AUBURN, Ala. – Twice in his opening remarks after being introduced as Auburn's head football coach, Bryan Harsin referred to a "fourth-and-1 mentality."
"We can have a fourth-and-1 mentality every single day because there are no days off when you're trying to operate like that," Harsin said on Christmas Eve, describing the identity of consistent excellence he intends to build.
Harsin returned to that theme minutes later when discussing the similarities between success in football and life, and the importance of development in both.
"We will develop our players," he said. "We will certainly do that every single day with that fourth-and-1 mindset."
Visiting with AuburnTigers.com five days after his Christmas Eve introduction, Harsin elaborated on what a fourth-and-1 mentality is, and why it's so important to Auburn football's future.
"If you think about that situation in football, fourth-and-1, we know how intense that can be and we know how execution in that moment is critical," he said. "To me, outside of that, not in the moment of the game but just the sense of urgency to make sure that you're prepared for a moment like that.
"Every day, when I talk about fourth-and-1, it's having that sense of urgency, having that plan and purpose for what you want to do that particular day to get better and improve.
"And then the daily execution. I don't think you're going to be successful in moments like that in a game if you're not doing it every single day, and focusing on that. That mentality, that purpose, intentionally working on things to get better and doing it in a way where that focus in that moment becomes the most critical thing. I think that's an everyday way of living.
"In football when you're there and you're working on that, that's what you're focused on. When you're not, you're focused on being a student, you're focused on developing yourself as a person.
"When you put it in that context where fourth-and-1, everybody understands that the game of football in that moment while you're trying to get that 1 yard, it takes everybody to do that, it takes tremendous focus and tremendous discipline to make that happen.
"Part of that comes with your preparation that you do on a day to day basis. That's the message behind that: have a sense of urgency, be purposeful in everything that you do, and stay focused on the task at hand, so that you're going to make those necessary steps to be successful when it comes to moments like that."
Jeff Shearer is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: @jeff_shearer
Auburn coach Bryan Harsin to instill 'fourth-and-1 mentality'
