From calling around to sources, this feels like it could become a two-horse race, with Auburn coach Gus Malzahn being the favorite. Malzahn was a very successful in-state high school coach for almost two decades before joining Houston Nutt’s Hogs staff. He also spent one season as the head coach at Arkansas State before he got the Auburn job.
The 54-year-old Malzahn is in his seventh season at Auburn, where he’s had two Top 10 poll finishes, including in 2013 when the Tigers lost in the BCS National Championship Game in the final seconds. He’s been on the radar among Arkansas’ heavy hitters for a while. He’s been on and off the hot seat at Auburn, and the feeling here is once you’ve been at a place more than four or five years and you’re on the hot seat, you’re never really safe. That’s especially the case at a place such as Auburn with its big-money boosters, sky-high expectations and Nick Saban coaching at the arch-rival. Malzahn had a big 2017, going 10-4 with huge wins against No. 2 Georgia and No. 1 Alabama, and he was rewarded with a seven-year, $49 million deal. The Tigers backslid last year to 8-5 and 3-5 in the SEC and thus his seat has warmed again.
This year, Auburn is 7-2 and ranked No. 13, but it has lost two of its last three and still has Georgia and Alabama remaining. Here are the key money details: If Auburn were to fire Malzahn, it would owe him about $27 million. If he left, he’d owe them $7 million. Would they reach some kind of middle ground, where Auburn might agree to 3 or 4 million? The timing for Malzahn to re-start his clock with a new school might be ideal, and a mutual parting of the ways that enables him to go home might be tempting
