AUBURN, Ala. – In his first month on the job, Auburn head football coach Bryan Harsin has already made a season's worth of decisions.
Hired on Dec. 22, 2020, and introduced on Christmas Eve, Harsin completed his coaching staff Wednesday with the addition of defensive line coach Nick Eason.
"This is, for many of us, a dream opportunity to be at a program like this," said Harsin, whose first hire was head football strength and conditioning coach Jeff Pitman. "All of those coaches, the support staff, the strength coaches we have, every single one of them, they are all excited to be here and looking forward to getting our guys back here officially and being around them every single day and start to develop this team for 2021."
That development officially began Monday with mandatory strength and conditioning workouts.
"That's the foundation," Harsin said. "Work, hard work. It all starts there. We can put together a great plan, but if we don't have the work ethic behind it, there's no plan you can put in place that is going to be successful if you don't bring it every single day.
"That foundation that we build in the weight room is going to determine success as we move forward, because this is football. You build your mentality, you build your physicality, you build your discipline, all those things happen in the weight room and on that field and in conditioning. Before you go out there and cut it loose and have fun and play in the game, you've got to put in the work."
In his third head coaching opportunity, Harsin draws from his first-year experiences at Arkansas State in 2013 and Boise State in 2014.
"Think about the type of people you want to have in your program," he said. "That's No. 1. Start with, what's the vision for the program? What do we want to accomplish? We want to win championships consistently. We want to have guys who are here who are first class. We want to have high integrity. We want to have academic excellence. You start with a goal and vision and you go find those people that fit within that goal and that vision. You find great people. That takes time."
In addition to hiring his staff and beginning to establish his culture, Harsin began recruiting the second half of Auburn's 2021 class ahead of National Signing Day on Feb. 3.
"Recruiting never ends," he said. "You just have set points where you can sign, but if you don't sign everybody at that one time, it still goes on. The goal is to sign the right people, to have the right players in this program, to have the right fit for what it is we're trying to accomplish."
To connect with former players and invite their continued participation in Auburn's program, Harsin visited with lettermen via Zoom.
"We want our past players to understand how important they are and to honor what they did here, and to help our current players inspire those who will follow," he said. "That's important to us, and I appreciate any guys that have been a part of this program."
To talk to former Auburn players who starred on unbeaten SEC championship teams, Harsin need only walk down the hall in the Auburn Athletics Complex to the offices of running backs coach Carnell Williams and cornerbacks coach Zac Etheridge.
"They bleed orange and blue, they understand what it takes," Harsin said. "They know what it feels like to leave this program as champions with a degree from Auburn University. They can share that with families and players. It's not something that's scripted, it's genuine, their pride in being back here. I think a lot of coaches who get a chance to come back to their alma mater and coach, they take tremendous pride in that."
Auburn expects to start spring practice in mid-March. Though Harsin has checked off enough to-do list items in his first month on the Plains to fill a call sheet, the work is just beginning.
"We've got to finish up with recruiting," he said. "We've got to continue to keep connecting with our players. We've got to install and establish the culture and the things we want to do schematically with our guys and really start diving into getting prepared for spring practice once we get on the other side of this signing day. That has been the focus. For me it has been about the culture, the recruiting, the development.
"Having the staff here—having the strength staff here, having the right people in place, and really coaching the coaches and making sure that we're all on the same page and that we're aligned with what we're doing is going to help us move further faster with our players."'Bring it every single day': Auburn's Bryan Harsin will sign his first partial recruiting class on Feb. 3.
Jeff Shearer is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: @jeff_shearer