Auburn is in danger of becoming Nebraska. It needs an exorcism after this Iron Bowl.
Jon Sumrall and Brent Key make sense as Auburn coaching candidates.
Auburn in spoiler role against Alabama.
Nick Saban flattered Auburn’s Jordan-Hare Stadium when he called it haunted. Truthfully, it’s been nothing but a house of horrors for the home team the past five years.
It makes you wonder, is this to be a life sentence in the loser’s jailhouse? Or, might Auburn finally be eligible for parole if it nails this next coaching hire?
Here’s how it’s gone lately: Auburn’s first two heirs to Gus Malzahn became two of the biggest bums in program history. If Texas A&M and Mississippi secure playoff bids this season, then half of the 16-team SEC will have qualified for the College Football Playoff at least once before Auburn made it there.
And so it is that Auburn will be in the spoiler role in this Iron Bowl, while Alabama tries to clinch a spot in the SEC Championship.
Is Auburn cursed to mediocrity, like Nebraska?
Imagine learning in 2010, when Cam Newton crawled under the skin of Alabama fans, and Auburn was not only the loveliest but also the happiest village on the Plains, that a playoff system would arrive within a few years and Ole Miss would qualify before Auburn did.
Careful, Auburn, because it’s a slippery slope toward Nebraska.
First you’re firing 9-3 Frank Solich, then you’re toiling through misery with Bill Callahan, Mike Riley and Scott Frost, with a gulp of air supplied by Bo Pelini in between, and, next thing you know, you’re scrambling to extend the contract of a coach who’s barely above .500, because, hey, at least Matt Rhule’s not a complete failure.
Auburn desperately needs a course correct to yank itself off the Nebraska path toward prolonged mediocrity.
Auburn remains a competitively resourced program, backed by one of the most loyal fan bases and active donors, residing in fertile recruiting terrain.
If Missouri can be 8-3, I can’t think of a reason Auburn should be 5-6.
Auburn came oh so close to rectifying this three years ago when Lane Kiffin considered taking the job. Fallback plan Hugh Freeze became not so much a poor man’s Kiffin as a continuation of Bryan Harsin, except the sequel spoke the dialect.
Auburn didn’t bother with the Kiffin sweepstakes this time. If Kiffin leaves Mississippi, it’ll be for LSU or Florida.
Humbled Auburn is left competing for the coaching carousel’s consolation prize, Tulane’s Jon Sumrall.
Would that be so bad?
I don’t know the answer to that question. Not sure how anyone could.
Jon Sumrall or Brent Key would seem to suit Auburn
Sumrall would be promising but also unproven in a job of this magnitude. That’s more the speed of candidates for this Auburn coaching search, which comes amid a crowded carousel and with the Tigers as bruised as ever.
With Tulane in playoff contention, Sumrall has emerged as one of this hiring cycle’s buzziest names, on the tier of candidates below Kiffin. If Kiffin leaves Ole Miss, expect additional competition for Sumrall.
It’s not just that Sumrall is 41-11 across stints at Troy and Tulane. In an industry obsessed with fit, Sumrall suits the SEC like a plate of cornbread, a jumbo glass of sweet tea and saying “Bless your heart,” to convey condescension.
Raised in Huntsville, Alabama, Sumrall has spent his entire career south of the Mason-Dixon. He looks like he could still rack up 10 tackles and a sack if you gave this former SEC linebacker a clean bill of health and a set of shoulder pads on a fall Saturday.
The past couple seasons, there’s been no question whether Sumrall would become an SEC coach, but rather how soon and at which locale.
Does that make him a slam dunk? Heck, no.
Billy Napier once enjoyed status as the anointed one, himself a born and raised Southerner. The son of a coach, Napier tutored under Dabo Swinney and Nick Saban. Good credentials, right? Good enough to be a massive bust at Florida.
Freeze knew the terrain, too. Didn’t help his offense gain first downs.
Still, when it comes to a fit of resume and personality, Sumrall pairs neatly with Auburn. So would Birmingham native Brent Key, if he’d leave Georgia Tech, his alma mater.
Schools replacing a fired coach generally head in an opposite direction with the next hire. To replace Bryan Harsin, an unpleasant interloper from out West, Auburn hired a coach inspired by Jimmy Swaggert.
Freeze, though, was an SEC retread. What’s the opposite of that? A coach on the rise like Sumrall, 43, or Key, 47.
Auburn athletic director John Cohen says he wants this hire to have “a tremendous edge to them.’
“You can call it blue-collar, you can call it hard-nosed, you can call it aggressive,” Cohen said.
I hear that description, and I think Key and Sumrall would be suited to the candidate pool.
For several years, Auburn seems haunted by the Malzahn firing. It needs its next coach needs to perform an exorcism.
Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network’s senior national college football columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on X @btoppmeyer.
