< PreviousREMEMBERING P A T SUL LIV AN 21 Pat Sullivan accounted for three quick touchdowns – two passes and a run – to lead Auburn to an early 21-0 lead over Ole Miss in the 1971 Gator Bowl, but Archie Manning brought the Rebels back within seven at the half. “When we got in situations where we had some bad things happen to us in a game, he would just get in a huddle and calm us down,” remembered Spence McCracken, Sullivan’s center in his junior season, 1970. “‘Hey, it’s okay, guys. Let’s get us a touchdown.’ “I remember him getting in the hud- dle and saying, ‘Hey guys, let’s go. We’re going to take this one down and score and win the game.’ And we did, 35-28. That was Pat Sullivan. “Everybody else was an Auburn football player, and he was an Auburn legend.” Pat Sullivan, Auburn legend, died Dec. 1, 2019, at the age of 69 after living courageously with cancer for many years. The Pat Sullivan legend began long before his debut as Auburn’s quarter- back in a 57-0 win over Wake Forest on Sept. 20, 1969. The year before, Sullivan quarter- backed Auburn’s freshman team, back when NCAA rules prevented freshmen from playing varsity football and men’s basketball. Foreshadowing another epic comeback led by a future Heisman Trophy winner that would occur four decades later in the 2010 Iron Bowl at Bryant-Denny Stadium, Sullivan and the Tigers trailed Alabama’s newcomers 27-0 in the first half of the 1968 fresh- man game in Tuscaloosa. Ever the leader, Sullivan was un- daunted, remembers David Housel, Auburn’s former sports information director and athletic director. “Auburn got the ball and a player came in and said something about how they’re whipping us,” said Housel, an Auburn senior at the time. “Pat said, ‘Get out of here. We don’t want you in the huddle and we don’t want you on this field if you don’t think we can win.’ He sent him to the sideline. It was 27-0 at the time. Auburn won 36-27. “Pat had the ability to inspire. He made other people better because he expected the best.” Back on the Plains, McCracken and the Auburn varsity were keeping up with the game during their practice. “As soon as they won that game, we were listening to the game on the radio, out on the practice field and they let us all go in when the game ended,” McCracken said. “Every- body was so happy.” Realizing the Sullivan era was imminent, Auburn quarterback Larry Blakeney requested a position change. “I already asked Coach Jordan to move me back to defense,” Blakeney said. “I could see the future.” When Sullivan signed with Auburn in 1968, there were no recruiting rankings or social media, but everyone knew Coach Jordan had landed a star, includ- ing the assistant coach tasked with pre- venting the Birmingham standout from signing with Alabama, Gene Lorendo. “’Crack, we’ve got the best quarter- back in the country coming,’” Lorendo told McCracken. A UBURNTI G ERS.C O M REMEMBERING PAT SULLIVAN REMEMBERING P A T SUL LIV AN 23 “What would have happened, had he not come to Auburn with Coach Jordan instead of Alabama and Coach Bryant?” Housel wondered. “No one knows, but I think it’s very doubtful we would be where we are today. Pat Sullivan, like Bo Jackson, gave Auburn people the greatest thing you could ever give, and that’s hope.” Sullivan led the Tigers to an 8-3 re- cord in ’69, and 9-2 marks in ’70 and ’71, his Heisman season. “When Pat won that Heisman that showed you can come to Auburn and do anything,” Housel said. “You can be the best if you came to Auburn. Auburn is among the best. You can dream high, come to Auburn, and you can make it.” “Anything Pat said for us to do, we did,” McCracken said. “He was very soft-spoken. He was a quiet guy. He didn’t talk a lot. He was the guy we knew we could count on to win big games for us, to lead us.” Sullivan’s quiet confidence inspired his teammates. “He wasn’t really cocky but he was a confident guy, and he exuded it to teammates, and anybody he was around,” Blakeney said. “I think that was a quality that carried him and carried his teams the distance.” Sullivan and Blakeney teamed up again as assistant coaches on Pat Dye’s staff. “When he came here to coach quar- terbacks, he had a tremendous belief that we could score from anywhere on the field,” Blakeney said. “He bled that into the staff, which bled into the players.” For all of his legendary accomplish- ments at Auburn, Sullivan’s greatest leg- acy is his impact off the field, say those who knew him for a half-century. “If you limit the discussion of Pat Sullivan to football, you’re missing the man,” Housel said. “Pat was always kind.” “How he presented himself as a person, it was incredible,” McCracken said. “He never let you think for one minute that he was better than you. He never did that. He was always humble and never downed you, never embar- rassed you in public. That’s the kind of guy he was. People like that, I have great respect for, who humble themselves in front of everybody. That was Pat Sullivan. “I’ve always loved him. A great friend and a loving person. He was loved by everybody. Honored to have known him, and I hope to see him in heaven one day.” Housel refers to Sullivan in biblical and Shakespearean terms. “Pat Sullivan gave Auburn hope, and he led us to the Promised Land,” Housel said. “He is the Moses of modern-day Auburn football. “I think the elements were so mixed in Pat Sullivan that all the world might stand and say, ‘This was a man,’ and that is Pat Sullivan.” A UBURNTI G ERS.C O M REMEMBERING PAT SULLIVAN L OOK B A CK: P A T SULLIV AN 25 A LOOK BACK AT THE CAREER OF PAT SULLIVAN A UBURNTI G ERS.C O M 1971: Pat Sullivan won Auburn’s first Heisman Trophy in 1971 after throwing for 2,012 yards and 20 touch- downs. 2: He was a first-team All-American in 1970 and 1971 and is one of nine players to be a two-time All-America selection in Auburn history. 2,856: Sullivan led the NCAA with 2,856 yards of total offense in 1970 as he won his first of two straight SEC Player of the Year awards. That season, he became the first Auburn quarterback to top 2,500 yards passing in a season, finishing the year with 2,586 yards. 26: Sullivan was a three-year starter at Auburn, leading the Tigers to a 26-7 record from 1969-71, the fourth- most victories by an Auburn starting quarterback since 1969. 288.5: Auburn became the first SEC team to lead the nation in passing offense when the Tigers averaged 288.5 yards in 1970. 5: Sullivan recorded five 300-yard passing games in his career, including a career-high 366 yards, a pro- gram single-game record at the time, and four TDs at Florida in 1970. 53: Sullivan threw 53 career touchdown passes, which is still an Auburn record. 7: His number 7 jersey was retired along with the No. 88 of Terry Beasley following Sullivan’s 1971 Heisman campaign, and along with Bo Jackson’s No. 34, are the only three retired jerseys in program history. 3: Auburn won three SEC championships (1987-89) during his six seasons as a member of Pat Dye’s coaching staff from 1986-91. HEAD C O A CH GUS MALZAHN 27 In seven years as head coach at Auburn, Gus Malzahn has led the Tigers to seven consecutive bowl games, a Southeastern Conference Champi- onship, two SEC West Division titles and an appearance in the 2014 BCS National Championship Game. Malzahn has directed Auburn to five New Year’s Day bowl games. Malzahn, 71-34 in eight seasons as a head coach, has directed teams to seven conference championship game appearances in his 14 seasons as a collegiate coach, including a pair of SEC Championships at Auburn (2010, 2013) and a Sun Belt Championship at Arkansas State in 2012. The 2013 Bear Bryant, Bobby Bowden, Eddie Robinson, Home Depot, Sporting News, SB Nation, Liberty Mutual and Associated Press National Coach of the Year, Malzahn earned SEC Coach of the Year honors after guiding Auburn to the biggest turnaround in SEC history. He led the Tigers to a 12-2 record and one of the most memorable seasons in school history in 2013, with historic wins over Georgia and Alabama and a record-setting SEC Championship win over Missouri. He became just the third coach in SEC history to win an SEC title in his first year at a school, joining LSU’s Bernie Moore in 1935 and Ole Miss’ John Vaught in 1947. The second-longest active tenured head coach at one school in the SEC, Malzahn is one of only nine active FBS head coaches that have played in a national championship game. During his time at Auburn, the Tigers are one of three SEC schools to play in multiple SEC Championships games and play for a national championship. Last season the Tigers had one of the nation’s most difficult schedules while posting a 9-4 record with wins over na- tionally ranked Oregon and Alabama to bookmark the regular season schedule. Auburn’s schedule included four games against teams in the top nine of the final CFP rankings. Senior Derrick Brown was a consensus All-America and SEC Defensive Player of the Year while help- ing a Tiger defense rank in the top 20 nationally. Offensively, Auburn was led by true freshman quarterback Bo Nix, who was named the SEC Freshman of the Year. The Tigers concluded the reg- ular season third in the SEC in scoring offense and fourth in total offense. In 2018, the Tigers posted an 8-5 regular season record while facing six opponents that were ranked in the final College Football Playoff Top 25 (four of those played away from home), including four teams of the top 11 teams. The Tigers capped the season with an impressive 63-14 win over Purdue in the Music City Bowl. With Malzahn at the helm calling the plays, the Tigers’ 63 points were a new SEC bowl game record for points, and the 56 first-half points were the most ever by a college football team in one half of a bowl game. In 2017, Malzahn’s team reached as high as No. 2 in the College Foot- ball Playoff Poll and played in the SEC Championship Game for the second time in five seasons, knocking off No. 1 Georgia and No. 1 Alabama in a No- vember to remember on The Plains. It was the first time in poll history that a program has defeated two top-ranked teams during the same regular season. The 2017 Tigers were one of four FBS teams to average more than 225 yards rushing and 225 yards passing and averaged 37.1 points per game in league play. Auburn averaged 40.9 points and 491.1 yards in SEC action, both program bests, while winning five of seven con- ference games by 21 points or more. In 2016, Malzahn’s team won six consecutive games, the third longest win streak by Auburn in 12 years, while finishing second in the nation’s most difficult division, the SEC West. Under his direction, the 2016 Tigers ranked in the top 50 nationally in total offense and total defense, an Auburn first since 2005. Auburn’s balance in 2016 was dis- played by a team that ranked first in the SEC and sixth nationally in rushing, cou- pled with a defense that was seventh in the country in scoring defense and 28th in total defense. The special team units, traditionally been a strong point under Malzahn, were led by the strong leg of All-America and Groza Award finalist kicker Daniel Carlson. In 2015, the youthful Tigers, which lost 14 players to the NFL from the previ- ous season, faced 11 bowl teams en route to a Birmingham Bowl victory over Mem- phis. Malzahn’s 2014 team was ranked in the nation’s top 10 for a majority of the season before finishing 8-5 after navigating the nation’s most difficult schedule featuring seven ranked foes. He has produced 15 1,000-yard rushers in 14 seasons as a college coach, including Heisman Trophy finalist Tre Mason (1,816) and Nick Marshall (1,068) in 2013 and Cameron-Artis Payne (1,608) in 2014. Kamryn Pettway ran for 1,123 yards in 2016 despite missing significant time with injuries and Kerryon Johnson led the SEC with 1,320 yards in 2017. On three occasions, Malzahn has had two 1,000-yard rushers in the same season: 2013 (Auburn), 2010 (Auburn) and 2006 (Arkansas). Malzahn has also coached five 1,000-yard receivers and three 3,000-yard passers. His 2007 Tul- sa team had three 1,000-yard receivers. Since Malzahn’s arrival, Auburn has the top rushing offense in the SEC, averaging 234.6 yards per game. In 2013, Auburn led the nation in rushing at 328.3 A UBURNTI G ERS.C O M GUS MALZAHN HEAD COACHCONECUH - Auburn REV 8.19 Full.indd 18/15/19 12:25 PMHEAD C O A CH GUS MALZAHN 29 yards per game, the first SEC team ever to do so. Three of the top six team rushing totals in SEC history (2010, 2013, 2016) have come under Malzahn’s leadership. Auburn was just the second team in SEC history to gain more than 7,000 yards of total offense in a season in 2013, finishing the year with 7,018 yards; the other was Texas A&M in 2012. The Tigers set a school record with 48 rushing touchdowns in 2013 and set a school record against SEC opponents with 677 yards of total offense vs. No. 5 Missouri in the SEC Championship Game. The Tigers set SEC Championship Game team records with 26 rushing first downs, 74 rushing attempts, 545 rushing yards and seven rushing touchdowns. Tre Mason, a Heisman Trophy finalist and 2013 SEC Player of the Year, ranked third in the nation with 23 touchdowns, was fifth nationally with 1,816 yards rushing, sixth with 10.7 points per game, sixth with 169.57 all-purpose yards per game and eighth with 129.7 rushing yards per game. Mason set the Auburn single-season record with 1,816 rushing yards and 2,374 all-purpose yards and was second with 317 rushing attempts. His 46 rushing attempts and 304 rushing yards vs. No. 5 Missouri set SEC Championship Game records and fell three yards shy of the Auburn record. In Malzahn’s seven seasons, a total of 32 players have been selected in the National Football League draft, includ- ing four first round draft picks, includ- ing Derrick Brown (No. 7) and Noah Igbinoghene (No. 30) in the 2020 NFL Draft. Malzahn’s other first round picks including Greg Robinson (No. 2 overall) and Dee Ford (No. 23) of the 2014 draft. In the last two drafts, 12 Auburn players have been drafted, the most in a two- year span in the common draft era. Malzahn has coached 13 All-Amer- icans as head coach at Auburn: RB Tre Mason (2013), RS Chris Davis (2013), OT Greg Robinson (2013), C Reese Dismukes (2013-14), PK Daniel Carlson (2015-16-17), DL Carl Lawson (2016), DL Montravius Adams (2016), OL Alex Kozan (2016), OL Braden Smith (2016- 17), DB Carlton Davis (2017), DL Jeff Holland (2017), RB Kerryon Johnson (2017) and DL Derrick Brown (2019). Brown won the Lott IMPACT Trophy last season, Dismukes was named the 2014 Rimington Award winner as the nation’s top center and Carlson was a three-time Lou Groza Award finalist. The Tigers have faced the nation’s most difficult schedule collectively during Malzahn’s seven years on The Plains facing 34 ranked opponents, including 18 in the top 10. Auburn was the nation’s only program in 2016 to face both the No. 1 and No. 2 ranked programs and in 2017 it faced three of the four CFP Semifinalists a total of four times, earning two wins. Malzahn and his coaching staff have been highly successful on the recruiting trail, recording five consecutive Top 10 nationally ranked recruiting classes, a first in the program’s history. Six of his eight recruiting classes have been in the Top 11 nationally. Academically, Malzahn’s Tigers have excelled as nearly 200 players have graduated since his arrival. Malzahn, who won the Broyles Award as the nation’s top assistant coach in 2010 while helping the Tigers to the national title, returned to Auburn after serving as the head coach at Arkansas State in 2012, where he led the program to the Sun Belt Conference title. As offensive coordinator, Malzahn made an immediate impact during his tenure at Auburn, highlighted by a record-setting offense in 2010 when the Tigers finished 14-0 and claimed the school’s first national title since 1957. Malzahn’s arrival in 2009 and style of offense marked a drastic turnaround from the 2008 season when Auburn struggled offensively. In a two-year pe- riod, the Tigers improved from a tie for 110th to seventh in the nation in scoring offense (from 17.3 to 41.2) and from 104th to seventh in total offense. The 2010 Auburn offense set nine school records, while leading the SEC and finished in the top 10 nationally in six statistical categories. He coached Heisman Trophy winner Cam Newton, who had one of the best single-season performances at the position in college football history. Newton threw for 2,908 yards and 30 touchdowns, while rushing for 1,586 yards and 20 TDs. Newton, the No. 1 overall draft pick in the 2011 NFL Draft, also won the Davey O’Brien, Manning and Maxwell Award. During two seasons (2007-08) at Tulsa, Malzahn’s offenses were among the nation’s finest, ranking first na- tionally in total offense. Tulsa’s offense in 2007 established nine team and 12 individual school records; the 2008 Tulsa offense averaged 569.9 yards per game and was second nationally aver- aging 47.2 points per games. Malzahn spent one season at Arkansas as of- fensive coordinator, coaching Heisman Trophy runner-up Darren McFadden and helping the SEC West champion Razorbacks finish fourth nationally in rushing offense. Malzahn’s coaching career began in his home state of Arkansas at the high school level. In 14 seasons as a high school head coach, Malzahn led seven teams to the state championship game and won three titles. In July 2013, he was inducted into the Arkansas High School Sports Hall of Fame. Born in Irving, Texas, Malzahn gradu- ated from high school in Fort Smith, Ark., and played football at Arkansas and Henderson State, earning his bachelor’s degree from Henderson in 1990. Malzahn is married to the former Kristi Otwell and they are the parents of two daughters, Kylie (Collin) Peek and Kenzie (Charl) Stander. The Malzahns have two grandsons, Anderson James Peek (March, 2018) and Arthur Elliott Peak (December, 2019). A UBURNTI G ERS.C O M MALZAHN AT A GLANCE Personal Born: Oct. 28, 1965 Hometown: Ft. Smith, Ark. Wife: Kristi (Otwell) Children: daughters: Kylie, Kenzie Grandchildren: Anderson and Arthur College: Henderson State (B.A. 1990) Playing Experience: Arkansas (1984-85) Henderson State (1988-89) Coaching Experience 2013-current: Auburn Head Coach 2012: Arkansas State Head Coach 2009-11: Auburn Offensive Coordinator/ Quarterbacks Coach 2007-08: Tulsa Assistant Head Coach/ Co-Offensive Coordinator 2006: Arkansas Offensive Coordinator 2001-05: Springdale High School (Ark.) Head Coach 1996-00: Shiloh Christian High School (Ark.) Head Coach 1992-95: Hughes High School (Ark.) Head Coach Bowl Experience Coach: 2020 Outback Bowl 2019 Music City Bowl 2018 Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl 2017 Allstate Sugar Bowl 2015 Birmingham Bowl 2014 BCS National Championship 2011 Chick-fil-A Bowl 2011 BCS National Championship 2010 Outback Bowl 2008 GMAC Bowl 2007 Capital One Bowl Player: 1985 Holiday Bowl 1984 Liberty BowlNext >