Auburn’s Bryan Harsin In Danger of Dismissal as Rumors Swirl

The 2021 Auburn Tigers completed first year head coach Bryan Harsin's first season in charge with an abysmal 6-7 record, capped off with a loss in Birmingham Bowl against Houston. The Tigers lost their final five games of the season and finished 6th in the SEC West.

While a 6-7 record is not the worst result for a first-year head coach, see 2007 Nick Saban finishing 7-6, the more concerning aspects of Harsin's initial season is all the drama that has followed him off the field.

Harsin has seen 20 Auburn Tigers enter the transfer portal, turned over three coordinators and signed the No. 18 recruiting class during his first season, causing doubt to swirl about his ability to lead the program.

According to several close to the program, including Justin Hokanson of On3 Sports, Harsin's immediate future as Auburn head football coach is in serious jeopardy. The problems on The Plains are obvious and now new rumors have begun to circulate about Harsin being romantically involved with another member of the Auburn football staff.

Clesi Crochet currently serves as the assistant to the head coach and football operations for Auburn football, a role she has held since February 2021. She began her career in football as an intern in the Boise State recruiting department in 2019 while Harsin was the Bronco's head coach. Crochet was promoted in 2020 to assistant to the head coach and on-campus recruiting coordinator and then followed Harsin to the SEC to work in her current role.

Currently, nothing inappropriate has been verified concerning the pair's relationship, however Auburn message boards and social media pages have been heating up with the talk of Harsin and Crochet being romantically involved.

Harsin signed a 6-year, $30 million contract with the Tigers in 2021 and therefore has five years remaining on his contract. Should the Auburn administration be able to prove Harsin was involved in an inappropriate relationship the University could opt to fire him with cause, and thus save the roughly $18 million buyout he has remaining on his contract.

Crochet is earning a salary of $60,000 per year according to Auburn University's financial records. It remains to be seen if these rumors will be addressed or become substantiated but Harsin's wife, Kes, posted on her Instagram what looked to be like a response to the allegations.

"Rumors are carried by haters, spread by fools, and accepted by idiots," said Harsin.

This story is developing, stay locked into Tide 100.9 FM and the Tuscaloosa Thread for more updates.