Late last year when Arkansas was looking for its next head coach, Gus Malzahn was a name many threw out there as the ideal replacement for Bret Bielema. Rather than sign with the Razorbacks, however, Malzahn reportedly agreed to a huge new contract at Auburn — a seven-year, $49 million deal that some have said is fully guaranteed.
Well, here we are, more than a month later. And interestingly, not only has Malzahn not signed his contract, but it’s still being negotiated and most certainly is not fully guaranteed.
“We actually haven’t signed (Malzahn’s contract) either,” Auburn president Stephen Leath said, per James Crepea of AL.com. “We’re still working through the final details. I’m still a trust guy and Gus and I are functioning well together. We know the basic tenets, we’ve drawn things up, sent it to his attorney. We’ll get that cleaned up pretty soon.”
Per Crepea, Leath doesn’t remember exactly what percentage of the contract will be fully guaranteed but said “it’s above 50, but well under 100.”
When he was asked again whether the deal is fully guaranteed, Leath said “it is definitely not.”
In other words, he’s not getting the Jimbo Fisher treatment.