Coaching Staff

[AURainman 6]

It was interesting to look at the AB thread in the Classics Forum.

VERY interesting.

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I B!***ed and moaned for a while after the hire because we turned down two hotshots for what appeared to be a mediocre Indiana coach. After watching spring practice, and hearing ONE interview with Borges I was sold. I will be man enough to admit, my first impression is not my impression now!!!

I'm nothing but a flip-flopper!!!!!!!!!

[CCTAU 3,312]

Years ago there was a fellow in my National Guard unit who was always complaining about something ... it didn't make any difference how great the circumstances were he invariably found something negative to say.  One day he was very quite.  I asked if he felt bad.  He responded, "yes, how did you know."  I responded, "because you aren't complaining about something."  Some people's personalities are such that they seem consumned with finding something negative to say about any and every situation.  Let's enjoy these good times and put every effort into avoiding sounding anything even remotely like the fans of "the Other School Up the Road".

War Eagle!

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This post is not about bitching now, its about what was said a year ago. All the kool-aid drinkers love to come back and say I told you so. But if it had not worked out, there are many that bitched that would now be pained to have their "fears" come true. Nobody on this thread is bitching because its their personality, they were rebutting the I told ya so's. We are all happy that it worked out, but as Chuck said, there was nothing to be happy about this time last year. That's all. Everybody's happy now.

[tiger88 934]

I did a poll when borges was hired and the majority of people said they had doubts about AB but were willing to wait and see. The ones doing the worst beetching were very loud and made the overall opinion seem worse than it was.

[rolltoomer 0]

I don't know how some posters here claim to know what motivated Coach Tuberville (friends, not best interest of the team/school), but I'll bet they DON"T KNOW but are projecting some perception they harbor.

I would also like to know the SOURCE and BASIS for saying that accepting some of the staff was a prerequisite for getting the OC job. Obviously some would have us believe that they have special knowledge and are privy to the really base motivations of a dastardly coach.

I ain't buying it.

Maybe we have an outsider in Tiger clothing.

[tiger88 934]

Geeze can we give all those who never left tubs side a medal or something? Will that make them happy? How about we all just proclaim that they are the greatest AU fans EVER!

Who cares who was right and who was wrong, we have a great football team now so why not just enjoy it instead of trying to figure out who the best fans were?

I guess some people just need a pat on the back to keep em going.

[chuck 0]

rolltoomer .

what the #$!@$#!@ are you insinuating?

Even though I have been on this board for 4 years, and have been an admin for three I am a fan of another school??? What the heck are you friggin' talking about.

I'll say it again. I post a good deal of information on this board without a link - and 99% of it is good recruiting news. Its funny, no one calls me a rival fan when I do this. However, when I do the same thing and its negative - all of the sudden I no longer cheer for AUBURN!?!?!

You guys can take me for my word or not - but I'll assume you won't listen to my positive recruiting information anymore also.

Give me a #@$#@$@$ break!

[AUesquire 1]

I tend to look at things a bit too simplistically at times. CTT is always going to be only as good as the assistants he hires when it comes to wins and losses. It's a given that he's more of a CEO than a hands on coach.

That being said, why would he put a multi-million dollar job, his position as head coach of one of the top programs in the nation, his reputation in the coaching community, etc, on the line by basing his hires on friendships and loyalty alone? CTT said his reasoning for Nall was that the system they had with Petrino was successful and the players were getting more comfortable with it as the year went on. He thought Nall knew the system and could step right in and continue on without missing a beat.

Yes, he was wrong and AU had to suffer through a rough season (compared to expectations). But, he took care of business and fixed the problem.

[chuck 0]

for $1.8 million, he should know enough about football that you can't take a OL coach and a HS QB coach to run at NFL quality OC's offense.

So the decision was based on loyalty to his friends over Auburn, or was incredibly stupid. Either way - that's not what we pay $1.8 mil for.

The 2004 season as of 10/5 is what we pay $1.8 mil for.

[mcgufcm 4,096]

i would say just from my memory of the hiring process that tubbs stated from the beginning that he was not going to fire his supporting staff. so to say that keeping nall and the boys (who may or may not've deserved a firing b/c nall especially went back to a position where he was exetremely successful) was not a prereq. for getting the co-ordinator position is probably fantasy. will we ever know for sure if borges was the only one who agreed to keep tubby's staff? nope. that part's speculation. we know it was demanded and accepted. that's all we know.

i was interested by borges from the start. i thought maybe we could do better, but i love the packers so i knew we could run west coast with a power running game. so i was interested. he has been better than i could reasonably expect which is really nice.

i think tubbs would be at about .667 b/c in my eyes lovett wasn't a horrible coach, just a guy that got blown out at the wrong time. if chizik's defense gives up 30 to bama last year, we're in with a whole new staff. lovett wasn't that bad prior to the bama thrashing, but that sealed his fate.

as for losing these guys, i think chizik will be here a while. defensive guys take a lot longer to get their shot than offensive coaches. look at guys like charlie strong (who was the hottest thing this side of the sun in the late 90s) or bob stoops or his brother. at the very least, it takes a solid 3-4 year stretch of dominance before you get the interviews. eventually, we'll lose him, but tubbs knows defense. our's has never been that bad with tubby here so i don't worry about replacing defensive coaches at all.

[one 2]

For those who bashed TT or the hiring of AB I have no problem with you just saying, "Oops I was wrong. I am not as smart of a football prognosticator as I thought." And letting that be the end of it. We don't need to let this "I told you" so thing go on endlessly.

As far as why CTT really hired AB NO ONE on this board really knows. I absolutely guarantee. The best speculation is simply that, speculation. I thought the Nall hire was reasonable. Petrino was avast improvement over Mazzone. He got a lot oout of what we had. Nall should have been able to just pick up where he left off and ran with it. This type of thing has happened a million times before and often with great success. So, let me say, "Oops I was wrong. I am not as smart of a football prognosticator as I thought." I think it was an extremely smart football decision to stick by Nall and keep him on the staff. (Recruiting is 90% about keeping the same guys around and building consistency and relationships) I have never been one to think that Nall is one the top ten OL coaches around, but he is very good. He does best with a good OC and a good system. Same goes with the rest of the them.

CTT did not hire AB just simply because he was the only one who would be willing to keep the staff together. More went into than that. To suggest otherwise is absurd. If that was a part of itthen that is fine. It should have been a part of it. Keeping guys around and being loyal and even promoting from within has a lot do with other things other than "blind loyalty to friendships." If that were the case he would have kept Nall on as OC. He had a free ride after Petinogate. Some of you seem to assume the worse. That is your priviledge, but I think you are wrong on this one.

[chuck 0]

I'm not sure how many times I have to say the following . .

I'm not assuming, I'm not speculating . . .I KNOW that is why Borges was hired . .

This will be my last comment on this thread. I'm sure many of you will continue to ignore certain parts of it, but that's fine - I'm confident most people will understand this. I'm also going to put this in order of importance:

1) I am super-duper pleased with our coaching staff. I would be happy if you told me right now that for the next 10 years CTT would be our HC, Chizik our DC, and Borges our OC.

2) Jereld Powe will sign with Auburn this year.

3) CTT made a HUGE mistake promoting Hugh Nall. Based on his exerience and pay - he should have known better

4) 3 different men were offered the OC postition at Auburn before Borges, the 1st two declined because they were told that they would not have the option of replacing Nall, Knox, Emsinger, and Gran (although why you would want to replace Gran is beyond me). Borges agreed to keep them. I have a problem with this.

5) Al Borges appears to be a better OC then the other men that were offered the job first.

I'm done now. But I appreciate people doubting that I am an Auburn fan.

[AUesquire 1]

Well, I don't know about you but,

I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and doggonit, people like me.

[TitanTiger 20,472]

Doubting that chuck is an Auburn fan is like doubting the Pope is Catholic. Dumb.

[one 2]

I hope that nothing I wrote insinuated that i didn't think you were not a die hard true blue AU man.

Please post once more on this thread. Assuming you are doing more than speculating for a moment, Would the other three guys have been automatically hired if they would have agreed or was that just part of what TT was looking for? Were the three men offered or interviewed? When TT said that he hired AB because he was the only one that gave them a good picture of how he would use Carnell and Ronnie and because he was the only one that showed good "half-time adjustment ability," was that just painting a rosey picture of a bleak situation? Was he one of four interviewed and the one who had the best interview? That was the impression that I was given by many. One more, don't you think there are good football reasons to keep this staff together? Might it been more than blind loyalty?

I really want to read our answers on these questios. Not to bash, or to criticize, but if you have this kind of inside info I would like to hear it. I mean you have laready admitted that you were horribly wrong about the AB hire so I have nothing else to ask. Please reply.

[chuck 0]

no one, you were not the one who insinuated it, it was someone else.

The other 2 guys would have been hired IF they agreed to keep the OC staff together. Once the decision was made, CTT did exactly what he should do, put it in a positive light.

Now, that being said, it doesn't mean that Borges didn't give him answers to those questions. I don't doubt (especially now that I've seen his results), that Borges gave CTT the answers he needed about Carnell and Ronnie and halftime adjustments.

I don't necessarily agree that keeping a staff together is necessary in order to provide strong recruiting. If players don't see development by current players in their positions, they won't want to come to Auburn.

Look at Knox and our WR's for instance (Again, before 2004) We signed big name WR's in Ben, Devin, and Mix -and then Taylor was supposed to be special. We signed those guys based on Petrino coming in, running an NFL style offense. After thatyear, look at our WR haul . . James Swinton, that's all. Players like Chad Jackson, Jayson Swain, Matt Caddell, Tyrone Protho, etc. ,etc. had little interest in Auburn because our WR's were not developing.

Borges came in and changed that. He personally focused on the WR's and their route running and catching ability. Knox just wasn't doing that.

So yes, based on how bad the Nall promotion was, I was furious about the Borges hire - and skeptical is not even the word. But seeing the results, I am very pleased. I still not happy about how it came about - but am thrilled with the results.

CTT recruits extremely well (when not handicapped by SACS or Hugh Nall's offense), he brings in great kids who graduate. He is a good Christian Man, and a good representative for our school. However, he makes some very questionable hires on his staff. Therefore, as long as this staff stays together . .I am THRILLED to have CTT.

[one 2]

Good enough.....

I have always thought we should replace Knox with Washington. He is a homegrown boy and a heck of a recruiter, but I have also realized that knox was kept on because he seems to be the star recruiter of the group. He seems to only be as good as his OC. THe same could be said about Nall. Gran seems to be the one AOC that produces year in and year out. I wonder hoe things might be different today had Gran gotten the promotion instead of Nall.

[DKW 86 7,419]

Chuck is about as strong an AU Fan as there is.

When the forerunner to this board was rumored to be shutting down and the admins bailed, Chuck just about kept it going on his own.

Chuck and I might not see eye to eye on everything but he was one of the first three guys I asked to help out on this board.

[tiger88 934]

Doubting that chuck is an Auburn fan is like doubting the Pope is Catholic.  Dumb.

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Yeah, but does the pope know he is catholic?

Just a dumb joke, not a knock on Chuck .

[mcgufcm 4,096]

chuck i have to disagree with you on one thing. i think it was a plus that tubby forced the new coordinator to keep the staff together. if you look at every position on this staff, we've done a least a par job of developing talent.

nfl caliber players at running back: rudi, heath, caddilac, and ronnie all played for gran. oline: kendall, nowland, monreko, and mcneill all played for nall. receiver: tim carter, ronney daniels (although he left too early and ended up being a wash), rojo (same thing), ct, and ben all played for knox. i don't think knox is the best of the best, but he's got folks in the league with his stamp on them like him or not.

so if the worst thing tubbs does is keeping that staff together to help recruiting (and you have to admit it dang well doesn't hurt), then i'll take that. i doubt very seriously that we would have even had the possibility of this kind of season with a zero consistency on the staff. i think tubby knew keeping that staff together with new direction gave him a chance to win this year with all the talent on this roster. lose that staff, and you can kiss this season goodbye.

[tombigbeetiger 223]

whatever happened,whoeve,whenever, who gives a damn?....enjoy it....it's working

[WarTim 3,456]

no one, you were not the one who insinuated it, it was someone else.

The other 2 guys would have been hired IF they agreed to keep the OC staff together.  Once the decision was made, CTT did exactly what he should do, put it in a positive light.

Now, that being said, it doesn't mean that Borges didn't give him answers to those questions.  I don't doubt (especially now that I've seen his results), that Borges gave CTT the answers he needed about Carnell and Ronnie and halftime adjustments.

I don't necessarily agree that keeping a staff together is necessary in order to provide strong recruiting.  If players don't see development by current players in their positions, they won't want to come to Auburn.

Look at Knox and our WR's for instance (Again, before 2004)  We signed big name WR's in Ben, Devin, and Mix -and then Taylor was supposed to be special.  We signed those guys based on Petrino coming in, running an NFL style offense.  After thatyear, look at our WR haul . . James Swinton, that's all.  Players like Chad Jackson, Jayson Swain, Matt Caddell, Tyrone Protho, etc. ,etc. had little interest in Auburn because our WR's were not developing.

Borges came in and changed that.  He personally focused on the WR's and their route running and catching ability.  Knox just wasn't doing that.

So yes, based on how bad the Nall promotion was, I was furious about the Borges hire - and skeptical is not even the word.  But seeing the results, I am very pleased.  I still not happy about how it came about - but am thrilled with the results.

CTT recruits extremely well (when not handicapped by SACS or Hugh Nall's offense), he brings in great kids who graduate.  He is a good Christian Man, and a good representative for our school.  However, he makes some very questionable hires on his staff.  Therefore, as long as this staff stays together . .I am THRILLED to have CTT.

Chuck, If you feel that I owe you an apology, You certainly have got it. I simply asked, half heartedly, If you knew for a fact that Coach Tuberville made this decision based on loyalty to his "friends" (which in most circumstances is to be admired, but, I would not be too thrilled either if I knew that was the case.) or if you were assuming that to be the case. I would not and will not question your word when given. IF you say you know that to be the case, I will take you at your word. ALSO, and maybe more importantly, rest assured that I would in no way question the fact that you are an AUBURN MAN through and through. THAT would ruffle more than a few of my feathers as well. Again, I offer a complete apology and did not and would not question your OBVIOUS loyalty. I , or anyone else that has spent any amount of time on this board , would or should know better.

WAR EAGLE & LET'S CONCENTRATE ON SUPOPORTING OUR TIGERS AND KICKIN'

SOME la tech BACKSIDE ! ! !

[tiger88 934]

I don't think you were the culprit either Tim.

[chuck 0]

Tim, thanks for the apology - but it wasn't you either . . none needed . .

[TitanTiger 20,472]

*cough* rolltoomer *cough*

I don't know how some posters here claim to know what motivated Coach Tuberville (friends, not best interest of the team/school), but I'll bet they DON"T KNOW but are projecting some perception they harbor.

I would also like to know the SOURCE and BASIS for saying that accepting some of the staff was a prerequisite for getting the OC job.  Obviously some would have us believe that they have special knowledge and are privy to the really base motivations of a dastardly coach.

I ain't buying it.

Maybe we have an outsider in Tiger clothing.

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[tiger88 934]

Tim, just to let you know it may sound like bs but I don't mean it as an insult when I call you a big blind homer. Whatever floats anyones boat w/ AU is good with me.