Breaking: Auburn to hire Arkansas State coach Gus Malzahn

Arkansas State Red Wolves head coach Gus Malzahn has Powerade dumped on him by defensive back Don Jones (5) during the final moments of the game against Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders at Liberty Bank Stadium. (Nelson Chenault-USA TODAY Sports)

Breaking News: I have confirmed through multiple sources that Gus Malzahn will be named the next head football coach at Auburn University.

— AStateNation (@AStateNation) December 4, 2012

The Auburn Tigers coaching search has reportedly come to an end in the same hour as that of Arkansas.

The Razorbacks have, according to sources, hired Wisconsin’s Bret Bielema to take over, and Auburn will be welcoming Gus Malzahn to take over for Gene Chizik.

The signing will bring Malzahn back to War Eagle Nation, where he was the team’s offensive coordinator from 2009-2011. He earned the Frank Broyles Award as the nation’s top assistant coach in the country in 2010.

The Tigers took home the BCS National Championship in that year, and Broyles helped to engineer the Heisman Trophy season of quarterback and NFL No. 1 draft pick Cam Newton.

Malzahn left the program to accept the head coaching job at Arkansas State, and in his one year at the helm he led the Red Wolves to a 9-3 record and a Sun Belt title.

Ironically, many fans and experts watching Auburn lamented Malzahn’s departure as being one of the key reasons why former head man Chizik was run out of town following a disastrous 3-9 season that included a winless 0-8 run through the Southeastern Conference.

In 2012, the Red Wolves’ offense was ranked 17th nationally, whereas the Tigers’ was spinning its wheels at 115th out of 120 schools.

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