The word on the Search

[BARNER 3]

I don't follow the other schools but here's a question around context; are UT and Arkansas considering Gus or Bobby? Are either considering Kirby?

Read an article yesterday that said UT should hire Tressel and it made way too much sense. Otherwise, I don't know if two major powers in the SEC consider our candidates as attractive as we might (or might not, considering your perspective).

Not saying we should care what another school might find attractive (or not) but if Gus is a solid candidate for Auburn, why wouldn't Arkansas poach him from their back yard?

Tennessee can't hire Tressel unless they want NCAA sanctions. There is an NCAA 5 year ban on him.

Article I referenced: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1428777-tennessee-football-why-jim-tressel-is-worth-the-show-cause-penalty

[ellitor 33,077]

I don't follow the other schools but here's a question around context; are UT and Arkansas considering Gus or Bobby? Are either considering Kirby?

Read an article yesterday that said UT should hire Tressel and it made way too much sense. Otherwise, I don't know if two major powers in the SEC consider our candidates as attractive as we might (or might not, considering your perspective).

Not saying we should care what another school might find attractive (or not) but if Gus is a solid candidate for Auburn, why wouldn't Arkansas poach him from their back yard?

Tennessee can't hire Tressel unless they want NCAA sanctions. There is an NCAA 5 year ban on him.

Article I referenced: http://bleacherrepor...w-cause-penalty

Gotcha

[AuKyle06 0]

I can't get over the feeling that hiring smart would be settling and a huge let down. What happened to making that big splash...Kirby Smart? You've got to be kidding me!

[AuburnSpider 2]

as usual, JUST AUBURN BEING AUBURN. Cant say I dont blame a top notch coach for avoiding this train wreck.

[tbon986 1]

EagleWarDamn tweeted the oddest thing: that Auburn is thinking spread for next year.

1. You'd think the head coach would get to make that call, rather than it being a criterion.

2. Spread is meaningless. Oregon's? TCU's? Air Raid? The Saints' offense?

It was stated by a mod on another board that committee has stated that they want a spread offense. Based on this my opinion is that Morris is a backup to Malsahn

if he turns it down. If Smart is selected he will have a spread OC..

[stryker 0]

Aight E...

IF we settle for on of the "unprovens" (and that's a big IF), would you think that K. Smart would be the better candidate? I sure as heck would...!!!

I do because I trust Coach Dye's opinion on coaches. He looks at Smart to Saban a lot like him under Bear Bryant. When we hired Chiz in 2008 Dye wanted Muschamp , which we now see would have been a great choice, but Jacobs wanted Chizik. When Jacobs picked Chiz Dye backed Jacobs for support.

I really question what you are saying. I was with Dye at his hunting preserve in 2006 and he was gushing over Chiz. There is little doubt in my mind he was the big push behind hiring Chiz. A buddy of my was hunting with him (Dye) just before Chiz was hired and Dye was as excied as he could be about what was soon to be announced. If we hire Smart all can know that nothing has changed at Auburn, and we will see the same result minus the NC.

[hrut 0]

I could get on board with Smart. I hope whoever thr hire is they can get us back to the defense that I grew up watching. I know the game has changed but I will never come to terms with someone scoring 30-50 pts against us, even if we win.

[EagleReedle 14]

We already hired a "defensive coach" with Chizik & the only thing that saved him was Gus & Cam. Our issue is primarily offensive, we need to focus on an offensive minded coach. Let Van Gorder slowly rebuild and bring in Petrino or Patterson or Gus to get us in the endzone while we get our defense up to par.

[au701948 997]

I am sure most folks won't agree with me here,. But yes, for the time being I think (or maybe I am hopeful) given his connection with the current players and possibly some of the current recruits. CGM may be able to salvage a good portion of our "current listed" recruits. He has to have seen what happened the past 2 years without any discipline, I do not believe he would stake his future on taking an offer unless he means business.

But no one knows, we can just be fans and stir ourselves up until it is settled.

[AuKyle06 0]

My problem is neither Smart nor Malzahn are proven head coaches! This is not the time to gamble with unprovens!

[au701948 997]

Well as much as we love to hate him..Boom is doing a decent turnaround at Florida..and he was "just" a Defensive Corrdinator 2 years ago. Food for thought.

[JMassie11 1,610]

Well as much as we love to hate him..Boom is doing a decent turnaround at Florida..and he was "just" a Defensive Corrdinator 2 years ago. Food for thought.

Yes and it was his defense. ...with smart we just don't know bc saban calls the shots... you all should know this

[SphyNxXx 96]

I am sure most folks won't agree with me here,. But yes, for the time being I think (or maybe I am hopeful) given his connection with the current players and possibly some of the current recruits. CGM may be able to salvage a good portion of our "current listed" recruits. He has to have seen what happened the past 2 years without any discipline, I do not believe he would stake his future on taking an offer unless he means business.

But no one knows, we can just be fans and stir ourselves up until it is settled.

That is one of the things I think would be good about hiring Gus back. For those wanting a big splash hire.....many of those "big splash" candidates are firm in their position and can't be lured away by anything other than an NFL job. Bammer got lucky in finding Satan and they got in the perfect scenario where a proven coach wanted out of a job where he didn't fit. I don't think we have any coaches in that position right now. Many very solid teams out there right now got a coach with little to no head coaching experience that ended up being homeruns.

[AuKyle06 0]

Well as much as we love to hate him..Boom is doing a decent turnaround at Florida..and he was "just" a Defensive Corrdinator 2 years ago. Food for thought.

I agree and maybe smart will turn out like muschamp but muschamp also cut his teeth under different coaches in different conferences...I just feel like this would be selling ourselves short. I don't think copying "the process" is what we need in order to beat bama and Saban.

[Howarjk 6]

Smart could at least save our defensive recruiting class unlike malzahn or malzahn Jr. (Morris). The only real answer to this mess is petrino if you are honest with yourself.

[Weagle94 0]

The Chad Morris interview throws up some red flags for me. here is a guy whose name was never thrown around and all of a sudden he's interviewed? I'm worried this might mean malzahn somehow said no but recommended a friend. Why would we go after the protege when we think the teacher is avaliable? I doubt we get Patterson, doesn't seem like he's ready to tear out of TCU and TCU has said they'll keep him at even the highest cost. Today TOSs reported the Petrino might get the last interview but that he is starting to "cool". Regardless of his faults if JJ's plan was to go get the proven head coach why wouldn't we had started with petrino? I'm concerned that our leadership (shocker) doesn't have the balls to get petrino and take the heat for it, asked malzahn but got rejected, and knowing patterson is unlikely won't try too hard to get him (sounds very JJ like), and so know we are left with coordinators with no HC experince to lead us at a time when we are falling fast to maybe the bottom 4 of the entire SEC. I have a feeling this is the disaster we all felt might happen with JJ still involved. Why would we contact Morris when we have the more experienced, "master" version in talks with us? I think it can only mean Malzahn said no and we are screwed.

[JMassie11 1,610]

Smart could at least save our defensive recruiting class unlike malzahn or malzahn Jr. (Morris). The only real answer to this mess is petrino if you are honest with yourself.

That only depends who the dc is.. what if bvg stays. . What if rocker comes to be dc....those type if intangibles are only "what ifs"

[AuKyle06 0]

Smart could at least save our defensive recruiting class unlike malzahn or malzahn Jr. (Morris). The only real answer to this mess is petrino if you are honest with yourself.

That's what I'm starting to believe...I dont think you can put malzahn or smart in the level of a bobby petrino. I just don't think our administration will take that chance.

[Mikey 16,565]

-Final decision expected on Wednesday

-One trusted sources strongly believes it will be Petrino while another trusted source says it will not be Petrino.

-Reality is if Petrino is not interviewed today or officially contacted today for an interview tomorrow then his chances will go down dramatically.

-Interviews with Smart and Gus both went very well.

-Clemson OC Chad Morris will interview today.

As with all these kind of matters things can change at a moments notice but I just wanted to take a few minutes to provide the best update I could. WAR EAGLE!

I'd be very happy with Gus, Smart or Morris. All are fresh faces with a lot of up-side. Auburn is one of the top ten programs in the country. We can get a good coach without the humiliation of hiring a hooligan such as Petrino.

[icanthearyou 4,462]

Aight E...

IF we settle for on of the "unprovens" (and that's a big IF), would you think that K. Smart would be the better candidate? I sure as heck would...!!!

I do because I trust Coach Dye's opinion on coaches. He looks at Smart to Saban a lot like him under Bear Bryant. When we hired Chiz in 2008 Dye wanted Muschamp , which we now see would have been a great choice, but Jacobs wanted Chizik. When Jacobs picked Chiz Dye backed Jacobs for support.

I really question what you are saying. I was with Dye at his hunting preserve in 2006 and he was gushing over Chiz. There is little doubt in my mind he was the big push behind hiring Chiz. A buddy of my was hunting with him (Dye) just before Chiz was hired and Dye was as excied as he could be about what was soon to be announced. If we hire Smart all can know that nothing has changed at Auburn, and we will see the same result minus the NC.

Totally agree. There are too many who believe we need to emulate the bammers. We will never beat them at their own game. We need to be different. We need to be a contrast not a comparison. We need to be Auburn. We will be more successful by being different rather than trying to be a better version of them. Screw them, we need our own identity. Time for new ideas and a drastic change.

[hrut 0]

Smart could at least save our defensive recruiting class unlike malzahn or malzahn Jr. (Morris). The only real answer to this mess is petrino if you are honest with yourself.

Or.. The only way this mess could get worse is to throw BP into the mix. Just depends on your point of view.

[DyeHardAllTheWay 0]

I just want Gary Patterson....that's it. All I want for Christmas.

[AuKyle06 0]

Smart could at least save our defensive recruiting class unlike malzahn or malzahn Jr. (Morris). The only real answer to this mess is petrino if you are honest with yourself.

Or.. The only way this mess could get worse is to throw BP into the mix. Just depends on your point of view.

You think many of these offensive recruits wouldn't want to play for BP? Look what his offensive players have accomplished. Mai's QBs have been more prepared than those Malzahn has coached or scouted.

[Cam2Newton1 0]

This is an interesting stat of the Top 25 and the head coaches, courtesy of JaDennis from TOS.

So the count of the BCS schools in the current Top 25 BCS standings...

12 - coordinator, no head coaching experience

3 - proven head coach smaller school

2 - proven SEC head coach

1 - previous NFL head coach, mediocre

1 - previous head coach, mediocre

1 - proven head coach

We think we need a big name coach, but that may not be the case. Let's keep an open mind about things. Twelve head coaches are in the Top 25 and had no previous head coaching experience.

WAR EAGLE!

[Howarjk 6]

Do you really think he would mess up again? Really? If we let someone else hire him then we are behind another team especially if he kid hired inside the SEC.