Arkansas State to Introduce Gus Malzahn as Football Coach

Arkansas State University is making one of the splash hires of the college football season.

After losing Hugh Freeze to Ole Miss after just one year at the helm, the Red Wolves will announce the hiring of Auburn offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn as their head football coach.

Malzahn was a hot property in the off-season.  His name had surfaced in conjunction with several jobs.  He nearly took the Vanderbilt job after last season.

Malzahn will return to his home state where he was a successful high school coach before becoming offensive coordinator at Arkansas.  This past January he was calling the plays as Auburn won the national championship.

Malzahn will reportedly be given a contract worth $750-800,000 per year, which will make him the highest paid coach in the Sun Belt, but he'll be taking a pay cut from the $1.3 million he was making at Auburn.