SEC Football: Head Coach awards from SEC Media Days

• Auburn coach Bryan Harsin earns a unique award that is hard to label. Whether he is lauded for courage or stubbornness, credit is deserved for stonewalling the Auburn coup attempt. Speaking in Atlanta, Harsin said,

"There was an inquiry. It was uncomfortable. It was unfounded. It presented the opportunity for people to attack me and my family and also my program. It didn’t work."

It remains to be seen if Harsin has indeed wrested power away from some in Auburn who have held the program back.

• Lane Kiffin always generates stories. Earlier in the week, I speculated Kiffin might be the winning head coach for this year’s Media Days. Kiffin again bluntly took on the negative effects of using NIL deals to recruit, when he said,

"I said day one, you legalize cheating, so get ready for the people that have the most money to get players. Now you have it. It is what it is."

Kiffin consistently earns the award for the SEC’s ‘best user of clever social media’ comments.

• Nick Saban stayed away from any pointed talk about NIL. But, he was quite direct during an interview, saying other coaches should be asked when they will retire since rumors of him retiring are told to recruits. Saban, as always earned the ‘don’t mess with me’ award.
• Mike Leach has the permanent award for ‘unpredictability.’ There is no way to ever know what Leach will say. His best quip this week was about LSU’s Brian Kelly.