CGM "hot seat"

[Potatooooooes!! 1,375]

Less than 9-4 and yes, Gus is on the hot seat. Again, how the heck did he go 8-5 with all that talent and experience last year?

I can live with him being on the hot seat as long as people aren't trying to fire him

[DAG 33,980]

We've got a mixed bag of fans right now, but I don't think any fan thinks Gus should be gone. They do however realize that both offense (ranked #96) and defense (ranked #90) absolutely have to get fixed. They realize that ending the regular season 6-6 and dead ass last in the division is unacceptable no matter what. They realize Auburn should have never found themselves in a position where an AU fan has to EVER walk into freaking Legion Field to support the Tigers again.

The W-L column belongs squarely on the shoulders of the Boss. It's His team, if his coordinators aren't producing, if his position coaches aren't developing, if his S&C coach isn't strengthening our guys, if his players have attitude problems it's all on Him.

We'll see soon if the Gus is in over his head or not.

I wish I could frame this. With some people, it is get rid of the coach or don't critique the coach. Both are narrow-minded in my opinion. I literally watched Baylor lose both of their scholarship QBs, lose their wide receiver converted to QB, only to give the job to the player with the best arm. And they were still competitive & WINNING games. I know I am going to hear, yeah but they are in the big 12. I imagine Baylor could beat the likes of UGA, Arkansas and Mississippi State. Plan accordingly.

[auburn4ever 1,266]

How about Kendal Briles as OC/QB coach. Oh yeah, I believe Gus' seat is getting very warm. Next year his seat could be on fire.

[DAG 33,980]

How about Kendal Briles as OC/QB coach. Oh yeah, I believe Gus' seat is getting very warm. Next year his seat could be on fire.

Two different types of offensive philosophies. Would never work.

[Mikey 16,579]

Play calling: No matter what the sport, every coach's play calling is limited by what his players can do. If we had, say, Baylor's receivers, MSU's QB or UAT's linebackers the play calling would have been much, much different. We didn't have that quality of player and that had as much to do with play calling as anything else.

[AUIH1 1,515]

Play calling: No matter what the sport, every coach's play calling is limited by what his players can do. If we had, say, Baylor's receivers, MSU's QB or UAT's linebackers the play calling would have been much, much different. We didn't have that quality of player and that had as much to do with play calling as anything else.

OK., since you seem to be insinuating that is the players fault and not the coaching staff...Who is responsible for getting the right players and somehow convincing (coaching) them to execute?

wde

[johnnyAU 3,630]

Heck, if it was the quality of players we had, whose responsibility is that in the first place? Either you bring in the right talent, or you bring in the right guys and develop them into the talent you need, or you scheme around it to be successful.

Don't blame the players. The talent wasn't there and the play calling was pretty bad in some games too. A couple of games looked like complete chaos out there on offense.

[auburn4ever 1,266]

6, 7 or even 8 wins next season just won't cut it.

[AUwent 3,748]

Heck, if it was the quality of players we had, whose responsibility is that in the first place? Either you bring in the right talent, or you bring in the right guys and develop them into the talent you need, or you scheme around it to be successful.

Don't blame the players. The talent wasn't there and the play calling was pretty bad in some games too. A couple of games looked like complete chaos out there on offense.

We have possibly four guys on the lines that could go pro, including a potential first rounder in Shon Coleman. We have had 6 straight Rivals top 10 classes. Explain to me how we don't have talent?!

If we're not as talented, can we at least get all the years possible out of those players?

[johnnyAU 3,630]

Heck, if it was the quality of players we had, whose responsibility is that in the first place? Either you bring in the right talent, or you bring in the right guys and develop them into the talent you need, or you scheme around it to be successful.

Don't blame the players. The talent wasn't there and the play calling was pretty bad in some games too. A couple of games looked like complete chaos out there on offense.

We have possibly four guys on the lines that could go pro, including a potential first rounder in Shon Coleman. We have had 6 straight Rivals top 10 classes. Explain to me how we don't have talent?!

If we're not as talented, can we at least get all the years possible out of those players?

We did have some pretty decent talent. We just don't have much depth, which has been a consistent issue.

[mrdude 3]

I'm not a fan of constantly hiring and firing coaches, I believe it can take time for a new coach to settle in and have things running optimally.

With that said, going from 12 to 8 to 6 wins is not a good trend. I would understand if there was a big dropoff in talent, but there hasn't been. We've had consistently great recruiting classes over the years, and we haven't had an above average number of injuries or underclassmen playing. We have, however, had a team that rarely seems to play 100% focused for an entire game. If the trend does not reverse this year then it's easy to believe that 2013 was a fluke and Gus is a 6-8 win coach. I hope the opposite of that is true.

I think any coach at Auburn needs to average 9-10 wins a year to have a long career on the plains. If Gus can have a 9-10 win season, his average will be fine and so will he. If not, I'd be surprised if JJ gives Gus a fifth year.

[Mims44 1,867]

I picked 7 wins, to keep job.

That being said, 7 wins would have his seat still heated a bit the next year.

7 wins with 2 of them being Bama and UGA and he's def good.

9 win season and the chair is comfortable, NC and his chair is ice cold

[auburn4ever 1,266]

For the person who said they don't feel that Gus should be on the hot seat, I ask this question. Have you been watching his play calling. Remember the UGA game? JJ was passing well and he even ran pretty good too. Then for some crazy reason, Gus puts Sean White in knowing Sean's knee wasn't 100% and he was wearing a knee brace. In the end, we lost the. In his post game press conference, he said we knew Sean was hurt but I thought he could stay play. What head coach says something that crazy or puts in a player that he knew darn well that that player is hurt and can't move around with a bad knee.

[imaolgatiger 523]

For the person who said they don't feel that Gus should be on the hot seat, I ask this question. Have you been watching his play calling. Remember the UGA game? JJ was passing well and he even ran pretty good too. Then for some crazy reason, Gus puts Sean White in knowing Sean's knee wasn't 100% and he was wearing a knee brace. In the end, we lost the. In his post game press conference, he said we knew Sean was hurt but I thought he could stay play. What head coach says something that crazy or puts in a player that he knew darn well that that player is hurt and can't move around with a bad knee.

It's obvious that you weren't watching the game and/or you're clueless as to what was happening on the field. And no I'm not going to waste my time trying to explain it to you.

[Randman5000 4,227]

Crazy how things have changed in a year....

We had JJ at qb, just got LT from Alabama, the best defensive coordinator in Will Muschamp, got Trob back recruiting for Auburn, making tremendous impression on the number one recruit in the country, now....shambles.

[WarEagle10 77]

This is why we will never ever sustain any kind of success. We have the best O mind we have ever had. My days go back to Shug and we have had the most success I have seen in my life. Gus has proven, every year except one, that his O is a thing of beauty when it is humming. We have one really bad year and there is all kinds of talk of getting rid of him. We will never get a quality coach with this attitude. I would rather watch Gus learn and grow as a HC here than watch him kick our arse some place else.

[japantiger 4,051]

The starting qb, supposed to be so good he is in the early Heisman talk, flops. This prompts the starting of a redshirt freshman at qb in the 4^th game of the season. And just when this qb is settling in he gets hurt making it necessary to fall back on the qb who played so poorly early in the season.

The offensive line begins the season in disarray.

The starter at Hback is either a freshman or a redshirt freshman.

No real homerun threat at tailback. With two of the better backs playing time delayed by an early season injury.

The stud wide receiver is dismissed from the team 5 games into the season.

The wide receiving corps as a group is average. So many dropped catchable passes with very few acrobatic, can you believe that type of catches.

The school hires a new DC. Defenses starting over with new DCs tend to struggle early on.

The best player on the team, a DE, gets hurt in the first quarter of the first game. Including the remainder of that game he misses 7 games.

A senior DB dropping what seemed to be two easy interceptions that would have been returned for game changing touchdowns. In one of the games the team ends up losing by 8 points.

Even with all of the above going on the school in question wins 6 games. While playing against 9 teams with a winning record. 4 of the six losses were by 8 points or less.

It looks as if the HC here got about as much as he could out of the season.

I don't see how the coach who steered his team through that schedule with so many obstacles placed in it's path could be considered to be on the hot seat.

^^^^This^^^^

2015 was the perfect storm. Offensively, most of the problems were in the passing game. Defensively, most of the problems were talent related. Both are fixable.

The starting qb, supposed to be so good he is in the early Heisman talk, flops. This prompts the starting of a redshirt freshman at qb in the 4^th game of the season. And just when this qb is settling in he gets hurt making it necessary to fall back on the qb who played so poorly early in the season.

The offensive line begins the season in disarray.

The starter at Hback is either a freshman or a redshirt freshman.

No real homerun threat at tailback. With two of the better backs playing time delayed by an early season injury.

The stud wide receiver is dismissed from the team 5 games into the season.

The wide receiving corps as a group is average. So many dropped catchable passes with very few acrobatic, can you believe that type of catches.

The school hires a new DC. Defenses starting over with new DCs tend to struggle early on.

The best player on the team, a DE, gets hurt in the first quarter of the first game. Including the remainder of that game he misses 7 games.

A senior DB dropping what seemed to be two easy interceptions that would have been returned for game changing touchdowns. In one of the games the team ends up losing by 8 points.

Even with all of the above going on the school in question wins 6 games. While playing against 9 teams with a winning record. 4 of the six losses were by 8 points or less.

It looks as if the HC here got about as much as he could out of the season.

I don't see how the coach who steered his team through that schedule with so many obstacles placed in it's path could be considered to be on the hot seat.

^^^^This^^^^

2015 was the perfect storm. Offensively, most of the problems were in the passing game. Defensively, most of the problems were talent related. Both are fixable.

Interesting interpretation:

• The QB was all on Gus; he was Gus's top recruit; he hyped him for the Heisman for crying out loud...he had how many "good weeks of practice" and he still s*** the bed...this is all on Gus.
  
• If the Oline was in disarray; what is the Oline coaches job? Did Gus not see this train-wreck coming? apparently not.
  
• He had 3 great tailbacks and couldn't figure out which one to get on the field...and when they were on the field and doing well, he would put the ball back in the hands of his QB (see point one above) and take away the only thing that worked. Unlike other teams that have many good RB's; we seem to think you can only put one on the field at a time...in this offense, if three of your best players happen to be RB's, then put them all on the field at once...this is what TCU, Baylor, Oregan, etc., do...
  
• Don't get me started on Duke. He had a head case that couldn't follow the rules and he kept cutting him slack...he played favorites and created bad juju in the locker room....
  
• The senior DB dropping INT's didn't cost those games...his inept offense cost the game....DB's will drop passes...Receivers dropping passes was the issue...
  
• The only thing he did right was agree to hire Muschamp who had the D playing well enough to win in the 2H of the year...but, he is the "offense genius"...so other than paying some guy an outrageous amount of money to come in and then leave after only one year; not sure how much credit he gets...and note; any position on the D side of the field that had a player transfer in from another school, wound up starting...not the home grown evaluated talent...again, we can't really evaluate talent very well.
  

Evaluating and deploying the best talent is the HC's primary job...Gus has been an abject failure at this....and please spare me the "it's out of my control perfect storm" analogy. You obviously didn't really understand the lesson of the Perfect Storm...this is the lamest bull**** excuse employed by anyone who won't take responsibility for their actions...bottom line, the leader, the captain of that ship; murdered his crew the same as if he'd shot them in the head. No man, no captain, no leader, should have knowingly sailed a ship into a hurricane...it was sheer incompetence and just bad judgement.

[leglessdan 1,934]

This is why we will never ever sustain any kind of success. We have the best O mind we have ever had. My days go back to Shug and we have had the most success I have seen in my life. Gus has proven, every year except one, that his O is a thing of beauty when it is humming. We have one really bad year and there is all kinds of talk of getting rid of him. We will never get a quality coach with this attitude. I would rather watch Gus learn and grow as a HC than watch him kick our arse some place else.

In a nutshell, this is exactly our problem. And as much as people want to deny it, it's little brother syndrome because of bammers success.

[cooltigger21 0]

This is why we will never ever sustain any kind of success. We have the best O mind we have ever had. My days go back to Shug and we have had the most success I have seen in my life. Gus has proven, every year except one, that his O is a thing of beauty when it is humming. We have one really bad year and there is all kinds of talk of getting rid of him. We will never get a quality coach with this attitude. I would rather watch Gus learn and grow as a HC than watch him kick our arse some place else.

Everyone looks at what is happening across the state and it skews their thinking.

[DAG 33,980]

This is why we will never ever sustain any kind of success. We have the best O mind we have ever had. My days go back to Shug and we have had the most success I have seen in my life. Gus has proven, every year except one, that his O is a thing of beauty when it is humming. We have one really bad year and there is all kinds of talk of getting rid of him. We will never get a quality coach with this attitude. I would rather watch Gus learn and grow as a HC than watch him kick our arse some place else.

In a nutshell, this is exactly our problem. And as much as people want to deny it, it's little brother syndrome because of bammers success.

Such a narrow-minded thought process you have. I don't think anyone is saying AU has to be a playoff contender ever year. However, the trend that we are following, the way things have been handled going back to the end of 2014, etc falls under the head coach. Gus is no longer just an offensive coordinator. Every single spectrum from recruiting to hiring coordinators & all the way to player development falls under his eye. I do NOT believe he should be fired for this season, but I do believe he should be held responsible for the direction of the program. There is rarely any type of logic in these things. You are either blindly supportive of the coach or you are ready to blow the whole thing up. Both groups are pathetic.

[JTFazz 386]

As long as the house is in order, the team plays hard and smart and remains in the hunt for the SEC West deep into the season, I can be patient. Chizik's record the last two seasons closed the lid on the coffin, but the loss of discipline and control of the program put the nails in the coffin lid.

[leglessdan 1,934]

This is why we will never ever sustain any kind of success. We have the best O mind we have ever had. My days go back to Shug and we have had the most success I have seen in my life. Gus has proven, every year except one, that his O is a thing of beauty when it is humming. We have one really bad year and there is all kinds of talk of getting rid of him. We will never get a quality coach with this attitude. I would rather watch Gus learn and grow as a HC than watch him kick our arse some place else.

In a nutshell, this is exactly our problem. And as much as people want to deny it, it's little brother syndrome because of bammers success.

Such a narrow-minded thought process you have. I don't think anyone is saying AU has to be a playoff contender ever year. However, the trend that we are following, the way things have been handled going back to the end of 2014, etc falls under the head coach. Gus is no longer just an offensive coordinator. Every single spectrum from recruiting to hiring coordinators & all the way to player development falls under his eye. I do NOT believe he should be fired for this season, but I do believe he should be held responsible for the direction of the program. There is rarely any type of logic in these things. You are either blindly supportive of the coach or you are ready to blow the whole thing up. Both groups are pathetic.

I'm not blindly supporting anything except some damn patience in this fan base. You speak of trends huh? Really? You can derive a trend based on one friggin year? Is that all you have? That....is pathetic, and exactly the type of mindset I'm referring to. Yes, things didn't go as planned this season, and I was disappointed in the way some things were done as well. But, I also saw a rash of obstacles that change the overall landscape of the team. Some of those uncontrollable. I'm rational enough to understand things have a domino effect in relation to football. I like Gus and was excited to have him hired on, but I also know he's a relatively young coach. I also believe he can get it going in the right direction if we can all be patient enough to allow him to. Even as bad as some things got this season, we were still a touchdown away from winning a lot of games this year. That tells me that we're not far off from being a great team. All I'm saying is people jump to extreme demands when the W/L column is what "they" want and have to watch their bammer friends gloat and listen to their BS. Pre-Saban, our fan base was a lot different.

[TitanTiger 20,472]

I wouldn't characterize Gus's seat as 'hot.' I'd call it "warm." What I mean by that is, I don't think Auburn fans and the admin are expecting a championship next season. What they are expecting is noticeable progress. So I think what that means is that we have at least 8-9 wins, that the offense gets back to resembling what we expect from a Malzahn coached team, that the defense continues to make strides and that we probably need to beat either UGA or Alabama. Things need to look like we are moving back in the right direction again. And this is very doable. This was at least a 9-win team already with better QB play alone and we aren't losing much in the way of critical pieces.

A hot seat to me, in our context, would be more like what Richt was on and what Les Miles is probably on next year. Richt was and Les is at the point where anything less than a championship (at least of your division) next year is going to be considered more of the same and they'll likely get rid of him. Auburn is more in the position of expecting improvement next year and hoping to truly compete for a title in 2017.

[DAG 33,980]

This is why we will never ever sustain any kind of success. We have the best O mind we have ever had. My days go back to Shug and we have had the most success I have seen in my life. Gus has proven, every year except one, that his O is a thing of beauty when it is humming. We have one really bad year and there is all kinds of talk of getting rid of him. We will never get a quality coach with this attitude. I would rather watch Gus learn and grow as a HC than watch him kick our arse some place else.

In a nutshell, this is exactly our problem. And as much as people want to deny it, it's little brother syndrome because of bammers success.

Such a narrow-minded thought process you have. I don't think anyone is saying AU has to be a playoff contender ever year. However, the trend that we are following, the way things have been handled going back to the end of 2014, etc falls under the head coach. Gus is no longer just an offensive coordinator. Every single spectrum from recruiting to hiring coordinators & all the way to player development falls under his eye. I do NOT believe he should be fired for this season, but I do believe he should be held responsible for the direction of the program. There is rarely any type of logic in these things. You are either blindly supportive of the coach or you are ready to blow the whole thing up. Both groups are pathetic.

I'm not blindly supporting anything except some damn patience in this fan base. You speak of trends huh? Really? You can derive a trend based on one friggin year? Is that all you have? That....is pathetic, and exactly the type of mindset I'm referring to. Yes, things didn't go as planned this season, and I was disappointed in the way some things were done as well. But, I also saw a rash of obstacles that change the overall landscape of the team. Some of those uncontrollable. I'm rational enough to understand things have a domino effect in relation to football. I like Gus and was excited to have him hired on, but I also know he's a relatively young coach. I also believe he can get it going in the right direction if we can all be patient enough to allow him to. Even as bad as some things got this season, we were still a touchdown away from winning a lot of games this year. That tells me that we're not far off from being a great team. All I'm saying is people jump to extreme demands when the W/L column is what "they" want and have to watch their bammer friends gloat and listen to their BS. Pre-Saban, our fan base was a lot different.

you go from 12 - 8 - 6 wins. I don't know if you are an educated man, but if you take any basic statistics class that is a downward TREND. Now, I see you are very emotional human being, so I am going to try to put this as simple as possible. In any type of job with lots of expectations, you will be critiqued based on your performance. I do not know any type of managerial job, where you can be exempted from critiquing if you aren't making your baseline numbers. That does not mean you will get fired, but it does mean that you are at a risk for potential change if it doesn't get better. That is the REAL world. You are literally the only person bringing up Bama. Bama is the least of our worries. Take the tin foil hat off, go out and drink some egg nog.

Also, almost only counts in hand grenades and horseshoes. You either win or you don't.

[AUwent 3,748]

I wouldn't characterize Gus's seat as 'hot.' I'd call it "warm." What I mean by that is, I don't think Auburn fans and the admin are expecting a championship next season. What they are expecting is noticeable progress. So I think what that means is that we have at least 8-9 wins, that the offense gets back to resembling what we expect from a Malzahn coached team, that the defense continues to make strides and that we probably need to beat either UGA or Alabama. Things need to look like we are moving back in the right direction again. And this is very doable. This was at least a 9-win team already with better QB play alone and we aren't losing much in the way of critical pieces.

A hot seat to me, in our context, would be more like what Richt was on and what Les Miles is probably on next year. Richt was and Les is at the point where anything less than a championship (at least of your division) next year is going to be considered more of the same and they'll likely get rid of him. Auburn is more in the position of expecting improvement next year and hoping to truly compete for a title in 2017.

I'm taking it that you don't think we have more than 1-2 early NFL entries? Coleman is gone, but if Lawson returns, maybe next year will be a rebound. I agree that 8-9 wins (regular season) should be the benchmark.