Auburn coach Gus Malzahn is comfortable, confident, more engaged and ‘not as bored’
AUBURN, Ala. — Gus Malzahn “got bored the last couple of years.”
That’s not something you usually hear a college football coach say, especially not a head coach of a major Power 5 university like Auburn where life can be so volatile that, one December, you’re getting rewarded with a seven-year, $49 million contract for winning the SEC West, and the next, you’re the subject of debates about whether it would be worth ponying up $32 million just to make a man go away.
But Malzahn couldn’t help it. The part of coaching that he loved most, the role that brought him from the Arkansas high school ranks to Division I offensive coordinator to Auburn head coach — offensive play-caller — was taken away from him early on during the 2016 season.
Some at Auburn felt it was time for a new voice after a 1-2 start with home losses to Clemson and Texas A&M where the offense scored 16 or fewer points. Malzahn handed the clipboard to longtime protégé Rhett Lashlee, who called the plays for the remainder of an 8-5 campaign. When Lashlee made a not-so-lateral move to UConn after the season, and Malzahn brought in Chip Lindsey to replace him, the head coach claimed that clipboard had been “retired” — Lindsey, now the head coach at Troy, called the plays during the 2017 and 2018 seasons.
It wasn’t until that tumultuous December following the end of last year’s regular season — when the rumors ranged from Auburn asking Malzahn to reduce his buyout to boosters making overtures to retired former Oklahoma head coach Bob Stoops — that Malzahn finally wrestled back control of Auburn’s offense.
Given the results through five games this season, it’s fair to wonder why anyone thought Malzahn should have given up that control in the first place.
“I enjoy being involved. I love working with our players on the practice field,” Malzahn said this week ahead of No. 7 Auburn’s trip to face No. 8 Florida in Gainesville Saturday. “That’s really the highlight for me. Just being more engaged, I enjoy that.”
Malzahn has worn that on his sleeve. He promised players in the spring he would be more open,would “start sharing more of my heart” and that they were “gonna know me better than you’ve known me before,” and players agree that he has.
"Coach Malzahn now, he’s just taking every step he can now to personally know us as players," senior defensive end Marlon Davidson said during the spring. "That let you know that he’s actually trying and he’s actually here for us."
If that isn’t proof enough, just look at the team's reaction to Malzahn's postgame speech in the locker room following a Week 4 "big boy road win" at Texas A&M.
But it’s not just within the confines of the locker room; Malzahn has been more open with everybody. At times where he might have been a little robotic in the past, he has flashed some of his personality. He allowed a reporter to shadow his wife, Kristi, throughout the entire game against Kent State.
And he certainly hasn’t been afraid to tell a joke or deliver a not-so-subtle jab at someone during news conferences, which used to be milquetoast way more often than they were interesting.
At SEC media days, when asked why he gave up play-calling duties in the first place, he said “through the years, you get advice and all of that, and of course I made a mistake.” When the topic of a hurry-up, no-huddle offense that used to be unique but, 10 years later, is common throughout all levels of football came up, he made sure to mention that “now everybody is playing fast. Even the ones that had health issues and all that” — referencing the teams that used injuries to try to slow the Tigers down.
Three weeks ago, a day after Alabama went so far as to issue a news release complaining about having to play another 11 a.m. game, Malzahn — whose Tigers were playing at 6 p.m. that week — said, "Personally, I wish it was at noon. We'd have more time to prepare for our next opponent.”
On Sunday, when told that Florida would be wearing Steve Spurrier-era throwback uniforms on Saturday, he said “It’s homecoming, too,” with a wry smile on his face — Florida has scheduled an SEC team as its homecoming opponent every year since 2013, but it’s not often that Auburn has been that for another school.
Auburn fans have taken notice — some have told him during his weekly Tiger Talk radio show that they “like the new, salty Gus.”
All of that has come through on the field, too. There were so many times last season where it seemed Malzahn and Lindsey couldn’t get on the same page. The play calls took a while to come in from the sideline, turning a hurry-up, no-huddle offense to a slow and plodding no-huddle offense. TV cameras occasionally caught frustrated quarterback Jarrett Stidham imploring someone to call something.
There hasn’t been any of that this season. The offense, when it has been going right, has been going at typical Malzahn speeds. Auburn scored three touchdowns on just eight plays in barely more than six minutes of game time in a 56-23 rout of Mississippi State last Saturday. True freshman quarterback Bo Nix said afterward that, for most of that game, he could tell a play was going to work as soon as Malzahn sent it in from the sideline.
“He just looks like he’s having fun out there again,” sophomore wide receiver Anthony Schwartz said. “He’s not really stressing. He’s just doing what he does. He’s one of the best play-callers in the country, and we trust him, and we do whatever he wants us to do.”
Maybe the best example of that came in the closing minutes of the first half. The Tigers had first-and-10 after a targeting call against the Bulldogs, but they were on their own 23-yard line with only about two minutes remaining. And they already led by 26 points.
Then, a screen pass, a pair of Kam Martin runs and a quick out from Nix to Will Hastings gave Auburn a first down from its own 49 with about 30 seconds to play. It felt like only a matter of time before the coach called for a shot, which he did on that next play — 48 yards to Schwartz down the left sideline.
Running back JaTarvious Whitlow rushed for the touchdown two plays later that made it 42-9 at halftime.
“Oh, we're back to being an Auburn offense,” sophomore wide receiver Seth Williams said. “This is what Auburn is about — fast pace and scoring touchdowns. That's what Malzahn likes to do, so that's what we're doing.”
It took a few games for the puzzle to come together this season, but the offensive explosion against Mississippi State goes a long way toward proving the right pieces are in place. Kenny Dillingham seems a perfect fit as offensive coordinator, having served in the exact same, non-play-calling role for one of Malzahn’s closest friends in coaching, Mike Norvell, at Memphis before coming to Auburn. Nix has improved each time out through the first five weeks of his career, and a senior-laden offensive line has played better and better in front of him. The wide receiving corps headlined by Schwartz and Williams is finally healthy after dealing with injury throughout August and the early part of September.
“It's been so long since I called (plays) that I can't really remember what I used to work,” Malzahn said. “But I think each week, you just try to give your guys the best chance of being successful with what you're going to face. I think, really, our guys deserve all the credit. I mean, the standpoint that they are executing what's called against some good defenses. So it makes it easy.”
Auburn did go through periods of offensive success at times during Malzahn’s somewhat-forced three-year hiatus from play-calling. Not last season, of course, but definitely in 2017 (when Kerryon Johnson looked like Heisman candidate during a five-game winning streak that included upsets of then-top-ranked Georgia and Alabama) and 2016 (when a healthy Kamryn Pettway was a world-beater during the middle part of the regular season).
But each of those periods of success came to a swift and often painful end. This one feels as if it might have some staying power now that Malzahn is back in his comfort zone.
“I’m not as bored,” he said again Tuesday. “I’ll tell you that.”