When Gus Malzahn quietly stepped away from coaching this week, opting not to return to Florida State as Mike Norvell’s offensive coordinator, it marked the end of a career that-at its peak-flipped the SEC on its head. And like a well-timed reverse sweep, it brought the spotlight back to the 2013 Auburn Tigers, a team that didn’t just win games-they captured imaginations.
Malzahn’s final coaching chapter at Florida State never really got off the ground, and that’s fitting in a strange way. Because it was Florida State, after all, that denied Malzahn his best shot at a national title. But even without the championship hardware, that 2013 Auburn squad carved out a legacy that still echoes through Jordan-Hare Stadium.
Let’s talk about that team. Because if you wore orange and blue that year, you’re not just remembered-you’re revered.
Nick Marshall, the converted defensive back who became the heart of Malzahn’s warp-speed offense, deserves every bit of that praise. He wasn’t just a quarterback-he was a catalyst, the kind of player who made defensive coordinators lose sleep.
Then there was Tre Mason. Slippery, explosive, and relentless, Mason turned broken plays into highlight reels.
He didn’t just run through tackles-he made defenders question their life choices. And on the outside, Sammie Coates was the home-run threat every offense dreams of.
Big moments? He lived for them.
Of course, you can’t talk about 2013 without the “Prayer at Jordan-Hare,” a moment that defied physics and logic. Nick Marshall’s desperation heave, tipped and caught by Ricardo Lewis, became a defining play of the season-and honestly, of the Malzahn era.
And then came the “Kick Six,” a play so outrageous it’s become college football folklore. Chris Davis’s 109-yard sprint into immortality was the exclamation point on a season that felt touched by something otherworldly.
But behind all the chaos and magic was Malzahn’s offense-a hurry-up, no-huddle machine that left even the great Nick Saban scrambling for answers. That system, built around speed, misdirection, and relentless tempo, changed the way the SEC played football. It wasn’t just effective-it was revolutionary.
As one writer put it, Malzahn took a converted DB (Marshall), an undervalued back (Mason), and a receiver few had circled on their scouting reports (Coates), and turned the most powerful conference in college football into his personal sandbox. That 2013 SEC Championship, coming on the heels of the Kick Six, was the crown jewel of a season that nearly ended with a national title in Pasadena.
And yet, as Malzahn steps away from the game, Auburn’s silence has been noticeable. The official Auburn Football account hasn’t acknowledged his retirement-not a tweet, not a statement. That’s raised some eyebrows among fans who haven’t forgotten what he meant to the program.
It’s unclear why the delay. Maybe there’s more to the story.
Maybe Auburn knows something we don’t about Malzahn’s future in the sport. But if this truly is the end of the road, it’s worth remembering just how much he gave to Auburn.
Before he was the head coach, Malzahn was the offensive architect behind Cam Newton’s 2010 title run. And from 2013 to 2019, he helped keep Auburn nationally relevant in an SEC increasingly dominated by Alabama and Georgia. His offenses were bold, unpredictable, and at times, downright beautiful.
If there’s more coaching in Malzahn’s future, Auburn would be a fitting place to write that final chapter. But even if this is goodbye, his legacy is already secure.
Because in 2013, Gus Malzahn didn’t just lead a football team-he led a movement. And the echoes of that season still ring loud on the Plains.