New A-State Coach Bryan Harsin Brings Game Plan from Texas, Boise

Jeff Reed Author Page
The word we heard the past two weeks was A-State University was going to stick with the same formula when trying to find its next football coach. It has worked pretty well the past two seasons.

The buzzword, well not really a word, is HUHN. That stands for “hurry-up, no huddle” offense.

Hugh Freeze and Gus Malzahn show support. Now both are coaching in the Southeastern Conference and the Red Wolves have gone 19-5 the past two season and with two bowl berths.

Last night word broke, actually first on this site, that Texas co-offensive coordinator Bryan Harsin was next on the Red Wolves’ list. He interviewed that day and word came via text “we have our man.”

The rest of the time was left for negotiations.

So the rumors ran throughout the afternoon and evening.  About 7 p.m. the operator of this website received a text to get a photo Harsin ready.

“Could happen tonight” it read.

A little more than an hour and a half later the story was up.

Around 9 p.m. ASU president Chuck Welch posted on facebook a photo of the well-lit state capitol, showing to one and all he was working late. Some asked him to “spill the beans.”

He never did, well at least not openly, but plenty of others did.

Harsin, 35, will be officially introduced this afternoon.  It is his first head coaching job, again following the template of the Freeze/Malzahn hires, both pulled off by former ASU athletic director Dean Lee, who was pretty much a victim of Malzahn’s year in Jonesboro. He signed a new contact in July and a month later was reassigned.

Harsin, who was hired in 2011 to rev up the Longhorns’ offense and be responsible for play-calling, is the first hire of the new ASU athletic director, Terry Mohajir. Working with a young offense, he improved the UT numbers in points per game, third-down conversions and red zone production.

UT followers are concerned that the Longhorns program will sputter without Harsin, who shared the OC title with former Longhorn QB Major Applewhite.

We share this from Burnt Orange Nation about new A-State Coach Bryan Harsin:

The numbers support what was obvious with our eyes, as well. Quarter to quarter, game to game, season to season, Bryan Harsin had a plan, and he was good at teaching his players how to execute what he wanted them to do. The Longhorns offense was still young this year, and still had a ways to go personnel-wise, but they were a consistently strong unit – very good, not quite strong enough a running team to be great.

He came to Texas from Boise State, where many consider him the secret behind the success of legendary Boise quarterback Kellen Moore. It is his work there that got the attention of the Red Wolves. Promoted to offensive coordinator when Chris Petersen was named head coach, he was also credited with involving the tight-end into the offense. The 10 years he was there, BSU was the top scoring team in the nation.

He is from Boise, played for the Broncos and coached there for 10 seasons, five of them as OC and quarterbacks coach. Those were things ASU was looking for as it once again found itself in coaching-search mode. (And we note, ASU seniors next season will be under their fourth head coach!)

He was a finalist in 2009 for the Broyles Award and is now the third member of  that class of 5 to become a head coach. The others are Charlie Strong (Louisville) and Jeff Quinn (Buffalo). Others in that class were Alabama defensive coordinator Kirby Smart and TCU defensive coordinator Dick Bumpas.

The search brought out some impressive names, frankly, names that at one time would have never considered ASU.

The school will present its latest find this afternoon.

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