So let me get this straight Auburn folks...
...first, you fire a coach who, prior to this admittedly bad season, had a .708 winning percentage in 10 seasons. The only coaches with better records after Prohibition were Pat Dye who was run off the Plains for NCAA issues, and Terry Bowden who only coached 5 years and never won an SEC title. Hell, Tuberville had a better winning percentage than Ralph Jordan and his name is on their stadium. Tubs also beat Alabama 6 straight times (2001-2007), something no other coach has done. Now, I don't blame Auburn for firing Tuberville (make no mistake he was fired, and didn't resign otherwise the AD wouldn't be paying him a $6million buyout) because they already felt they were falling behind Alabama and the Fighting Nick'tators in Tuscaloosa. However, they go out and do the second thing.
They passed on Mike Leach. This guy is begging to find a job outside of Lubbock. And who can blame him? Have you seen Lubbock? It's a toilet of a town that frequently has dust storms that would have intimidated the Joads and on most days reeks of the stench of nearby feed lots. Add in the fact that the average Tech student is so stupid that the school is in danger of losing it's academic accreditation, that Tech girls while hot are rife with STDs, and the fact that they have the worst fans west of Baton Rouge and that just adds to the problems with the AD. Problems like the fact that they play in a converted high school stadium that has just been expanded in a hap-hazard fashion and so little revenue coming in that the football program actually ran out of money for postage to mail recruiting letters. Yet, Leach has built a consistent winner out of kids that nobody wanted put him into a program like Auburn and within 3 years he wins the SEC. And don't say the spread won't work in the SEC, look at Florida. But because Leach is a bit odd and seems to have an affinity for both Jack Daniels and pirates he's passed over.
Then Auburn interviews Turner Gill. The former Nebraska QB should be a hot commodity as he has made the worst program since Bill Snyder turned K-State around into the MAC champs inside of 3 years. This is a program that was completely non-existent in the 70s. And by that I mean that they didn't even have a football program between 1970 and '77. Then they were NCAA D-III between '77 and 1992. From 1992-'98 they were D-IAA and in 1999 they joined the MAC. Under Gill Buffalo has gone 2-10 in '06, 5-7 in '07, and 8-5 MAC champs in '08. This is remarkable because Gill has no fanbase, no recruiting base, and facilities which would make a Texas high school cower in shame. Plus, and the experience of Sylvester Croom notwithstanding, I firmly believe that a black coach in the SEC would absolutely kill on the recruiting trail. So what does Auburn do? Of course they pass over Gill too.
Finally, if reports are to be believed Auburn even contacted Will Muschamp their former DC. But given the circus going on in Alabama he decided to keep his $900K+ salary and title as "head coach in waiting" at t.u. (that's Texas for you Midwestern folk). Can't say I blame him.
And they Auburn looks to another former DC, Chizik, who has gone 5-19 at Iowa State. Sure it's Iowa State but come on, he went 0-8 this year in the BigXII.
Well, here is the reaction of Auburn fans to the hiring of Gene Chizik. I hope their AD has his insurance paid up because he's liable to suffer some vandalism.
Sunday, December 14, 2008
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4 comments:
Tuberville got the old "here's enough money to persuade you to resign so we don't have to publicly fire you" move, though I'll agree it was rather hasty after one bad season. Alabama's undefeated regular season definitely didn't help him.
Though Chizik did nothing at Iowa State in his only two seasons as a head coach (the team's record actually got worse both years), he was the defensive coordinator for two straight undefeated teams: Auburn in 2004 and Texas in 2005. It doesn't hurt having that on a resume.
While I'll give you the '04 and '05 seasons for Chizik people forget that he had the worst pass defense in the country (or pretty damn near) in '06 with 3 future NFL draft picks in the secondary. 2 of those 3 were 1st rounders.
And in this biz it's "what have you done for me lately?" Well, Chizik has been an abject failure as a head coach. The list of coordinators who failed as head coaches is littered with the corpses of Broyles Award winners.
All in all a very suspect move, considering the rest of the SEC.
Here's a few of the SEC's new hires since Tuberville's undefeated 2004 season:
-Florida wins one national title and will play for another under Urban Meyer
-LSU wins a national title under Les Miles
-Though he hasn't done much, Steve Spurrier is at South Carolina
-Alabama goes 12-1 in Nick Saban's second season
If Auburn really felt they needed to keep up with the rest of the conference with someone other than Tuberville, I don't know if Gene Chizik is the big name they needed.
Granted it is Charles Barkley , so it's not like there's a ton of credibility/ power behind the comments. Still, this is a pot that you never want to see stirred if you're part of administration, things get really nasty really fast as more people pile onto this thought bandwagon.
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