It seems that new Texas offensive coordinator Bryan Harsin was a wanted man this winter. With so many offensive coordinator jobs open at big schools, this doesn't come as much of a surprise considering the success that Harsin has had at Boise State . What is somewhat surprising is what Harsin passed up to take the job at Texas.
According to a story in the Austin American-Statesman , Harsin had just finished talking with Mack Brown about taking the job at Texas when his phone rang. It was Les Miles on the other end of the phone, and Miles was offering Harsin the same job at LSU . The difference was that LSU was offering a long-term deal with more money. All Harsin had from Texas at that point was a one-year deal for $625,000, and though Harsin accepted the offer, it was only an offer at that point. Harsin hadn't signed anything.
However, that did not keep Harsin from telling Miles no.
"LSU is a great school, and I really was flattered that coach Miles, who's an amazing coach, was interested in me," Harsin told The Statesman . "In any other situation, I would have talked about the offer with my family. I told him I'd already accepted a job at Texas, and I wouldn't feel right if I didn't honor that."
Given the amount of times we've all seen coaches go from job to job to take more money, it is somewhat refreshing to hear that one coach decided to do the honorable thing and stick to his word. It really is. Still, at the same time, I'm not sure that Harsin made the right choice here. I'm not saying that LSU is better than Texas or anything, but if you're getting a multi-year contract for even more money, don't you take that offer?
Maybe I'm just as greedy as the coaches, but if I'm thinking about my family, I'm taking the security that came with the LSU offer over the who knows about next season deal he took at Texas. After all, if the Longhorns have another down season, would anybody be surprised if Mack Brown and the entire staff is gone in 2012?
