Bryan Harsin stood defiantly on the stage inside the College Football Hall of Fame and delivered the words that will forever be intertwined with his tenure on the Plains.

It was uncomfortable. It was unfounded…. And it didn’t work.

At the time, Harsin was referring to the February inquiry into his handling of Auburn’s football program, but as time wore on, it was apparent those same words aptly summed up his stint as the Tigers’ head coach, which abruptly ended Monday following a 41-27 loss to Arkansas that dropped the Tigers below .500 for the first time since 2012. Auburn fired Harsin less than two years into his six-year, $31.5 million contract amid a 3-5 start to the season, university president Dr. Chris Roberts announced Monday.

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“Auburn University has decided to make a change in the leadership of the Auburn University football program,” a release from the university said. “President Roberts made the decision after a thorough review and evaluation of all aspects of the football program. Auburn will begin an immediate search for a coach that will return the Auburn program to a place where it is consistently competing at the highest levels and representing the winning tradition that is Auburn football.”

An interim coach was not immediately named in the university release. Auburn will owe Harsin 70 percent of the remaining salary – approximately $15 million – on his contract, which runs through Dec. 31, 2026. Half of that buyout is due within 30 days of his termination.

Harsin’s tenure on the Plains lasted just more than 22 months, and he finishes with a 9-12 record at Auburn that included a 4-11 mark against Power 5 opponents. He’s the first Auburn coach to finish his tenure with a losing record since Earl Brown’s three-year stint wrapped with a 3-22-4 record between 1948-50.

Harsin’s stint at Auburn wasn’t as bleak, but things quickly unraveled for the 45-year-old after his somewhat surprising hiring on Dec. 22, 2020. The former Boise State coach was lured away from his alma mater by then-athletics director Allen Greene during a coaching search that played out like a high-stakes game of tug-of-war between influential Auburn boosters and Greene and then-president Dr. Jay Gogue. Greene, in a power play, seized control of the search and ultimately landed on Harsin, who went 69-19 in seven seasons as Boise State’s head coach but who had no ties to the region, much less experience coaching in the SEC.

An outsider through and through, Harsin struggled to acclimate to the rigors and demand of coaching in the SEC, specifically at Auburn, where going toe to toe with rivals Alabama and Georgia on the recruiting trail is paramount to the job. Harsin struggled to recruit at a consistently high level at Auburn, which only widened the gap between the Tigers and their rivals in the upper echelon of the league.

He finished off the 2021 cycle with the nation’s No. 19 class, though most of the class signed during the early signing period before he was hired. His first full class ranked 21st nationally but ninth in the SEC, while the Tigers’ 2023 class sat at 55th in the 247Sports Composite team rankings and 13th in the SEC at the time of his firing.

Complicating matters were the on-field results. After starting 6-2 in Year 1, Auburn spiraled to close out the 2021 season, ending the year on a five-game losing streak. That skid included blown double-digit leads against Mississippi State, South Carolina and Alabama, ultimately losing the Iron Bowl in a quadruple-overtime classic at Jordan-Hare Stadium. The year was capped with a loss to Houston in the Birmingham Bowl, which solidified the program’s first losing season since 2012 and its first five-game losing streak to end a season since 1950.

What followed was a tumultuous offseason for Harsin and the Tigers. Nineteen players entered the transfer portal between the end of the regular season and the start of spring practice, while Harsin’s staff saw its own share of turnover. Offensive coordinator Mike Bobo was fired after the Iron Bowl, while defensive coordinator Derek Mason took a paycut to take the same position at Oklahoma State. Defensive line coach Nick Eason left for his alma mater, Clemson, and edge coach/special teams coordinator Bert Watts left for a job with the Denver Broncos. This, of course, after Harsin fired wide receivers coach Cornelius Williams just four games into the season, elevating former Boise State assistant Eric Kiesau from analyst to on-field coach.

Harsin’s search for an offensive coordinator had its own hurdles before he ultimately hired Seattle Seahawks quarterbacks coach Austin Davis for the role. Davis’ time on staff was fleeting, and he resigned for personal reasons just six weeks after being hired. Harsin eventually promoted Kiesau to offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach and Jeff Schmedding from inside linebackers coach to defensive coordinator. Both previously held those roles on his staff at Boise State, as the moves signaled that Harsin was doubling down with familiar faces on staff as he tried to shape the program in his image.

Before Harsin could reshuffle his staff, though, he had to endure the university-led inquiry into his handling of the program. Gogue announced at a February Board of Trustees meeting that the university was “trying to separate fact from fiction” and move quickly in determining Harsin’s future with the program. Harsin planted his flag, vehemently defending himself in an interview with ESPN in which he said “any attack on my character is bullshit.”

Former players spoke out publicly about their experience with Harsin last season, while current players rallied around the embattled coach. After an eight-day investigation and uncertainty about whether Harsin would see a Year 2, Auburn announced its decision to retain the coach, with Gogue releasing a statement on the matter, explaining that it “would have been an abdication of the university’s responsibilities” to not investigate concerns raised about the football program. Gogue added that the university was committed to Harsin and providing him the support necessary to achieve his goals as head coach.

Despite the investigation being in the rearview mirror, Harsin entered Year 2 on unstable footing. He spent the offseason trying to rehabilitate his image and reputation with the fan base, alumni and donors, and at SEC Media Days in July he challenged everyone to just “watch” what happens on the field this fall.

That same message has flashed across the videoboard at Jordan-Hare Stadium every Saturday this season during the team’s pregame hype video: Harsin in the middle of the screen with the words “JUST WATCH” on either side.

Everyone watched as Harsin’s vision unraveled. Two uneven performances against opponents from the FCS and Group of 5 to open the season, followed by a humiliating loss to Penn State that marked the program’s worst at home in a decade. Auburn escaped its SEC opener against Missouri in overtime before losing each of its next three. The death knell came in the form of Saturday’s double-digit loss to the Razorbacks, which dropped the Tigers to 3-10 in the last calendar year and brought an end to a coaching tenure that was uncomfortable, unfounded and ultimately didn’t work.

Tom Green is an Auburn beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Tomas_Verde.