Auburn Tigers football coach Bryan Harsin 'not planning on going anywhere' amid program's volatility

As university leaders scrutinize the struggles of first-year Auburn football coach Bryan Harsin amid an exodus of players and coaches, he told ESPN he's committed to the school for the long term.

«I'm the Auburn coach, and that's how I'm operating every day,» Harsin told ESPN in a lengthy interview late Thursday night. «I want this thing to work, and I've told our players and told everybody else there is no Plan B. I'm not planning on going anywhere. This was and is the job. That's why I left the one I was in, to come here and make this place a championship program and leave it better than I found it.»

Harsin, who is on vacation, said he hasn't had any conversations with Auburn leaders that would suggest he won't be back for the 2022 season.

As he works to finalize the reconstruction of his staff, university officials are examining the factors that led to 20 players and five assistant coaches leaving the school, sources told ESPN.

Upper administration officials at Auburn, including executive vice president and chief operating officer Lt. Gen. Ron Burgess, have conducted interviews with some of the people exiting, sources told ESPN. At the root of the inquiry, sources told ESPN, is the overall volatility in the program and Harsin's treatment of players and assistant coaches.

«It all gets back to people and the way they were mistreated,» one source told ESPN. «There's a reason so many people have left. You just don't see that many people at one school leave, not in one year. It's a mess.»

Burgess and athletic director Allen Greene did not respond to requests seeking comment.

Lee Hunter, who transferred from Auburn to UCF earlier this offseason, posted on Instagram on Friday that «Coach Harsin has the true mindset for a