Month: November 2022

Will Lane Kiffin jump ship from Ole Miss? Could Deion Sanders be lured to the SEC? We take a look at the coaches in the mix after Bryan Harsin’s dismissal.

Coaching hires overwhelmingly end one of two ways: you get fired or you leave. Few get to ride into the sunset of retirement on their own volition after a long spell at the top of the game. But from the day Bryan Harsin took over at Auburn, the writing has been on the wall for how this would end. Now the inevitable is definitive and Harsin has been fired.

After Auburn’s loss against Arkansas this past Saturday, Harsin took longer than usual to hit the postgame podium (around 75 minutes). It raised some eyebrows among the assembled media—each previous loss was seemingly followed by 24 hours of waiting with baited breath to see if Harsin would keep his job, especially after losing to Ole Miss two weeks ago heading into a bye week.

But this past Sunday came and went, with Harsin still with the program and Auburn still without an athletic director since parting ways with Allen Greene in August. And that’s where the timeline here gets very interesting.

As Auburn worked its way through AD candidates over the past few weeks, there was a belief Harsin actually could coach out the rest of the regular season—if an AD was hired during the season, it would put them in a precarious spot to immediately fire the coach. But on Monday, Mississippi State announced AD John Cohen’s resignation followed minutes later by Auburn announcing its dismissal of Harsin in a terse statement that didn’t even refer to the former head coach by name.

There is no love lost from either side.

Then more shoes dropped, as Auburn also dismissed multiple assistants and announced former Tigers running back Carnell Williams would serve as interim coach. It’s an odd end to Harsin’s tenure, including him being fired on a Monday of a gameweek, a rarity in college football. A few hours later, Cohen was announced as Auburn’s AD in a move that sources indicated was coming while Auburn was losing to Arkansas on Saturday. The timing allowed president Chris Roberts to own Harsin’s firing publicly.

This chronology matters in what it could say about the next few weeks. The path is clear for Cohen to now conduct a coaching search as he sees fit. How clear it will be depends on if you read more into Auburn’s past than its present, because that past involves significant tumult.

Here are the obligatory mentions of the namy booster coups at Auburn. First, the unsuccessful one that tried to oust Tommy Tuberville shortly before he went on to lead an undefeated season. Then, the successful movement to relieve Gus Malzahn of his duties followed by an unsuccessful attempt to install Kevin Steele as coach. The powers that be do love trying to throw their weight around at Auburn, even if it means a last-ditch effort to hire someone other than Cohen, for instance.

But that faction of boosters may be feeling a little less powerful after seeing two hiring cycles run through relatively normal and buttoned-up processes involving formal hiring committees and search firms. The result of one of those searches resulted in Harsin’s hiring. And while boosters made significant attempts to oust him dating back to February, Harsin notably made it through half of the 2022 season.

The question now is how clear the road will be for Cohen. He is known to be smart and thorough with an adeptness for hiring capable administrators around him, but an AD is not graded on hiring associate ADs—their tenures live and die with who they hire as a football coach. Cohen is not afraid to hire an outsider, which he did twice in Starkville with Joe Moorhead and Mike Leach. But Auburn is not Mississippi State.

Auburn will always be a football school, but for now, the most powerful coach on campus is men’s basketball coach Bruce Pearl, who said in a statement: “John has won championships at the highest level both as a coach and as an administrator and knows how to win. Given his experience as a Southeastern Conference Athletic Director and knowing he’s empowering Rich McGlynn [Auburn’s longtime head of NCAA compliance], this is the best of both worlds. I’m excited about our new leadership team. It’s time for the Auburn family to come together as we move forward.”

Auburn baseball coach Butch Thompson also worked with Cohen for years while they were both at Mississippi State.

Tumult is nothing new at Auburn, and the expectation is that you win despite it. And now, all eyes will be on Roberts and Cohen and how they navigate the ship as a new leadership team. Here is a look at the coaching candidates likely to be on their list in the coming weeks.

Lane Kiffin (Ole Miss coach)

Kiffin, like Cohen, could be lured out of Mississippi by a school with more resources, especially around name, image and likeness, which he recently told Sports Illustrated is a crucial factor for any coach considering a new job. Auburn is working to become that type of place. Auburn is still in the midst of a secondary search for an associate AD and has $13 million in the bank to put toward NIL. Auburn will need all the ammo they can muster to try to take advantage of a golden 2023 recruiting class, although they will be playing significant catchup where that is concerned. Kiffin is a savvy navigator of the transfer portal, which is another consideration in trying to fill a gutted roster.

Would Kiffin leave Ole Miss? He has been considered in multiple coaching cycles now, but the expectations in Auburn are not the same as Oxford. If Kiffin wins two of his last three games, Ole Miss will have its second 10-win regular season in its history (the first came last season).

And another subplot: such a move would put him in even closer proximity to Alabama coach Nick Saban. His resources at Ole Miss don’t come with the expectation that he consistently challenge Saban and Bama, but at Auburn, he would be expected to beat Saban and Bama. Harsin got as close as he could when the Tigers went to overtime in last year’s Iron Bowl.

Hugh Freeze (Liberty coach)

Freeze agreed to a contract last week that extends through 2030, but contracts mean little-to-nothing in this business if the buyout is manageable, and Freeze’s is. Freeze is at least a bit familiar with the terrain on the plains (one of his daughters attended Auburn). His Flames are 7-1 and face Arkansas on Saturday. Freeze can point clearly to his new contract should he wish to honor it from a commitment perspective. There is also this connection to keep in mind—Cohen was an associate athletic director at Mississippi State during the tumultuous recruiting scandal involving Freeze and Ole Miss.

Matt Rhule (former Carolina Panthers, Temple, Baylor head coach)

Rhule has around $40 million reasons not to lift a finger for a long time, but that money isn’t a lump sum, so he’s not sitting on the warchest right now. Rhule would fit the bill of an outsider, which Cohen has a precedent of hiring. He would also likely bring an ability to fill his staff with coaches who may cover his perceived weakness as being a northerner coaching in the SEC. His eye in staffing assistants who are well-versed in the Texas high school ecosystem went a long way in his success at Baylor.

Jeff Grimes (Offensive coordinator, Baylor)

Grimes, a one-time assistant for Gus Malzahn and adept recruiter of talent in the trenches, is still thought of highly during his time at Auburn and could be an intriguing name to target. As would his boss, Dave Aranda, although Aranda might be reluctant to return to the SEC fishbowl.

Deion Sanders (Jackson State coach)

Those who have spent time around Sanders at Jackson State say he is an organized, CEO-style coach, something Auburn could certainly use. He could also put a newly minted Auburn NIL treasure trove to great use. He has explored Power 5 opportunities before. He is SWAC for now, but for how long? 

More College Football Coverage:

• Joe Cohen’s Flip to Auburn Interesting in More Ways Than One
• Mickey Joseph Believes His Time Is Now at Nebraska
• No Excuses, Many Faults in Aftermath of Big House Melee
• Brett Yormark Is Already Delivering for the Big 12

The 2022 New York City Marathon will mark a comeback for Aliphine Tuliamuk and a career send-off for her teammate Stephanie Bruce. Six years after first meeting as rivals, the two women are pushing each other toward success.

Stephanie Bruce could tell that Aliphine Tuliamuk’s energy was dipping. With a little more than a month to go before the New York City Marathon, the two professional racers were on a long run on an autumn day in Flagstaff, Ariz., where they both live and train with HOKA NAZ Elite. Their plan for the day had been to push into a fast kick for a stretch of 1,000 meters after a high-mileage day. Both of the women were feeling it in their legs and lungs when they hit the kick, and they were running into the wind, side by side. So Bruce offered Tuliamuk a little protection against the wind.

“I think Stephanie sensed that I was really, really struggling, and she’s like ‘You can tuck in behind me; you’re good,” Tuliamuk remembers.

But Bruce saw the offer as mutually beneficial—when it comes to the kind of grueling training required by the marathon, the better your training partner, the better you’ll be. “No reason for both of us to suffer in the headwind,” Bruce laughs when explaining her offer to Tuliamuk to tuck in.

It’s all part of a training partnership, she says. “On those days when one person is feeling O.K., they can pull the person who’s maybe feeling like ‘Oh, this is a really hard day for me.’ And that’s only going to help us come race day.”

That mutual desire to help each other be the best is the beauty of a friendship that has grown along thousands of miles of training runs and years of competing in many of the same races. “I know if I’m feeling slack-ish, I have to keep up with Stephanie because I know that she’s going to be my rival in New York, and if I wanna beat her, then I have to be able to stay with her more and get the most out of myself,” Tuliamuk says.

Bruce and Tuliamuk have been running with the same team since 2018, but they first caught each other’s eyes as rivals. Tuliamuk first remembers running against Bruce in ’16 at the Stanford Invitational 10K. Bruce was just six months removed from having a child, her second in just 15 months. Tuliamuk, who was 27 at the time, thought returning to racing so soon postpartum was “crazy.” Tuliamuk earned second place that day, while the still-recovering Bruce took eighth.

Bruce says she and Tuliamuk really got to know each other for the first time when they ran a 10K for Team USA in Uganda at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships the following year. Tuliamuk, the top American finisher, came in 15th; Bruce earned 22nd. A few months later, they both ran the 2017 New York Marathon, but this time Bruce came out on top. She took 10th place while Tuliamuk got 13th. “She kicked my butt, and obviously you remember that one,” Tuliamuk laughs. But instead of getting jealous, Tuliamuk came for a visit to Flagstaff to check out HOKA NAZ Elite. “I joined her team, and now we’re here.”

Here—when I spoke with Tuliamuk and Bruce in October—was training for New York, Bruce’s 17th and final career marathon and Tuliamuk’s return to the marathon after more than a year away.

Bruce, 38, announced in January that after being diagnosed with a congenital heart defect, she was retiring from professional running at the end of the year. The famously transparent athlete, who often speaks and writes candidly about everything from her healing postpartum abs, to her two children’s busy schedules, to her mother’s death from cancer last year, wanted to announce her retirement before it happened.

“I would like to go out with a bang,” she wrote.

And so far, she has.

Though Bruce has never qualified for an Olympics, she’s carved her own path over the years, and this year, which she’s dubbed “The Grit Finale,” is no different. This spring she took 10th at the United Airlines NYC half-marathon, then 12th in the Boston Marathon the following month. Heading into her final stretch of a packed race year, she won the NACAC 10,000-meter title in August in the Bahamas, and in September earned first place at USATF 10K Championships hosted by the Great Cow Harbor 10K.

Meanwhile, Tuliamuk, 33, won the U.S. trials for the 2020 Olympic Marathon, but when the games were delayed due to COVID-19, she took the downtime as an opportunity to have a child. She gave birth to her daughter, Zoe, in January ’21. After racing against a newly postpartum Bruce back in ’17, Tuliamuk ended up competing in the Olympic Marathon just seven months after Zoe’s birth. Unfortunately, Tuliamuk was injured during the race and didn’t finish.

New York will be her first marathon since the disappointing result. She and Bruce started their buildup to the marathon in August, and soon after, Tuliamuk was faced with another possible injury. But after two and a half weeks off, not knowing whether she’d be able to compete at all, she was able to return to training. “I was just so grateful. Nothing puts you in a good place mentally more than an injury scare,” she says.

She’s also grateful to have another race to train for with Bruce. “Seeing the kind of athlete that Stephanie is now … compared to when I first joined the team, she just keeps getting better every year, and honestly I keep asking her, ‘You sure you’re ready to retire?’”

Bruce’s longevity as a runner is inspiring to Tuliamuk, who has learned that as she gets older she needs to take better care of her body if she’s going to keep racing. But prioritizing yourself, even as a professional athlete, is especially difficult as a new mom, Tuliamuk says, so she’s taken some pointers for balancing parenthood and treating herself right from her training partner. Tuliamuk’s tendency is to push through something that feels bad, she says, but Bruce often practices caution if something isn’t right, and she focuses on the basics. “If you don’t build your foundation properly, it’s gonna crack and everything is going to fall apart,” Tuliamuk says she’s learned. “[Bruce] always avoids injury that way. I could definitely learn to do more strength on my own at home and treat myself better.”

For her part, Bruce says Tuliamuk’s joyful attitude inspires her. “Every day is just fun with her because she always brings some quirkiness. … She’ll find a way to make a workout seem easier or different,” she says. For instance, when a training day calls for 4x5K (that’s four different 5K distances in one training day) and Bruce is overwhelmed by the prospect, Tuliamuk will put it another way. “She’ll be like, it’s just four intervals! … and try to make it seem like no big deal.”

But it’s the other side of Tuliamuk and Bruce’s relationship, the way they fill up the many miles they spend side by side, that has created a unique bond between “co-workers” in a career that’s anything but ordinary. Tuliamuk says that—along with their fellow teammate and mom Kellyn Taylor (who is currently pregnant)—the three moms probably confuse the younger members of their team because they’re often not talking about running at all. “We talk a lot about when is the right time to have another kid … things normal friends talk about in life, you know? The things Stephanie’s boys say, so I can get prepared. And so I think that we learn a lot of things from each other that’s not running related.”

Those conversations can go deeper, too. Last year, when Bruce’s mother, Joan Rothstein, was dying, Tuliamuk was one of the only people who wouldn’t shy away from the topic with Bruce. Usually, once they got going on a training run, she’d ask: “Now how are you really doing?” says Bruce. “I love that she was never afraid to just say what she is thinking and she just leans in real hard to what she’s feeling.”

When things have been tough outside of running they’ve been there for each other, too. Before Bruce’s mother died, Tuliamuk and her family drove to Phoenix to say goodbye, bring food and support Bruce. In February, when Aliphine fell on an icy run and suffered a concussion, Bruce was there to pick up Zoe from daycare.

So in some ways, the two are coming to New York in different places—a comeback and a retirement—but in other ways, they’re coming from a lot of the same places, too: the same roads and trails and miles and workout programs over the past five years. And their goals for the race are similar, too.

“Deep down we both want to be on the podium,” says Bruce.

And that’s part of the beauty of what they have, as partners, friends, moms and rivals. After all, the New York City Marathon is special for them: In a way it’s the race that started their relationship back in 2017. And, Bruce says, this marathon being her last is a good reminder of what running is all about.

“The first time I ran the marathon in New York I just remember the hair standing up on my arms and neck,” she says. “I was like there’s no crowds like this, it’s insane, the energy, the yelling, the cheers. And then also the silence. You run through parts of the Bronx and you’re like, ‘Oh there’s no one here; no one’s on this bridge right now. And it’s all me.’ I love that part of the marathon where there’s a lot of people cheering you on, and then sometimes it’s just hard moments by yourself.”

When Tuliamuk and Bruce line up for the last time as marathon competitors in New York on Sunday, they will run their own races, yes. But they’ll also have years of memories, of miles, conversations, laughs and all the times one pushed the other—or offered an assist—to push them on.

What’s next for Jake Paul after earning his sixth win in an 8-round unanimous decision against Anderson Silva?

A few thoughts after a busy boxing weekend:

• Jake Paul picked up the most legitimate win of his boxing career, decisioning ex-MMA star Anderson Silva, a fight where Paul knocked Silva down in the eighth round. Paul will probably never beat a legitimately ranked boxer, but he doesn’t have to. Paul will enter 2023 with plenty of lucrative options, including Nate Diaz, Tommy Fury and fellow YouTuber-turned-boxer KSI. If Paul fights all three, he will make more money than any boxers will next year.

• Vasyl Lomachenko didn’t look great Saturday in a win over Jamaine Ortiz. Lomachenko, fighting for the first time in 10 months, struggled with the athletic and jab-happy Ortiz early, needing a late surge to outpoint Ortiz at the end. With Lomachenko, 34, headed toward a showdown with Devin Haney next year, it’s fair to wonder if age is starting to catch up with the former pound-for-pound king.

• William Zepeda is a budding star. Zepeda, the undefeated lightweight, picked up his most impressive win last weekend, scoring a lopsided decision over Joseph Diaz Jr. Against Diaz, Zepeda set CompuBox records at lightweight for punches thrown (1,536), jabs attempted (787) and jabs attempted in a round (89, in the second). He averaged 128 punches per round and outlanded Diaz 398-176. Zepeda is an offensive machine and will be a problem for anyone in the 135-pound division.

• Diaz needs to find his way back to 130 pounds. At 29, Diaz can bounce back, but after back-to-back losses to Haney and Zepeda, it’s clear that Diaz doesn’t have the size or power to compete at lightweight. At 130, where Diaz won a title in 2020, he can still be a factor—if he is disciplined enough to get back down there.

• It won’t get much attention, but Max Ornelas, an undefeated super bantamweight prospect, got absolutely hosed by the judges in his fight against Hector Valdez. In the opening bout of the telecast of the Diaz-Zepeda show, Ornelas was sharp, controlling the ring with his movement, landing crisp combinations against Valdez, who appeared frustrated for most of the fight. One judge, George Cruz, scored the fight 97-93 for Ornelas, a reasonable reflection of how the fight went. Two others, Raul Caiz Sr. and Alejandro Rochin, scored it 97-93 for Valdez, scorecards that were, in a word, inexplicable.

• It’s disgraceful. Ornelas, 24, trained for this fight for months. When the opportunity to fight Valdez came up, Ornelas pushed for it. Hard. He told his team he wanted to show Golden Boy that he was the real prospect. He wanted to be signed by Golden Boy, to get a major promoter behind him as he made his way in the 122-pound division. He did everything right. And two judges robbed him of his moment, showing levels of ineptitude far too common in boxing. Here’s hoping Golden Boy gives him a rematch with Valdez, or at least brings him back in another fight. He earned it.

On to Sports Illustrated’s latest men’s pound-for-pound rankings.

1. Terence Crawford

Record: 38-0

Last month’s ranking: 1

Last fight: TKO win vs. Shawn Porter

Next fight: vs. David Avanesyan on Dec. 10

A Crawford-Errol Spence fight is dead. Again. Crawford, 35 ended the latest round of negotiations by agreeing to a deal to face Avanesyan, a fringe 147-pound contender. It’s part of a one-fight deal Crawford signed with BLK Prime, a pay-per-view subscription service that is reportedly paying Crawford at least $10 million for the fight. While it’s hard to fault Crawford for accepting such a lucrative payday, it’s possible, perhaps likely, that his decision ended any chance of ever seeing Crawford and Spence share the ring.

2. Oleksandr Usyk

Record: 20-0

Last month’s ranking: 2

Last fight: SD win vs. Anthony Joshua

Next fight: TBD

Only Canelo Alvarez can claim a better resume than Usyk, whose accomplishments include wins over Marco Huck, Mairis Briedis and Tony Bellew at cruiserweight and now a pair of wins over Anthony Joshua at heavyweight. Usyk has settled nicely into boxing’s glamour division, finding a comfortable weight (around 221 pounds) and fighting style that has made him tough to beat. Usyk plans to take the rest of 2022 off before gearing up for another heavyweight challenge: Tyson Fury, the WBC titleholder who, if he gets past Derek Chisora in December, will likely face Usyk in the first half of 2022.

3. Saul “Canelo” Alvarez

Record: 58-2-2

Last month’s ranking: 3

Last fight: UD win vs. Gennadiy Golovkin

Next fight: TBD

The third fight between Alvarez and Gennadiy Golovkin in September didn’t match the intensity of the first two but it did establish the first clear winner in one of boxing’s better rivalries and it did put Alvarez, 32, back in the win column after last May’s upset loss to Dmitry Bivol. Alvarez said he intends to have surgery on an injured left wrist, putting a return off until next May, at the earliest. When he does he says he will target a rematch with Bivol, should Bivol defeat Alvarez’s countryman, Gilberto Ramirez, in November.

4. Naoya Inoue

Record: 23-0

Last month’s ranking: 4

Last Fight: KO win vs. Nonito Donaire

Next Fight: vs. Paul Butler on Dec. 13

Inoue cemented his status as the top 118-pound fighter in boxing with a sensational second-round knockout of Nonito Donaire in June. In stopping Donaire, Inoue, 29, added a third bantamweight title to his collection. He will get a shot at the fourth—and a chance to be called an undisputed champion—in December, when he takes on Butler in Japan.

5. Errol Spence Jr.

Record: 28-0

Last month’s ranking: 5

Last Fight: TKO win vs. Yordenis Ugas

Next Fight: TBD

Spence, 32, continued his assault on the top names in the welterweight division last April, stopping Yordenis Ugas to pick up a third piece of the 147-pound title. Despite a series of career-threatening injuries—a car crash in 2019, an eye injury that forced him out of a scheduled fight with Manny Pacquiao in 2021—Spence continues to roll through the best fighters in his weight class. With a Crawford fight gone, Spence has hinted at moving up in weight, where he can attempt to become a two-division world champion.

6. Tyson Fury

Record: 31-0-1

Last month’s ranking: 6

Last Fight: KO win vs. Dillian Whyte

Next Fight: vs. Derek Chisora on Dec. 3 

April’s knockout win over Dillian Whyte burnished Fury’s credentials as the best heavyweight in boxing. Rarely do fighters in this weight class appear on pound-for-pound lists, but Fury, 34, blends impressive boxing skills with a strong resume. Early career wins over Chisora and Wladimir Klitschko have been eclipsed by back-to-back knockouts of Deontay Wilder and, most recently, Whyte, who was floored by a savage uppercut in front of north of 90,000 fans at Wembley Stadium. Fury will clash again with Chisora in December, a stay busy fight before Fury pursues a unification fight with Oleksandr Usyk next year.

7. Shakur Stevenson

Record: 18-0

Last month’s ranking: 7

Last Fight: UD win vs. Robson Conceicao

Next Fight: TBD

Stevenson, 25, looked brilliant in a lopsided decision win over the once-beaten Conceicao, walking the ex-Olympic gold medalist down while continuing to be among boxing’s most difficult fighters to hit. Stevenson now heads to 135-pounds where star making matchups with Devin Haney, Vasyl Lomachenko and Gervonta Davis await.

8. Jermell Charlo

Record: 35-1-1

Last month’s ranking: 8

Last Fight: KO win vs. Brian Castano

Next Fight: TBD

Charlo earned a place on this list after picking up a spectacular knockout win over Brian Castano in May, avenging last year’s controversial draw and fully unifying the 154-pound division. Charlo’s resume at junior middleweight is impressive: He has wins over Erickson Lubin, Austin Trout, Tony Harrison and Jeison Rosario, with his only loss a questionable decision defeat to Harrison. Charlo has consistently taken on the best in the division, which will continue in his next fight, with Charlo penciled in for a title defense against Tim Tszyu, the heavy handed Australian who is the mandatory challenger for one of Charlo’s belts.

9. Dmitry Bivol

Record: 20-0

Last month’s ranking: 10

Last Fight: UD win vs. Saul Alvarez

Next Fight: vs. Gilberto Ramirez on Nov. 5

Bivol, 31, established himself as one of boxing’s elite with a convincing decision win over Alvarez last May. With Alvarez passing on an immediate rematch, Bivol will defend his title against unbeaten former super middleweight champion Gilberto Ramirez in November. A win would springboard Bivol into either a massive showdown with Alvarez or a title unification fight against Artur Beterbiev, a fight that would establish an undisputed champion at 175-pounds.

10. Devin Haney

Record: 29-0

Last month’s ranking: NR

Last Fight: UD win vs. George Kambosos

Next Fight: TBD

Haney, 23, joins the rankings after a second straight decisive win over former titleholder George Kambosos. Traveling to Australia for the second straight fight, Haney, operating behind a smooth jab and stinging right hands, dominated Kambosos. The win caps a solid two-year run for Haney that includes wins over Jorge Linares, Joseph Diaz Jr. and Kambosos. Haney should get a chance to burnish his credentials next year: Top Rank intends to match Haney with Kambosos in a monster showdown in the lightweight division. 

More Boxing Coverage:

• Jake Paul Scores Unanimous Decision Victory Over Anderson Silva
• Jake Paul Calls Out Nate Diaz, Canelo Alvarez After Win Over Anderson Silva