This is an opinion column.

It was not Bryan Harsin. Not even close. It was not Doug Barfield. He’s not in the discussion.

The worst first season by a head coach in Auburn football history was not authored by Harsin, the program’s most incomprehensible hire, or by Barfied, a good man and good coach who had the misfortune to succeed the legendary Shug Jordan while Alabama was enjoying Bear Bryant’s final hurrah.

At the moment, at a school known for first-year magic – or at least encouragement – the competition for that dubious distinction of most dispiriting debut belongs to Earl Brown. In Brown’s first season as head coach in 1948, Auburn went 1-8-1 overall and 0-7 in the SEC. The Tigers lost their final eight games, including a 55-0 shutout loss to Alabama in the renewal of what Jordan would later christen the Iron Bowl.

Honorable mention on this list goes to George Bohler, whose 1928 arrival on the Plains left a 1-8 mark with seven shutout losses.