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Inside the Headset with the AFCA

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Gus Malzahn, Head Coach - Auburn University

Dec 20, 2018

This week on Inside the Headset, we are featuring Auburn Head Coach Gus Malzahn’s General Session at the 2018 AFCA Convention in Charlotte. During the speech he details his career path that began as a high school coach in Arkansas, and he explains coaching philosophy, including the identity of his offense.

Coach Malzahn's career began as a defensive coordinator at Hughes HS (AR) in 1991, but he was promoted to head coach after one season. From there, he was the head coach at Springdale Shiloh Christian HS (AR) from 1996-2000, and he led Springdale HS (AR) from 2001-2005, winning a combined three state titles between the two programs. In 2006, Coach Malzahn jumped to the collegiate level when he was named the offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach for the University of Arkansas. He was the co-offensive coordinator and assistant head coach for Tulsa (2007-2008) before joining the staff at Auburn as the offensive coordinator in 2009 and helping them win the 2010 national championship. Malzahn's first collegiate head coaching job was at Arkansas State in 2012, and after leading the Red Wolves to a conference title, he was hired as Auburn's head coach prior to the 2013 season.

  • [1:15] Start of General Session
  • [1:30] Coach Malzahn's start to coaching
  • [4:19] The beginning of the no huddle offense
  • [7:05] Transition to college football
  • [10:09] Becoming Auburn's head coach 
  • [12:47] GameStrat Ad - Discount Code
  • [13:34] Coaches being examples for their players
  • [15:12] The importance of sportsmanship
  • [16:38] "Find who we are"
  • [18:19] Be very good at a few things
  • [20:02] Build around the strengths of your best players
  • [22:19] Strain your players on the field, love them off the field
  • [24:18] Set goals high
  • [26:16] One standard
  • [27:35] Get staff on the same page
  • [28:56] Outwork opponents
  • [31:12] Incorporating family into career success

You can follow Gus Malzahn on Twitter.

This episode is brought to you in part by GameStrat. Use the promo code AFCA2019 for 10% off any package.

Have any questions, comments, or ideas for the show? Send us an email at podcast@afca.com.