AUBURN — It’s time for Auburn football to spin the wheel yet again for a new offensive coordinator.
Even sooner than expected this time.
Newcomer Austin Davis resigned from his position as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Monday morning. He held the position for 43 days.
Davis, 32, came to Auburn from the Seattle Seahawks, where he was the quarterbacks coach the last two seasons, working closely with Russell Wilson. Davis is a former NFL backup quarterback who bounced between teams and had an eight-game starting stint with the St. Louis Rams.
“The last week has been difficult for me as I’ve made the decision to step away from coaching football,” Davis said in a school release. “My decision to resign is 100 percent based on personal reasons. After more than a decade in the NFL with the daily grind as a player and coach, I’ve realized how much I miss my family and my desire to spend more time with them.”
Davis will leave the program without having coached an Auburn practice. But in his 43 days, he helped bring in two new quarterbacks from the transfer portal: Texas A&M starter Zach Calzada and Oregon backup Robby Ashford.
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Davis was set to be the Tigers’ fourth offensive coordinator in as many years, following Mike Bobo (2021), Chad Morris (2020) and Kenny Dillingham (2019).
Now coach Bryan Harsin will instead be searching for his third new coordinator hire of this offseason. Davis replaced Bobo, who was fired two days after the regular season. Defensive coordinator Derek Mason left for the same job at Oklahoma State in January. Harsin promoted linebackers coach Jeff Schmedding to be Mason’s replacement.
Harsin has been at Auburn for 13 months. The first staff departure was Tracy Walker, an Auburn alum who was defensive line coach for 11 days before leaving for an NFL job.
Along with the three coordinator changes, Harsin fired receivers coach Cornelius Williams midseason and replaced him with offensive analyst Eric Kiesau. After the season, Rocker’s replacement as defensive line coach, Nick Eason, left for Clemson. Harsin hired Auburn alum Jimmy Brumbaugh to fill that opening and hired Christian Robinson from Florida to fill the linebackers coach vacancy left by Schmedding’s promotion.
Auburn’s plan was for Harsin to call plays in 2022 while Davis would be a quarterbacks specialist overseeing the offense.
This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Offensive coordinator Austin Davis resigns from Auburn football