt Rhule or Deion Sanders. Rhule knows how to build up a college program from rock bottom from his days at Baylor and Temple before that. It’s a shame it did not work out for him in the NFL. As for Coach Prime, it’s Coach Prime! He would be bringing some much-needed swagger to a program in dire need of it.

As cool as it would be to see Harsin get the Arizona State job, Colorado might be the real gem. The Pac-12 bottom feeder has had like one good season since Joel Klatt was the Buffaloes’ starting quarterback. Recruiting to Boulder has its challenges, but Harsin may not have any issues winning with his kind of guys. Of course, Dan Hawkins was unsuccessful in going from Boise to Boulder…

Regardless, what CU needs is a head coach with a presence and a plan. Harsin had that at Boise State and tried to make it work at the highest stage in Auburn. It’s okay, because the SEC will chew you up and spit you out. In a way, Colorado hiring Harsin would be like getting a do-over with Mel Tucker. The only difference is Harsin’s stock has taken a big hit and would not leave CU right away.

If Harsin wants to take a year off, that’s fine, but he might be the man to make it work at Colorado.

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