lurtz

Gus keeps learning to coach football. I think Coach Ray said something to the effect that "experience is a hard teacher". Maybe by 2038 Gus will be Urban Meyer. I know, I'm piling on. I actually feel awful for Gus and even worse for his family. But AU football shouldn't be his training wheels anymore.

^That right there. The right coach is going to think "thank you Auburn for exercising that buyout and giving me my shot to coach SEC football at a great school".

You sir are a clear-eyed realist. Scary thought: you reckon Sexton got the terms you quoted into the contract?

I may be rehashing what others have said, but it seems to me that context keeps getting lost in this thread and the other "fire gus" type threads. Gus was coaching for his job after LSU 2017, and that after four previous roller coaster seasons. It isn't like AU would be canning a first year up and comer after one disappointing season. Heck tv announcers are pointing out the flaws in our offense. Coaches know they have to win in their profession, and they know about what Malzahn has done and failed to do here. They know who his agent is and with a little research they can probably figure out who he made the deal with in the AU administration. I think people on both sides of the argument agree it shouldn't have been made. All this to say: if the buyout is too big for AU to stomach, then I can understand giving Gus another year. But the notion that firing Gus this early into the new extension is going to look bad for AU just seems like nonsense to me. The coaching community is going to see it for what it is. AU has been plenty patient with Gus. The only coaches who are going to get scared off by Gus' firing are the ones looking for a lottery payout like he got while coasting to retirement. For the others, they will still see that AU is a school with great resources where you can win big if you are up to the job.

Stir that pot 'loof

Man, I had already forgotten that was the way it played out. Thanks for repairing my memory . Where's the embarrassed emoji?

OM - 27 AU - 17 First scripted drive gets a TD before the offense wilts. Defense plays tough and gets us enough short fields that we manage another TD. Carlson goes 1/3 of 50+ yard FGs.

You make a lot of great points, and what you wrote probably exactly sums up the mindset of the PTB when they were dealing with Sexton. But I still say Auburn was in a stronger position last year than it might look at first glance. First, Gus' track record is inconsistent. I don't think UF or A&M either one would have given him a hard look last year. True, those 2 schools were also going to get the pick of the litter of available coaches, and that was an arrow in Sexton's quiver. But it goes both ways: we probably aren't going to outbid UF and A&M, but we probably aren't going to have any trouble edging out the other 3 for a likely candidate. I think I've read that Rocky Top was getting turned down by candidates last year. Arky and UT were/are major rebuilding jobs. MSstake also, though maybe not as bad the other 2. Unless Gus was just determined to get paid, would he have left last year to go those schools? Auburn is clearly a better job than 2 of the 3, and at least on par with UT since the 1980s. Given his record here, if he was willing to go to any of the 3 for more bucks I think letting him go was a defensible choice by the PTB. I know I'm speaking from hindsight which is easy, but I would have taken the chance on losing CGM and having a season with Steele as interim HC rather than pay Gus that much guaranteed $. As far as Gus resigning, the only thing I can think of that makes that possible is if his family is just miserable with the current situation. But even then CGM is probably too invested in staying.

Let him show you the answer someplace else. We know all we need to know about Gus. Even if we keep him and his coaching improves, his relationship with a good portion of the fan base is never going to be healed, short of him going on a dinky-like run of NCs. And I don't ever see a natty in Gus' future as a HC.

Maybe saying Leath should pay a price for the extension is even less realistic than saying Gus should be gone now, regardless of the buyout. But somehow AU has to break this cycle of throwing millions away on poor coaching hires. I don't know how you do that without having consequences for the people doing the hiring. The OP is right: Leath has a fiduciary responsibility to AU and if he approved Gus' extension, he failed it. Agree about the risk inherent in big hires and extensions. But there was enough info on the books about Gus to pass on this one.

Now I'm missing something. Where did I say I expected anything to happen? What I said was: If it was Leath's call to approve the contract it was a bad one, and yeah I think it was bad enough to justify firing him. and We should want accountability in the athletic department and the administration. I don't think you can get accountability from an organization unless there are repercussions for the people within it who make bad decisions. I think it's "ironic" to expect otherwise. And for the record I wouldn't have been fine with the extension even if we were undefeated now. But in truth I probably wouldn't be as vocal about it.

Not a new Winnebago?

We aren't talking about firing Malzahn over one season, but his career at Auburn. And we aren't talking about firing Leath over a bad season. We're talking about firing him over the contract, which Malzahn's performance here didn't justify. If it was Leath's call to approve the contract it was a bad one, and yeah I think it was bad enough to justify firing him. For the posters saying firing Leath would send a bad message, I disagree. It says the university is not about football first, so you can't expect to continually throw $ away on bad coaches and not be held accountable. You have to be as frugal with AD $ as with any other university funds. More so in fact, because we aren't just a football mill, we're one of the best public universities in the country. You don't get a pass for making a terrible choice just because it was the expedient one and "omg it's the football program, what else could I do?". What you could do is tell Sexton that Malzahn's tenure doesn't justify that kind of guaranteed money. We've been loyal to your client through 5 years of inconsistency, how about he show's a little loyalty to the university that gave him a shot at coaching SEC football? Otherwise, yeah good luck to him with rebuilding the program at Arkansas. From his track record here, I'm not sure he's up to it. Auburn was in a stronger position in that negotiation than some people seem to recognize. Every president should be judged on every aspect of his/her job. We should want accountability in the athletic department and the administration.

100% wrong, at least in my case. Auburn deserves to be great because of Auburn. What's going on with Auburn football should be unacceptable because Auburn deserves better, not because of what's happening at any other program in the country. Tuscaloosa could be a really big septic tank on Jupiter and it couldn't have any less bearing on the need for our program to continuously improve, at least as far as Auburn people should be concerned. Glad I got that off my chest. Hmm . . . looks like it's back to the lab, AUFriction. 🔬 Never mind, keesler said it much better.

Thanks corch. That could explain a lot. I don't know a thing about 23 but he seemed like the sort of poster who would check in now and then even if he didn't have the low down on the program anymore. Here's hoping he got a HS coaching gig and is super busy right now.