Gus Malzahn Headed Back to Auburn as Head Coach, According to Report

Because there was a chance that the SEC coaching carousel might stop spinning for a few minutes: Now we have reports that Auburn has hired its new leader. Hint: He's the guy that probably had more to do with the national championship than Gene Chizik, but less than Cam Newton.

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

As with all coaching reports, subscription sites should be taken with at least a little caution. But AStateNation has generally been right on these sorts of things, and would be in a position to know, given that it's the Arkansas State coach that Auburn would be nabbing here.

Malzahn doesn't need a lot of introduction around these parts -- we all know what he was able to do with Cam Newton a couple of years ago, though the Auburn offense was more of a mixed bag in years without Newton. But a mixed bag would have been a welcome relief from what Tigers fans had to endure in 2012.

If this and the Bret Bielema reports prove to be true, all the SEC head coaching vacancies outside of Knoxville will be filled. But at the rate things are going, something could break in the next 15 minutes or so. Stay tuned.