Line is short for Gus Bus ride these days

For the first time in more than a decade, people aren’t running around yelling “Hire Gus Malzahn.”

The University of Arkansas has a football coach, and even if it didn’t, the Gus Bus may have sailed when the Razorbacks had a need but ended up with Chad Morris, who ended up on the Gus Bus with a oneway ticket.

But mostly, for the first time in too long, the Razorback Nation got a glimpse of where the program is going, how it is getting there and that Sam Pittman is the one to ensure it arrives.

Pittman and the Razorbacks even beat Malzahn and the Tigers this season, at least everywhere but in a review booth where a wrong call was made.

It was not a surprise Malzahn was fired. Auburn has some incredibly wealthy fans who can’t stand living in the shadow of Alabama. At least the initial buyout of more than $10 million, due within 30 days, is coming from the private sector, not the school. The second half probably is, too.

Apparently Auburn wasn’t about to shell out more than $20 million during the pandemic, but it would allow its boosters to flex their muscle and get rid of Malzahn.

Malzahn was not the only coach fired over the weekend. Kevin Sumlin was fired by Arizona, and Illinois told Lovie Smith it wasn’t working.

By Monday morning, SportsBetting.ag had set odds on who the next coach would be at every school.

The top pick for Auburn is former Arkansas State University head coach Hugh Freeze. Yes, he was at Ole Miss, too, but he would like to forget the mistakes he made there. His wife has forgiven him for one mistake, but no one knows whether SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey has forgiven Freeze for his part in an NCAA investigation.

In two seasons at Liberty — a college known more for Bible study than playbooks — Freeze is 17-6, including 9-1 this season with the only loss coming to North Carolina State of the ACC, 15-14. The Wolfpack finished 8-3.

At ASU, Freeze was 10-2 before leaving for Ole Miss. It is hard to tell what his SEC record was at Ole Miss because of vacated victories.

There’s a lot more names and odds for the Auburn job, but a little surprising was the omission of Bobby Petrino, who they craved so much years before that they interviewed him during the season, which led to then-Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville getting the first buyout in college football history.

The season after Auburn flirted with Petrino, Tuberville went undefeated and got a new contract with the buyout clause that if anyone connected to Auburn, even a booster, contacted another coach he could take $5 million and leave.

The story goes that after a frustrating loss, a wealthy booster called Arkansas’ Houston Nutt to see whether he would be interested.

Nutt and Tuberville shared Jimmy Sexton as an agent, so within hours Tuberville had a decision to make. He took the money and headed to Texas Tech.

Tuberville is now a United States senator-elect from the state of Alabama. That’s called landing on your feet.

This is Auburn’s third coaching search in 12 years.

Gene Chizik was the head coach prior to Malzahn, who was his offensive coordinator for three years, including when they won the 2010 national championship.

Chizik was fired two years after the title.

In 2017, the Razorbacks wasted their time by flirting with Malzahn. His agent used their interest to secure Malzahn a new $49 million contract.

Three years later, he is owed more than $21 million that will be paid by a booster or boosters.

Know what they are calling Gus Malzahn on The Plains now? A millionaire.

WALLY HALL