Gus Malzahn wanted to clear the air.

Speaking to the media for the first time in 19 days, since his postgame press conference during the Iron Bowl, Malzahn wanted to make something clear about his contract to be Auburn’s coach in wake of reports that he was being forced to renegotiate his new seven-year, $49 million deal.

“A couple things I wanted to clear up that are out there,” Malzahn said. “First of all, my contract has not changed one bit. I was never told I had to change my contract to keep my job. I have the support of our athletic director and president. There’s nobody hamstringing me from doing our job."

The reports surfaced following Auburn’s regular-season finale loss to top-ranked Alabama in the Iron Bowl, which was the Tigers' most lopsided loss of the Malzahn era and dropped the team to 7-5 on the year. The disappointing season came on the heels of an SEC West title in 2017, when Auburn knocked off two top-ranked teams -- Georgia and Alabama -- in a span of three weeks to clinch the division. Although the Tigers lost the SEC Championship Game to Georgia and then dropped their Peach Bowl appearance against undefeated UCF, the team headed into 2018 with sky-high expectations.

With the Tigers returning much of their defense and starting quarterback Jarrett Stidham, Auburn was expected to again vie for an SEC West crown, widely viewed as Alabama’s top competition in the division, and be in the mix for the College Football Playoff. Those plans were derailed early on, with Auburn losing on a last-second field goal against LSU in Week 3, then dropping games against Mississippi State and Tennessee before falling to rivals Georgia and Alabama.

Prior to the Georgia loss, Malzahn got a vote of confidence from athletic director Allen Greene, who said Malzahn would be the Tigers' coach for the long run, and Auburn president Steven Leath echoed those sentiments a couple weeks later ahead of the Iron Bowl.

Although Auburn’s administration was oddly silent about those reports in recent weeks, Greene on Monday published an open letter to fans reiterating his support for Malzahn.

“They’re both on the same page for helping us moving forward,” Malzahn said of Greene and Leath.

Still, it was an underwhelming season for Malzahn, who is the fifth-highest paid coach in the country this season and whose contract featured a $32 million buyout as of this month. His buyout also ranks fifth among college head coaches. Those shortcomings resulted in unrest among Auburn fans, and reports surfaced in recent weeks that Malzahn was asked by administrators and boosters to renegotiate his contract and lessen the buyout, all of which he categorically denied on Thursday.

“I think the bottom line is when you go 7-5 and you have aspirations of winning a championship, which we did, and go 7-5, no one is going to be happy,” Malzahn said. “I’m not happy. I know our fans aren’t. But I will tell you this, we’ve got really a lot to look forward to next year. We’ve got the majority of our team coming back. Recruiting is going really good. Not just good but really good. And I think that’s a tribute to our coaches. It’s a tribute to the type of people we’re recruiting, their families and everything that goes with that. So the guys that we’ve got coming back with the class we’re about to sign, I’m very excited. I love Auburn. I love being here. I’ve been here a long time. I know what it takes and I’m really just excited about moving forward.”

Tom Green is an Auburn beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Tomas_Verde.