This will not be a popular opinion, but my take...

[Auburnfan91 1,407]

8 hours ago, homersapien said:

I just don't see how firing Gus will get us back to the SEC championship quicker than keeping him.

There are plenty of top tier coaches who coached more years than Gus before they became notably and consistently successful.

Gus is a long term investment. I'd hate to pay for all of his formative experience only to lose him to someone else who will profit from it.   

Name one former Auburn head football coach that left Auburn and became more successful than when they were at Auburn? Go ahead name them. Shug Jordan retired. Doug Barfield coached high school football after getting fired at Auburn, Pat Dye retired. Bowden went down to division 2 at North Alabama before landing an FBS job at Akron almsot 14 years after he resigned at Auburn. Tuberville landed at Texas Tech and is now at Cincinnati. None of Auburn's past head coaches have come close to having the amount of success they had at Auburn.

Gus isn't going to get a better job than Auburn if we let him go.

[Charhair 345]

12 hours ago, RunInRed said:

The case for holding the defense together is the strongest argument.  Offense is a hot mess and sans a few bright moments, has been for some time.

i wonder what the thoughts on the offensive staff would be if it weren't for the emergence of Pettway

[GwillMac6 20,671]

41 minutes ago, Cooper said:

I dont want to Fire Gus simply because nobody else can do any better in play for Auburn right now.  I wanted Petrino but I dont write the checks.  But what I would like is to see Woody play if he is so good or anybody else that can sling a ball.  I love White but if he is hurt dont give away a game.  I am on the Gus Bus till this time next year then we will see.

I see greatness in PJ Fleck. the way he has built that program up from nothing is impressive.

[japantiger 4,051]

10 hours ago, homersapien said:

I don't like it either.  But firing Gus will put us back another 4-5 years.

Now if our recruiting goes to hell, that might change my mind.  Meanwhile, I'll continue to view the glass as half full.

I don't understand that logic...why would that set us back 4-5 years?  If as most think on here 1)  we have the talent but  2) we lack development  and game coaching...then not sure how a HC change would set us back....seems the opposite would happen.     Gus has the 8th highest coaches salary in the nation...nearly $4.8m ...how many more losses to AL and GA should we be willing to take?

.... http://sports.usatoday.com/ncaa/salaries/.  

[DAG 33,982]

Just now, japantiger said:

I don't understand that logic...why would that set us back 4-5 years?  If as most think on here 1)  we have the talent but  2) we lack development  and game coaching...then not sure how a HC change would set us back....seems the opposite would happen.     Gus has the 8th highest coaches salary in the nation...nearly $4.8m ...how many more losses to AL and GA should we be willing to take?

.... http://sports.usatoday.com/ncaa/salaries/.  

 

Honest question, who would you want?

[aujeff11 6,243]

I understand what Jap is saying. If a coach continues to lose to the hated rivals, it's his own fault that his seat will stay warm. If there were better coaches out there, and if I wasn't already fed up with our instability since Tuberville, I'd probably fire Gus just for that alone. Three years straight we have scored 13 points or less against pretty bad Georgia teams. Thats not going to get it done. I know Gus is an Arkansas guy, and may not be as familiar of the heated DSOR as Auburn fans but he will learn one way or another. Hopefully he won't have to learn while packing his stuff. 

[OnthePlains 2,014]

When's the last time an Auburn coach lost six straight to uga and bammer? How long do you stare mediocrity in the face and accept it? Gus is a 7 or 8 win coach period. He's had four years to develop a qb and look what we have.Good defenses have figured him out. Injuries or not Sat was shameful. We watched Baylor win and move the ball with like a 3rd string qb last year despite injuries. I don't know who we go after but that's a tired excuse anyway. Following that logic you would never make a change. Y'all stag on the bus till it goes in the ditch and if he proves me wrong then call me out next year. But more likely I will be calling you all out when the search begins next December.

[Tigercj 242]

If and its a big if Gus is fired, then JJ has to go first. There is no way anybody can trust him to hire another football coach or even be around to write the contract. Jacobs has painted us in a corner so it will cost us dearly to fire Gus. I am not saying we should or shouldn't fire him that is above my pay grade only that Jacobs should not even sniff a phone call about a new coach.

[I_M4_AU 7,810]

In my opinion, if would be futile for Auburn to change the HC this year with Jay Gogue retiring next year and Jay Jacobs potentially not being acceptable to a new president.  Auburn just needs to be patient and let things play out.  Economists plays a big part of any coaching change and with Gus' buyout it wouldn't be a good time to cut ties.  The Gus/Rhett team does need to be broken up this off season, one was or another.

[triangletiger 1,599]

I'm thinking of making a 'Not My Coach' sign and going down to Toomers Corner to protest.  Maybe block a little traffic while I'm at it.  Who's with me?

[Tigercj 242]

4 hours ago, aujeff11 said:

I understand what Jap is saying. If a coach continues to lose to the hated rivals, it's his own fault that his seat will stay warm. If there were better coaches out there, and if I wasn't already fed up with our instability since Tuberville, I'd probably fire Gus just for that alone. Three years straight we have scored 13 points or less against pretty bad Georgia teams. Thats not going to get it done. I know Gus is an Arkansas guy, and may not be as familiar of the heated DSOR as Auburn fans but he will learn one way or another. Hopefully he won't have to learn while packing his stuff. 

My question is what if bama blows us out big? How will the athletic board and boosters react? 

[I_M4_AU 7,810]

17 minutes ago, triangletiger said:

I'm thinking of making a 'Not My Coach' sign and going down to Toomers Corner to protest.  Maybe block a little traffic while I'm at it.  Who's with me?

Entitled cry baby, get a job.

[SaltyTiger 7,795]

On 11/13/2016 at 7:52 AM, TitanTiger said:

Auburn should not have lost to Georgia yesterday.  The UGA offense is anemic and our defense totally controlled it aside from a few amazing passes from Eason.  They held them to two FGs the entire game and anytime that happens, you should win.

At the same time, Auburn is a very beat up team, far more beat up that the coaching staff has let on.  Sean is obviously not himself and unable to generate any velocity on passes beyond 5-10 yards without really screwing up his mechanics and thus his accuracy.  I think it's also causing him to throw the ball quicker to try and avoid hits because any strong hit could spell the end of the season in his mind and it's painful.  Kerryon is not the same back he was early in the year because of the ankle and Pettway just bring another dimension to this offense.  Not having all of those key pieces working properly are just too much to overcome.

And finally, the JF3 thing has been an extreme disappointment not only in terms of evaluation by the staff (in hindsight we should have signed Jerod Evans) but in JF3's own development.  He simply should be better now so that when Sean isn't 100% the offense can do something.  But this is not a problem unique to Auburn.  A&M is a totally different team without Trevor Knight.  Louisville is a 3 or 4 loss team without Lamar Jackson.  Who knows what Clemson is without Watson?  You name me a team and virtually any of them are going to suffer greatly without their starter.  Most backups are not stars who just haven't gotten their chance.  They are backups because they are either flat out not as good, or because they are young and not ready for the lead role and there will be tremendous dropoff.  

All of that said, I feel like in many ways Gus has taken some steps forward as a coach this year.  We finally have a defense that can carry a team and keep us in any game.  That hasn't happened since Tubs was here.  He finally understands his role as a HEAD coach and is allowing his assistants to do what he hired them to do.  And while we are paying the price for missing on Jerod and JJ's mental breakdowns, I think what this team did when it was healthy shows great promise.  

So what do we do?  We are likely to lose to Alabama and finish 8-4.  Is it time to repeat the 4-year "Auburn gets a new head coach" cycle?  Thoughts on that:

1.  Well, I don't want to break up this defensive staff especially.  It's taken 6-7 years to get an Auburn defense back around here and I love what T-Will and McGriff have done.  And our D-line is killing it.  It's nice to know we don't have to score 40 points every outing to have a chance.

2.  Yesterday showed that every coach is susceptible to losing games they shouldn't.  Clemson lost at home to unranked Pitt (giving up 43 points in the process), Michigan lost to unranked Iowa, only scoring 13 in the process, and Washington lost to USC, managing only 13 points at home.  And other coaches have had their struggles this year:  Jimbo at FSU, Stoops at Oklahoma, Herman at Houston.  This is not an exact science.

3.  What coach do you realistically think we go after and get?  Herman maybe, but like Gus he's learning on the job as well.  Jimbo has shown himself to be a monumental whiner and without Jameis is having a hard time of it.  Petrino is having a great year but I don't think he's leaving Louisville a second time so quickly and the PTB at Auburn just aren't going to hire him.  Briles is radioactive for a few years.  So I'm struggling to come up with someone.

Taking all of the above into consideration, I think we're better off staying with Gus for another year, hopefully adding Stidham as QB this offseason, getting Woody Barrett ready after a redshirt year and anticipating Joey Gatewood after him.  It's not going to make a lot of folks happy, but I just don't think blowing things up again after 4 years is the right way to go.

well said TT

[aujeff11 6,243]

42 minutes ago, Tigercj said:

My question is what if bama blows us out big? How will the athletic board and boosters react? 

It's probably not going to matter. Seems like many people are willing to give Gus another chance even if Bama blows us out. Which is redundant given Malzahn was on the hot seat all of last offseason. We had posters on this board say" Gus is making these moves( football staff, dismissals) because he knows this could be last hurrah." Subscription insiders confirmed it, etc. If Kam Pettway didn't turn into Superman and give Auburn's offense some hope, Malzahn  probably would be fired honestly.

Bama are the world champs for a reason and most of the time, having purpose driven tigers is the only way to beat Bama. The great thing is that we have played some pretty inspired ball against Bama unlike Georgia.

[Dan-0 479]

The offensive fiasco that was the Clemson game, which showed incredibly poor planning and judgement, would be enough to get a lot of coaches fired. Our defense is finally where it needs to be. Our offense needs to go in a drastically different direction that I don't think CGM or Lashlee know how to go in. Basing your offensive plan on having a dual threat QB is too hit-or-miss and not really the direction we should be going in. There are just not that many out there and, if they get hurt, you're screwed. We need QBs who can lead the offense and complete enough passes to keep defenses honest.

[OnthePlains 2,014]

6 minutes ago, aujeff11 said:

It's probably not going to matter. Seems like many people are willing to give Gus another chance even if Bama blows us out. Which is redundant given Malzahn was on the hot seat all of last offseason. We had posters on this board say" Gus is making these moves( football staff, dismissals) because he knows this could be last hurrah." Subscription insiders confirmed it, etc. If Kam Pettway didn't turn into Superman and give Auburn's offense some hope, Malzahn  probably would be fired honestly.

Bama are the world champs for a reason and most of the time, having purpose driven tigers is the only way to beat Bama. The great thing is that we have played some pretty inspired ball against Bama unlike Georgia.

Question for you aujeff11, and believe me I know that anytime we beat bama its sweet but wouldn't a victory over bama ring a tad hollow on this occasion?  I mean, IF and thats an IF the size of Saturn, we beat them then so what?   We will always wonder what might have been had we taken care of uga and we still have to watch bama go to ATL and probably on to the CFP.  So for the first time in my life I'm not sure I would fully enjoy a win over the turds.  Just curious as to your thoughts on it? 

[Tigercj 242]

8 minutes ago, aujeff11 said:

It's probably not going to matter. Seems like many people are willing to give Gus another chance even if Bama blows us out. Which is redundant given Malzahn was on the hot seat all of last offseason. We had posters on this board say" Gus is making these moves( football staff, dismissals) because he knows this could be last hurrah." Subscription insiders confirmed it, etc. If Kam Pettway didn't turn into Superman and give Auburn's offense some hope, Malzahn  probably would be fired honestly.

Bama are the world champs for a reason and most of the time, having purpose driven tigers is the only way to beat Bama. The great thing is that we have played some pretty inspired ball against Bama unlike Georgia.

I agree with you and as much as it confused me Gus made the comment that he was mad about last years Arkansas game but I have never heard him with such anger over the Georgia game. 

[Tigercj 242]

3 minutes ago, OnthePlains said:

Question for you aujeff11, and believe me I know that anytime we beat bama its sweet but wouldn't a victory over bama ring a tad hollow on this occasion?  I mean, IF and thats an IF the size of Saturn, we beat them then so what?   We will always wonder what might have been had we taken care of uga and we still have to watch bama go to ATL and probably on to the CFP.  So for the first time in my life I'm not sure I would fully enjoy a win over the turds.  Just curious as to your thoughts on it? 

I would still love to give the turds an epic beat down. WDE

[aujeff11 6,243]

6 minutes ago, OnthePlains said:

Question for you aujeff11, and believe me I know that anytime we beat bama its sweet but wouldn't a victory over bama ring a tad hollow on this occasion?  I mean, IF and thats an IF the size of Saturn, we beat them then so what?   We will always wonder what might have been had we taken care of uga and we still have to watch bama go to ATL and probably on to the CFP.  So for the first time in my life I'm not sure I would fully enjoy a win over the turds.  Just curious as to your thoughts on it? 

If we beat them it will definitely save Gus's job. If we beat them, we will get bragging rights until Bama still backs their way into the playoffs lol. You're right though. Our team had the makeup of good football team. We have a great defense, great kicker, two headed monster at RB, and enough talent at the WR position to get it done. I totally blame Gus for the Clemson loss. I don't totally blame Gus for Georgia because we did have many injuries. But it looked like Gus went right back to his shell the whole Georgia game. Take some chances and lose rather than try the same thing a third, fourth, fifth and sixth time just to fail every time. Is that not the definition of insanity? Did JF3 not provide a spark at the tail end of the Texas A&M game? Hope for that. Cannot be any worst than our starting QB only throwing for 27 yards for the day.

That's two winnable games and we easily could only have one loss setting up another epic showdown with Bama if Gus would just get out of his own way some times.

[Tigercj 242]

34 minutes ago, keesler said:

I didn't hear Gus' presser, who the hell is he angry at over the UGA loss?  

His defense for letting UGA eat up the clock for damn near the whole second half?  

His QB that was playing with a bum wing?  

His WRs that couldn't catch passes thrown into their hands/chest?  

His oline that was getting pushed around in the 2nd half?  

His coaches that didn't make necessary adjustments at the half and failed to adjust during the 2nd half?

Seriously, this is GUS' staff, he's got his men working for him, they are in unison on that staff and he's "angry" about the UGA loss, why?

 

What I was referring to was his statement that he was mad about losing to Arkansas last year but he has never made that kinda of statement about the losses to Georgia. 

[agent_jack 28]

On ‎11‎/‎13‎/‎2016 at 11:03 AM, AuburnNTexas said:

How many coaches in college football have turned every QB into a great player none. There is more to QB then being able to throw and run many can do that few can lead a team.

 

A lot of Jimbo's QBs sure do make the league.. Russell, Flynn, Ponder, Manuel, Winston to name a few.. and Francois should be a lock to get drafted barring something catastrophic....

[agent_jack 28]

1 hour ago, Dan-0 said:

Basing your offensive plan on having a dual threat QB is too hit-or-miss and not really the direction we should be going in. There are just not that many out there

No its not hit or miss if you gauge the talent accurately..... Jalen Hurts, Lamar Jackson, and Deshaun Watson says Hi.....  all 3 Heisman candidates...  all 3 had their team in the top 10.... nuff said

[keesler 5,924]

43 minutes ago, Tigercj said:

What I was referring to was his statement that he was mad about losing to Arkansas last year but he has never made that kinda of statement about the losses to Georgia. 

I misunderstood you - I'll delete my post.

[Tigercj 242]

20 minutes ago, keesler said:

I misunderstood you - I'll delete my post.

No problem I would just like to the same passion he came out with about Arkansas with Georgia.

[Dan-0 479]

29 minutes ago, agent_jack said:

No its not hit or miss if you gauge the talent accurately..... Jalen Hurts, Lamar Jackson, and Deshaun Watson says Hi.....  all 3 Heisman candidates...  all 3 had their team in the top 10.... nuff said

As much as I would like to think we can recruit a QB every year, I think the odds are greater you will end up with a JF3 or Kiehl Frazier than one of the aforementioned and then you not only lack a dual threat QB you don't even have a single threat QB.. Not too mention the fact that there is high risk of your QB getting hurt when he runs so much. Obviously, we are not gauging the talent effectively.