The beginning of the end of the Gus Malzahn Era at Auburn

If Gus Malzahn used his flirtation or perceived flirtation with Arkansas last year to cash in at Auburn, that plan has backfired and his future at the school is iffy at best.

What a difference a year makes, huh? Especially in the SEC.

After Malzahn’s Tigers beat Georgia and Alabama in 2017, new Auburn president Steve Leath awarded the Fort Smith native with a $49 million contract over seven years with 75 percent guaranteed.

With the Tigers enjoying success to close the regular season and with Arkansas apparently ready to offer Malzahn eye-popping money after firing Bret Bielema, Leath backed up the Brinks truck to Malzahn’s front door.

However, Leath started feeling immediate regret as the Tigers lost a rematch to Georgia in the SEC Championship Game, and then lost to Central Florida in the Peach Bowl.

Auburn started the 2018 season ranked No. 9 in the preseason Top 25 poll, and a Week 1 win against Washington was a good sign.

However, the season took a sharp dive when Auburn, who was favored in its first nine games, squandered an 11-point lead to LSU at home; lost 23-9 at Mississippi State and three-touchdown underdog Tennessee upset the Tigers 30-24 at Auburn.

Then there was a 27-10 rout at Georgia and the loss at the Crimson Tide.

Finishing 7-5 with that collapse was enough to prompt Leath to reportedly schedule a meeting with Malzahn Sunday giving him an ultimatum of reducing his $32.1 million buyout along with other stipulations to keep his job.

That’s an unprecedented move in the world of college football. Reports suggest Malzahn will accept the compromise.

In effect, Leath just heated up Malzahn’s seat sending a message that if there is not a significant improvement next year, he will be fired. That’s a humbling meeting in more ways than one.

It’s like getting called into your boss’s office and written up while also taking a pay cut. Not good.

So, Malzahn, the former Arkansas offensive coordinator, has been scolded by his boss and has lost millions, and there are reports that he is at odds with members of his coaching staff. He needs to do some patching up — and quick — or a year from now, he will be unemployed.

When he agreed to the deal, I predicted he’d be fired in less than three years. Auburn’s boosters and administration are delusional.

Malzahn’s teams have won a National Title and enjoyed a measure of success.

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However, the standard on The Plains is beat Alabama every year (even though no team rarely does with regularity) and play for a National Championship.

There were boosters calling for Malzahn’s head last year before he finished the regular season with a bang.

They were out again after he lost the two postseason games. Not many coaches would want to deal with that criticism or could live up to those high of standards so it was easy to predict a quick end.

The consolation for Malzahn had been the monstrous buyout. He knew if he was fired hastily he’d walk away with a huge payday.

That is now most likely gone.

What I would love to know is if Malzahn wishes he’d have taken the Arkansas job. Like I said then, he would have been given at least four years or maybe five to rebuild the Hogs and would have been paid well to do it — job security and a big paycheck.

But I am not sure if the coach was ever even serious about the UA offer. Was it just another one of super-agent Jimmy Sexton’s schemes to up the ante? I think so.

I think after surveying the landscape, Malzahn surmised it would be a tougher job at Arkansas with more risk of not meeting the standards, even though they are lower, than taking a huge raise and taking a chance that his tenure would end in a firing, maybe sooner t than later.

Or maybe as some suggest that Malzahn’s ego is so large that he thought his Auburn teams would contend for the National Title for the remaining years of his deal.

Whatever the case, it doesn’t look like he will be at Auburn much longer, whether he is asked to leave or skips town to another job. Many in Arkansas will be following this saga closely.