The curious case of Gus Malzahn's extension
Everyone should have a boss like Jay Jacobs. The Auburn athletic director recently added a year to Gus Malzahn’s contract, which bumped up the head coach’s salary to $4.725 million through the year 2020.
As of today, that figure makes Malzahn the third highest-paid head coach in the SEC behind Nick Saban and Kevin Sumlin, but does that mean he’s the conference’s third-best coach? Hardly.
In his three years as Auburn’s head man, Malzahn is 27-13 but just 13-11 in the SEC. He’s coming off the worst season of his career, which the Tigers capped with a victory over Memphis in the Birmingham Bowl to finish 7-6.
Even getting to that bowl was a struggle for Malzahn and Auburn. One of their six regular-season wins was a home victory over Idaho, one of the worst teams in the FBS.
On top of that, they needed overtime to beat FCS school Jacksonville State at home. So what kind of extension would Malzahn have received if Auburn finished 5-7 and potentially out of the bowl mix? A two-year one?
If the Tigers were showing progress over the last two years, giving Malzahn another year and more dollars would make sense. Jacobs hired Malzahn, so it’s totally understandable that he wants to see his guy succeed on his watch.
However, this extension comes across as a reward for a job not well done. It feels like a move that was made to give Auburn’s current players and pending recruits the sense that Malzahn isn’t a lame-duck coach, when in reality he still is.
Three seasons ago, Malzahn was at the pinnacle of his profession. He took Auburn to the BCS National Championship Game against Florida State, a contest the Tigers would eventually lose after leading by 18 points late in the second quarter.
Auburn has clearly regressed under Malzahn since that stunning defeat. After finishing 12-2 overall and 7-1 in the SEC in 2013, the Tigers went just 4-4 in conference play and lost to Wisconsin in the Outback Bowl to finish 8-5.
Last season, Auburn was 2-6 in SEC play and finished last in the West by a full two games. It’s hard to believe now, but the Tigers were actually picked to win their division at SEC Media Days.
Nevertheless, on-field results aren’t the only things that stink lately at Auburn. An overall sense of uncertainty has permeated The Plains.
Why hasn’t — and when will — Malzahn make a decision on a starting quarterback? Is it because Jeremy Johnson, Sean White or John Franklin III all make him nervous or is the race really too close for him to call?
Why is Kevin Steele Auburn’s third defensive coordinator in three years? And will he finally be the guy that gets Auburn’s ‘D’ to where it needs to be?
Plus, if Jovon Robinson gets hurt, who takes over as Auburn’s primary running back? And is there anything Malzahn can do to keep his RBs from leaving early for the NFL/transferring?
They’re all legitimate questions for a program that seems to be at a crossroads. Not surprisingly, Jacobs feels that sticking with Malzahn — albeit temporarily — is the route Auburn should take.
“He’s a brilliant offensive mind,” Jacobs said of Malzahn last week, according to AL.com. “Took us to two national championships; once as a coordinator, once as a head coach. There’s a bunch of schools in this league that would love to be in our position with a guy like him.”
The last part of that quote is debatable. Some other SEC schools probably wouldn’t mind having Malzahn on their staff, but more than likely not as their head coach — and definitely not at $4.725 million a year.