Posted by: Chris Vannini on December 5, 2012

Arkansas State athletic director Terry Mohajir said he was in an airport when he was told Gus Malzahn would be taking the Auburn job.

For the second straight year, the Red Wolves won a Sun Belt championship, but saw their head coach leave for an SEC job. Last year, it was Hugh Freeze leaving for Ole Miss.

Arkansas State will have to find its fourth head coach in as many years, but Mohajir is confident they will get another successful coach.

"My phone, as you can imagine, has been ringing off the hook," he said. "I'm just going to tell you guys ... people know about us. I'm going to throw this out, but not say much on who I'm talking about, but we're getting calls from coaches in the NFL to some of the top FCS coaches in the country.

"They're out there and very interested and very excited. We're going to get a great coach, and the right one for our program and for our kids."

Mohajir says they will use the same search firm they used last time, of which Mohajir is now a junior partner. Chancellor Tim Hudson was also confident the program would continue its momentum.

"Coaches come and go," Hudson said. "Gus Malzahn made a positive impact on our program and our community, and we're grateful for that. But the winning plays on the field, they were done by our student athletes; not by coaches and not by administrators.

"These same athletes are going to be traveling to Mobile (for the bowl game), and we need to focus on them, and they need our support. The program has momentum, it continues to grow."

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Chris Vannini is the lead writer for CoachingSearch.com and has covered Michigan State sports for The State News, The Oakland Press and MLive.com. He writes a weekly column for the Detroit Free Press on behalf of SB Nation. Vannini lives in Big Ten country, so his foot speed is far from SEC caliber, but his pulse on coaches is hard to match. Be sure to follow @CoachingBuzz on twitter and send your feedback to chris@coachingsearch.com