SEC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME: AUBURN VS. MISSOURI

Auburn Arkies

Tigers’ coaching staff heavy on former Hogs

In his first season as Auburn’s head coach, Gus Malzahn has led the Tigers to their first SEC West title since 2010. Malzahn, who coached at Arkansas State last season, is one of four Arkansans on Auburn’s coaching staff.
In his first season as Auburn’s head coach, Gus Malzahn has led the Tigers to their first SEC West title since 2010. Malzahn, who coached at Arkansas State last season, is one of four Arkansans on Auburn’s coaching staff.

In a season when the Arkansas Razorbacks went winless in SEC play for the first time, the state of Arkansas still will have a strong presence in the Georgia Dome on Saturday when Auburn plays Missouri in the SEC Championship Game.

Four Arkansas natives who have a history with the Razorbacks - Gus Malzahn, Rhett Lashlee, Tim Horton and J.B. Grimes - will be on the Auburn sideline.

Horton and Malzahn were players on teams coached by Ken Hatfield, and Grimes coached for Hatfield with the Razorbacks. Hatfield said he doesn’t know Lashlee personally, but he lives in Springdale and hears about Lashlee’s accomplishments from family members and friends.

“Auburn’s staff is just one example that shows you how many talented coaches our state has produced,” said Hatfield, who is originally from Helena and starred for Arkansas as a safety and punt returner on the 1964 national championship team and has the highest winning percentage (.760) of any Razorbacks coach, going 55-17-1 from 1984-1989.

“We’ve had a lot of great coaches in Arkansas, and those are four of the best at Auburn right now,” Hatfield said. “Certainly, their contributions this season have been as noteworthy as any coaches anywhere around the country.”

Malzahn, who is originally from Fort Smith, was a walk on receiver at Arkansas and spent 2006 as offensive coordinator, has led the Tigers to an 11-1 record and No. 3 BCS ranking in his first season as their head coach. He is attempting to become the fourth coach with Arkansas roots to win an SEC title as a head coach. The others: Alabama’s Paul “Bear” Bryant (from Fordyce), LSU’s Charlie McClendon (Lewisville) and Auburn’s Tommy Tuberville (Camden).

Lashlee, who played for Malzahn at Shiloh Christian, was a walk-on quarterback at Arkansas who later became a Razorbacks graduate assistant. He is Auburn’s offensive coordinator and one of five finalists for the Broyles Award presented to the nation’s top assistant.

Horton, from Conway, is in his first season as Auburn’s running backs coach, the same position he held at Arkansas the previous six seasons. He was a starting receiver, punt returner and team captain for the Razorbacks.

Grimes, who is from Clarendon and played at Henderson State, is the Tigers’ offensive line coach. He coached the Razorbacks’ offensive line as a full-time assistant and graduate assistant.

Malzahn, who transferred from Arkansas to Henderson State to finish his playing career, was a high school head coach in the state for 14 seasons at Hughes, Shiloh Christian and Springdale before breaking into college coaching as Houston Nutt’s offensive coordinator at Arkansas.

So eight years after being a high school coach, Malzahn has a shot to win an SEC title as a head coach.

“I’d say it’s pretty darn good. You kidding me?” Missouri Coach Gary Pinkel said of Malzahn’s career path. “I did it a more traditional way, coaching in college, but obviously he’s done a phenomenal job.

“He’s very good at the techniques, the Xs and Os, fundamentals. Scheme wise they do a great job. He can unite people and get players to play as a team and not as individuals. You can see that by the way they play.”

Malzahn is a leading candidate for SEC and national coach of the year honors after turning around Auburn, which was 3-9 overall last season, including 0-8 in the conference. The Tigers’ only loss this season was at LSU, 35-21.

“I feel very humbled and very honored to be doing what I’m doing,” Malzahn said. “There are a lot of really good high school coaches that could be doing the same thing, but they just haven’t been given the opportunity.

“I’ve been fortunate enough to be in the right place at the right time throughout my career, not just in college, but in high school with great people around me. This situation is no different.”

Lashlee, 30, played quarterback for Malzahn at Shiloh Christian and was a graduate assistant with him at Arkansas and Auburn before becoming his offensive coordinator at Arkansas State last season and then returning with Malzahn to Auburn.

“He was always kind of ahead of his time maturity-wise as a player, being a student of the game,” Malzahn said.

Malzahn praised the job Lashlee has done coaching Nick Marshall, Auburn’s dual-threat quarterback who didn’t practice with the Tigers until this fall after transferring from Garden City (Kan.) Community College. Marshall has passed for 1,627 yards and 11 touchdowns and rushed for 922 yards and 10 touchdowns.

“You’re talking about a quarterback who didn’t go through spring ball, and Nick’s gotten better each week,” Malzahn said. “I know a lot of times I get a lot of the credit … but he deserves just as much. He does the majority of the game-planning and the work that goes with it.”

Malzahn said Lashlee is heavily involved in play-calling.

“We kind of do it together,” Malzahn said. “We think quick, and as we’re calling a play we’re planning ahead, making adjustments. I’ve got a lot of trust in him. He knows this offense inside and out.

“He really allows me to be the head coach and do the duties that go along with a job like this.”

Malzahn, who won the Broyles Award in 2010 as Auburn’s offensive coordinator, said Lashlee deserves to be honored as a finalist when the banquet is held Tuesday in Little Rock. He said he expects Lashlee to eventually become a head coach.

“He’s got all the ingredients,” Malzahn said. “I don’t know the timetable. Selfishly, I hope we have him for a while.”

The Broyles Award, named in honor of former Arkansas coach and athletic director Frank Broyles, has been presented annually since 1996.

“It’s a great honor, being from Arkansas, knowing who Coach Broyles is and what he stands for, his reputation,” Lashlee told reporters this week after being announced as Broyles Award finalist. “That’s a pretty neat deal.

“It’s humbling. … I look at things like this - the same as for our players getting individual recognition - it’s just a reflection of this team and how it’s been this year.”

Horton and Grimes have been instrumental in helping the Tigers rank fifth nationally and lead the SEC in rushing offense at 318.3 yards per game. They are 15th nationally in total offense (491.0 yards) and 17th in scoring (38.6 points).

“They’re excellent people,” Malzahn said. “They’re both very good teachers. J.B.’s done a great job with our offensive line. Tim’s one of the best in the country at coaching running backs. We’re blessed to have them.”

Bret Bielema, hired as Arkansas’ coach a year ago, offered Horton a chance to stay with the Razorbacks - after several weeks on the job - as tight ends coach, but Horton made the decision to join Malzahn at Auburn.

“I think in this case, it was a chance for a brand-new lease on life for him with people he knew and respected,” Hatfield said. “Plus, he’s around a lot of people that appreciate what he does all the time. I think he gave everything he had at Arkansas, but sometimes a new environment will help you in your overall coaching career. Certainly the move has worked out well for him and his family.”

Grimes began his coaching career in the Arkansas high school ranks at Nashville (1977) and Des Arc (1978) and was a graduate assistant at Arkansas in 1981 and 1982.He returned to Arkansas as offensive line coach from 1989-1992. His other stops have included Texas A&M, Virginia Tech, Missouri, Kansas and Arkansas State, where he coached for Malzahn last season.

“Coaching offensive line is a unique situation, and I think he can relate well to those guys,” Hatfield said. “He can challenge and motivate them, and they buy into it.”

Hatfield marveled at what Horton and Grimes have helped Auburn achieve in the running game a year after the Tigers averaged 148.4 rushing yards to rank ninth in the SEC and 80th nationally.

“They’ve been able to run the ball against people that know primarily they’re going to run it to set up the play-action pass,” Hatfield said.

Malzahn took the Auburn job last December after one season at Arkansas State. At the time, Malzahn didn’t predict how many games the Tigers could win, but he talked about the players regaining confidence and improving on a consistent basis.

“When we first got here, we knew we had some talent,” he said. “But they’d been through a storm the year before, and we really were just focused on getting our edge back and playing good Auburn football.

“It was just real simple. Let’s play together, let’s improve each week, and at the end of the year, our goal is to be a pretty good football team.”

Hatfield said he isn’t surprised Malzahn has orchestrated a turnaround.

“You can have good talent, but to win, it’s got to all fit together in the right package,” Hatfield said. “Offensively last year, they didn’t have a good direction with the talent they had, with all that drop back passing stuff and not running much.

“They changed so much last year from what Gus had done as their coordinator, and then when they didn’t have success, I think it just hurt their overall morale. You could sense it as you watched their games unfold.

“With Gus coming back this year, the guys respected him and appreciated him for what he’d done before as an assistant, and they all bought into it.

“It also helped that Gus brought in a great coaching staff.”

Who’s who?

GUS MALZAHN POSITION Head coach

RHETT LASHLEE POSITION Offensive coordinator

TIM HORTON POSITION Running backs coach

J.B. GRIMES POSITION Offensive line coach

Familiar faces

The Auburn coaching staff that goes against Missouri on Saturday in the SEC Championship Game features four coaches who are Arkansas natives and have ties to the Razorbacks as players or coaches. Here is a rundown of those coaches:

GUS MALZAHN Head coach

AGE 48 HOMETOWN Fort Smith EDUCATION Henderson State, bachelor of arts, 1990, after attending Arkansas HIGH SCHOOL COACHING Won 3 state titles and coached 7 state championship games in 14 years at Hughes, Shiloh Christian and Springdale.

COLLEGE COACHING Offensive coordinator at Arkansas (2006), Tulsa (2007-2008) and Auburn (2009-2011); head coach at Arkansas State (9-3, 2012);

Auburn (11-1, 2013)

NOTEWORTHY Inducted in July into the Arkansas High School Coaches Association Hall of Fame. … Won the Broyles Award as the nation’s top assistant coach in 2010 when, as Auburn’s offensive coordinator, he helped the Tigers win the national championship. … He is 20-4 as a college head coach.

RHETT LASHLEE Offensive coordinator

AGE 30 HOMETOWN Springdale EDUCATION Arkansas, 2006, bachelor’s in marketing and business administration; Auburn, 2009, master’s in higher education PLAYING DAYS Served as a backup quarterback at Arkansas, where his career was cut short by a shoulder injury.

COLLEGE COACHING Graduate assistant at Arkansas (2006) and Auburn (2009-2010), offensive coordinator at Samford (2011), and Arkansas State (2012), before returning to Auburn with Malzahn this season.

NOTEWORTHY One of five finalists for the Broyles Award, given to nation’s top assistant coach.

TIM HORTON Running backs coach

AGE 46 HOMETOWN Conway EDUCATION Arkansas, bachelor’s in marketing management, 1990 PLAYING DAYS Was a team captain as a receiver and punt returner at Arkansas for Ken Hatfield after starring at Conway High School. Played on Arkansas’ Southwest Conference championship teams in 1988 and 1989.

COLLEGE COACHING Served as a Razorbacks assistant from 2007-2012, coaching running backs and serving as recruiting coordinator. Appalachian State receivers coach (1990-1992), running backs coach (1993-1998), Kansas State running backs coach (2006), Air Force receivers coach (1999-2004), running backs coach (2005)

J.B. GRIMES Offensive line coach

AGE 58 HOMETOWN Clarendon EDUCATION Henderson State, bachelor’s in education, 1977; Louisiana-Monroe, master’s in education, 1981 PLAYING DAYS Played guard four seasons from 1973-1976 for teams which were a combined 40-6

COACHING CAREER Assistant coach, Nashville High School (1977), assistant coach, Des Arc High School (1978), graduate assistant, Northeast Louisiana (1979-1980); graduate assistant, Arkansas (1981-1982), assistant coach, Delta State (1983), Missouri (1984), Northeast Louisiana (1985-1988), Arkansas (1989-1992), Virginia Tech (1993-1997), Texas A&M (1998-2002), East Carolina (2003) and Mississippi State (2004-2008); Kansas (2010-2011); Arkansas State (2012); Auburn (2013)

Sports, Pages 17 on 12/06/2013

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