Malzahn Leaves Auburn for Arkansas State

“This is where I learned football, from Arkansas high school coaches,” Malzahn said. “I’m not a normal college coach as far as the progression goes. So, I’ve always looked for the right place at the right time. Guess what? This is the right place and the right time.”

We all knew that the day would come when Malzahn left the ranks of offensive coordinator and made the foray into head coaching. But no one expected him to take a job at a Sun Belt school. But, when you consider Malzahn’s background, the move makes sense, sort of.

Malzahn is from Texas, but has spent a large portion of his coaching career in the state of Arkansas. Malzahn got his start at Hughes High School in the town of Hughes, Arkansas. It was there he began to develop his wide open offensive philosophy. He moved on to become the head coach at Shiloh Christian School and won two state titles and featured offensives with lethal passing attacks (66 touchdown passes in one season). Malzahn continued his rise in the Arkansas high school football theater to taking the job at Springdale High in 2001. Malzahn would add another State Championship in 2005.

Malzahn’s quarterback that year was Mitch Mustain. Mustain was heavily recruited by Houston Nutt, who was at Arkansas then. Malzahn would join Nutt’s stuff as Offensive Coordinator for the 2006 season. The hiring was questioned because of Malzahn’s lack of experience in the college game, but the Razorbacks were able to reach the SEC title game and win the Western division, but finished the season on a 3 game losing skid, one of those being to the eventual national champion Florida Gators in Atlanta.

Malzahn had a troublesome relationship with Houston Nutt, like many at Arkansas, and left Fayetteville to take the job as Offensive Coordinator at Tulsa under Todd Graham. In two seasons, Malzahn’s squads featured the most prolific offensive attack in the country. In 2007, Tulsa became the first school to have a 5,000-yard passer, a 1,000-yard rusher and three 1,000-yard receivers in a single season in NCAA history.

Success at Tulsa landed Malzahn a job on Gene Chizik’s Auburn staff in 2009. His first season, the Tigers improved in offensive output and  finished the season but it wasn’t until 2010 that Malzahn became a household name. With transfer Cam Newton at quarterback, Malzahn and the Tigers exploded their way to a perfect season and a national champion. It then became apparent that someone was going to offer Malzahn the job. Despite being offered jobs at many schools, including Vanderbilt and Maryland, Malzahn stayed.

That’s what makes this move so baffling. Malzahn has taken a pay cut, and stepped far down in prestige. But, for Malzahn, this is a coming home party. He knows the high school landscape in Arkansas, he knows the coaches, and will be able to recruit the state. He isn’t stepping into a terrible situation either, for a Sun Belt team. Arkansas State just completed it’s fifth 10 win season in school history, led by coach Hugh Freeze, who recently left to take the Ole Miss job (another job Malzahn was considered for).

Auburn has work to do. After a dismal season, they’ve lost both of their coordinator (defensive coordinator Ted Roof left to accept the same position at UCF under George O’Leary) and now Chizik needs to pick up the pieces and move on. Most of the cast form the championship season are gone, and now we will find out if Chizik is the coach he appeared to be, or if Cam Newton was just that good.

For Malzahn, this is an interesting move, but I like it. He’s going under the radar to build his career from the bottom, up. Instead of jumping in over his head at a high profile job (cough Randy Edsall) he is starting small. And I think he will be very sucessful, no matter where he goes because he’s the type of guy that knows football, and is willing to put in the work to constantly improve his philosophy. The loser in this situation, is Auburn.