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Roman Harper on Bryan Harsin firing Cornelius Williams: The optics ‘do not look good’
By Jake Rill
Published:
Cornelius Williams’ stint as Auburn’s wide receivers coach lasted only 4 games. This past Sunday, he was fired by Auburn head coach Bryan Harsin, shaking up the Tigers’ offensive staff.
However, SEC Network analyst Roman Harper believes that move is going to have an impact on Auburn’s recruiting efforts, which he explained during an appearance on “The Paul Finebaum Show” on Friday.
“Auburn’s offense has struggled blocking and protecting the quarterback. The quarterback has not played well and they make a switch, which is great. TJ Finley came in and finished the game off, helped them win that game, and it was awesome,” Harper said on the show. “You see that and now you see them fire a wide receivers coach, a young Black coach that’s from Alabama, that’s from the Birmingham area, that’s well known and documented that he’s one of your better recruiters that you have on that staff.
“Now, my only concern and question is not what Bryan Harsin does with his own staff, who he promotes and who he demotes, I care very less about that, but I’m telling him right now, growing up in this state, and having African-American parents, when you come into that next child’s home that you’re trying to recruit in the Birmingham area, where Coach Cornelius was from and very prominent at, they’re going to ask a question. ‘Why did you fire that young Black man? Why did you fire that young Black coach?”
Harper continued, noting how important it is for Auburn to recruit the Birmingham area and adding that it could lead to some recruits opting to go to a different SEC school.
“You have to compete over Alabama and you have to get players that Alabama wants,” Harper said. “And if I say no to Alabama and I say no to Auburn, now you can say, ‘I can go to Arkansas.’ Why wouldn’t you go to Arkansas over Auburn right now with the kind of turmoil or those types of question marks that are out there? I’m not here to kick Auburn while they’re down, I’m here to call it what it is because they’ve not played consistently like you’ve liked them to. They’ve only lost one game, a tough road game, they’re not a bad team. But the optics of it from the outside looking in do not look good and these are questions that will arise, and will come up when you come on the recruiting trail.”
With Williams out, offensive analyst Eric Kiesau will be coaching the wide receivers for the Tigers moving forward.
Jake Rill contributes to news coverage for Saturday Down South. He has covered the SEC since 2016.
