Malzahn takes helm at Auburn

Auburn offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn talks to his players in the first quarter against Arkansas at Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville on Oct. 10, 2009.
Auburn offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn talks to his players in the first quarter against Arkansas at Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville on Oct. 10, 2009.

— Arkansas State University’s Gus Malzahn bolted Tuesday after one season of coaching the Red Wolves to return to Auburn University, where he had previously spent three seasons as offensive coordinator. His exit came just three days after ASU won its second-consecutive Sun Belt Conference title.

Malzahn, 47, will replace former Auburn, Ala., Coach Gene Chizik, who was fired in the wake of a 3-9 season. Malzahn’s departure falls squarely on the one-year anniversary of former ASU Coach Hugh Freeze’s exit for Ole Miss.

“Coach Gus Malzahn informed us this afternoon that he would be accepting the head coaching position at Auburn,” ASU Chancellor Tim Hudson said in a statement. “We appreciate his contributions to our conference championship season and wish him well.”

His decision to leave a program that he promised to build into an ascendant football power came after the Red Wolves defeated Middle Tennessee 45-0 Saturday at Liberty Bank Stadium in Jonesboro.

Fans crowded around him Saturday, chanting his name, and he posed for photos before accepting the championship trophy and slapping the backs of ASU administrators.

At 2 p.m. Tuesday, Malzahn called ASU Athletic Director Terry Mohajir to notify him of his departure.

“He said to me that he and his wife had prayed very hard about it and that he had decided to return to Auburn,” said Mohajir, who was in New York to attend a National Football Foundation meeting.

ASU went 9-3 this season, which included a sevengame winning streak and a second consecutive trip to the GoDaddy.com Bowl, a game ASU will play against No. 25 Kent State on Jan. 6 in Mobile, Ala.

Now, ASU must find its fourth coach in as many seasons: Steve Roberts was fired after the 2010 season, Freeze left in 2011, and now Malzahn.

But it won’t be long until ASU sees Malzahn again. The Red Wolves are to travel to Auburn for the second game of the 2013 season.

“How about that?” said Malzahn, who will make $2.3 million annually in a five-year deal with Auburn. “That’s pretty ironic how that works, and they’re going to be a good team.”

Malzahn reportedly met with the ASU players Tuesday to tell them of his plans to leave. ASU’s 19 victories over the past two seasons are the most in the school’s history, and the school won back-to-back conference titles for the first time since 1985-86.

“I get extremely close to my players, and anytime that you do that it’s tough to leave,” Malzahn said Tuesday night during his introductory news conference at Auburn. “Arkansas State was very good to me and my family. The players were unbelievable, and it was tough to say bye.

“At the same time, I am so excited to be here.”

Fans and supporters greeted Malzahn’s plane as it landed in Auburn eager to welcome the coach who is expected to revive an Auburn program two seasons removed from a 14-0 record, a Southeastern Conference championship and a Bowl Championship Series national title.

“It’s a new day,” Malzahn said. “My goal is to get Auburn back to a championship level, and like we said, two years ago we won a championship. The expectation at Auburn is to win championships. That’s my goal, and we’re going to do everything in our power to get that done.”

Rumors about Malzahn’s potential departure began stirring Sunday, when reports by AL.com indicated that Auburn Athletic Director Jay Jacobs and his threemember search committee would begin interviewing candidates in Nashville, Tenn., which is home to search committee member Edwin Crawford.

A report Tuesday morning said Malzahn had interviewed for the job.

During the 8 p.m. Tuesday news conference, Jacobs said Malzahn met the committee’s criteria for finding a coach with a track record of winning, maintaining a successful academic standing and imbuing the program with the “Auburn creed.”

“He’s done that everywhere he’s been,” Jacobs said. “It was a unanimous decision because he exemplifies all three of those criteria.”

Jacobs said the search committee gave him the goahead to reach out to Malzahn on Tuesday morning and to negotiate a deal, although Malzahn was vague when asked when he was contacted.

“Things happened pretty quick,” Malzahn said. “Everything’s happened in the past three days, and it was midafternoon.”

Mohajir told the Democrat-Gazette on Friday that Auburn officials had not contacted ASU seeking permission to speak with Malzahn.

“Everybody talks through search firms and agents now,” Mohajir said Friday.

ASU said in a statement that the plan is for Malzahn and his staff to coach the Red Wolves in their bowl game against Kent State, but Mohajir, who was scheduled to arrive in Jonesboro at 9 p.m. Tuesday, said he and the coach “hadn’t talked about it yet.”

“That’s something we’re going to have to talk about either late tonight or sometime tomorrow,” Mohajir said.

Malzahn left himself wiggle room when asked whether he intended to be on the sideline at Ladd-Peebles Stadium in Mobile.

“I need to talk to [ASU] administration,” Malzahn said. “I am 100 percent committed to Auburn and getting this thing turned around as soon as possible.”

Mohajir said he plans to meet with ASU players this morning.

The school plans to start an immediate search for a replacement for Malzahn, who was hired eight days after Freeze left the Red Wolves.

“It will all be in-house,” Mohajir said of a search committee that includes him, Hudson and ASU System President Charles Welch.

The departure is a blow for ASU, which viewed the program as a “front porch” for an athletic department whose $13.4 million estimated budget for fiscal 2013 ranks next-to-last in the 11-member Sun Belt Conference.

Malzahn was considered one of the top coaching candidates in the nation a year ago. He had been considered a leading choice at Maryland, North Carolina, Kansas and Vanderbilt, and stunned many when he chose to go to Jonesboro.

The school crafted a five-year deal worth at least $4.25 million, which included an annual base salary of $700,000, and an estimated $100,000 each year from radio and TV shows. It also provided him a “value added” roughly $40,000 for the use of a universityowned home in the upscale Ridge Pointe Subdivision. The home is valued by the Craighead County Assessor at $505,500.

It easily made Malzahn the highest-paid coach in the Sun Belt Conference. Also, a personal-services agreement with the Red Wolf Club allowed Malzahn to access up to $600,000 annually raised from Northwest Arkansas boosters to potentially take Malzahn’s base salary to $1.3 million.

Mohajir said he had taken steps in recent days to keep Malzahn at ASU but added that “it’s not all about money.”

“I’ve been speaking with him almost every day since last Saturday,” Mohajir said. “I’ve been telling him that we’ve got a great plan and a great vision unfolding here.”

Rick Gillette, president of the Red Wolf Club, said he was confident that the school could assemble a similarly enticing compensation package for the coach picked to succeed Malzahn.

However, “I have not been able to talk to any of our donors or supporters at this point,” Gillette said.

Mohajir said Malzahn’s decision doesn’t change ASU’s mind-set moving forward.

“I can tell you this, it’s going to be good,” Mohajir said. “This program will take a pause, but it won’t stop growing and it won’t stop succeeding. That doesn’t change. We’re all in.”

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Front Section, Pages 1 on 12/05/2012

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