Mark Hasty notes that Tony Franklin just got axed, and thus ends the most botched coordinator hire since people started paying attention to who the coordinators were.
Last year, Tony Franklin was riding high, master of a top 20 offense despite taking the Troy Trojans of Troy (We're From Troy!) into battle against foes far superior to his own. The Trojans put up 34 points on Georgia -- only Tennessee exceeded that -- and went 8-4, tying for the Sun Belt championship.
Then he got hired by Auburn and this happened:
| Category | Ranking | Avg |
| Rushing Offense | 60 | 148.50 |
| Passing Offense | 103 | 160.67 |
| Total Offense | 104 | 309.17 |
| Scoring Offense | 103 | 18.67 |
No doubt the Auburn fanbase celebrates at Franklin's demise, but the invaluable Smart Football points out that Tony Franklin never got the opportunity to run his Air Raid offense, which is closer to Texas Tech's spread than the awful melange of whatever Auburn threw out there. Instead, Franklin was forced to use Auburn's ponderous power back on zone stretch plays time and again, to sit Kodi Burns on the bench despite his suitability for the offense, and generally run nothing from his actual playbook.
Sports
What's the point of even having him around? You hire a guy, then refuse to let him run his offense, then fire him halfway through his first season. Yeah, Franklin didn't work out but if I was an Auburn fan I'd be pointing the finger at the head coach, not the scapegoat.
