Not to be outdone by SEC West rival Arkansas, which will reportedly hire Wisconsin coach Bret Bielema, word on who Auburn will hire is beginning to leak as well.
Word began to spread Tuesday afternoon when Auburn president Jay Gogue confirmed that the university was planning to announce its new head coach within the next 24 hours.#BREAKING: Auburn President Dr. Gogue tells CBS 8 News Reporter @jgertler_cbs8that coach announcement to be made within 24 hours.
— WAKA CBS 8 (@CBS8News) December 4, 2012
Not long after, multiple media outlets including Scout.com, Rivals.com, al.com and Chris Bahn of ArkansasBusiness.com reported that Arkansas State coach Gus Malzahn will be the Tigers’ new head coach. Auburn announced a press conference for 9 p.m. ET to make the hire official.
The Red Wolves went 9-3 this year under Malzahn.
Malzahn was Auburn’s offensive coordinator from 2009-11 under former coach Gene Chizik. Chizik was fired late last month following a blowout loss to Alabama that ended AU’s season at 3-9. If the reports indeed come to fruition, Auburn would be repeating some history. Chizik was the program’s former defensive coordinator during Auburn’s undefeated 2004 season and Malzahn was the offensive coordinator for the team’s 2010 undefeated season.
Alabama defensive coordinator Kirby Smart was also believed to be a finalist for the job.
Updated 5:10 p.m. ET: Auburn has officially announced Malzahn as the team’s new head coach.
“I’m grateful for the opportunity to become the head football coach at Auburn University. It’s an outstanding institution with a storied football program that I had the pleasure of experiencing first-hand for three years,” Malzahn said in a release. “I deeply appreciate the confidence that Dr. Gogue, Jay Jacobs and the search committee had in my ability to turn this program around and to bring Auburn back to national prominence. This is a homecoming for me and I look forward to being reunited with the Auburn family.”
“We are tremendously excited that Gus Malzahn will be our next head football coach,” AD Jay Jacobs said. “Coach Malzahn was the clear unanimous choice of our search committee, and I am pleased that Dr. Gogue has accepted our recommendation. This is a great day for Auburn football and Auburn University.”
“Gus Malzahn is a proven winner. He is without question one of the brightest minds in college football and he has won everywhere he has been. Coach Malzahn knows what it takes to build a championship program in the Southeastern Conference. He knows our state and region and he understands what it will take to turn our program around. Coach Malzahn will also be an outstanding ambassador for Auburn University, and that was important to the committee.”