Gus in final seven for Coach of the Year

[toddc 13,194]

Gus being selected to The finals of Coach of the year should validate his success this year and his new contract! Does for me anyway! I believe he won the award in 2013 after turning around a 3-9 team a year later and losing NCG by 17 seconds!!!

post link and article when making a thread like this.

http://www.al.com/auburnfootball/index.ssf/2017/12/gus_malzahn_bear_bryant_finali.html

Gus Malzahn among 7 finalists for Bear Bryant Coach of the Year Award

By Tom Green

tgreen@al.com

Gus Malzahn was named one of seven finalists for the Bear Bryant Coach of the Year Award on Wednesday, the American Heart Association announced.

Malzahn, who won the award in 2013 during his first season at Auburn, is joined by Wisconsin's Paul Chryst, USC's Clay Helton, Army's Jeff Monken, Georgia's Kirby Smart, Clemson's Dabo Swinney and UCF's Scott Frost for the honor. Swinney has won the award the last two seasons.

The winner of the award will be announced Jan. 10 during a ceremony at the Hilton Americas-Houston.

In his fifth season at Auburn, Malzahn guided the Tigers to a 10-3 mark, the SEC West division title and a berth in the Peach Bowl. The Tigers knocked off the College Football Playoff rankings' top-ranked team twice in a three-game span in November, throttling rivals Georgia and Alabama at Jordan-Hare Stadium to clinch the SEC West and set up a rematch with the Bulldogs in the SEC Championship Game.

Auburn's performance this season earned Malzahn a new contract with the program, agreeing to a seven-year, $49 million deal to remain with the Tigers.

Auburn enters the bowl season ranked seventh in the College Football Playoff rankings, and the Tigers will face undefeated No. 12 UCF in the Peach Bowl on Jan. 1.

[GwillMac6 20,671]

@DAG

[abw0004 10,112]

Wait I thought people on this forum said Gus Malzahn was a terrible coach...  This must be a mistake.  There is no way he deserves this since posters on this forum said he would never be a good coach and that he needed to be fired and was a waste of money.  What does the rest of America say to those posters:

 

[musicitytiger 281]

Just.........no

He’s done a great job recruiting and in some ways has grown as a coach.  But you don’t suffocate your offense like the Clemson game, go Uber tubershell in the lsu game, and refuse to adjust to a 4-3/5-2 defense in the secc...........and win coach of the year.  He needs to grasp the 101 stuff before hardware is handed over.

[aujeff11 6,243]

31 minutes ago, musicitytiger said:

Just.........no

He’s done a great job recruiting and in some ways has grown as a coach.  But you don’t suffocate your offense like the Clemson game, go Uber tubershell in the lsu game, and refuse to adjust to a 4-3/5-2 defense in the secc...........and win coach of the year.  He needs to grasp the 101 stuff before hardware is handed over.

I tend to agree. The coach of the LSU and Clemson game isn’t top ten, but the coach that made game changing late first half decisions against A&M is. 

Gus deserves the recognition for post LSU. He made great decisions that benefitted Auburn greatly. Even some of those decisions are still heavily speculated( ahem, RB carries) but you cannot deny that we beat both of our rivals in Amen corner when it seemed bleak that we would win one. 

[AUld fAUx@ 2,584]

and:

'Auburn football plans to bring back all of Gus Malzahn’s assistants for 2018...

Auburn coach Gus Malzahn said Wednesday the Tigers are planning to keep all nine of their assistant coaches for next season. Malzahn said part of his negotiations for a new 7-year, $49 million contract included new deals for his assistants.

“Our assistants have done a great job, and any time you have assistants that do a great job, you need to reward them,” Malzahn said. “I’m very blessed to have the staff we have, and kind of like I talked about, it’s all about the future and how bright the future is, and everything kind of coming together right now with the foundation that we have with our talent.”

...“We’re going to do everything we can to keep our guys,” Malzahn said.'

https://www.seccountry.com/auburn/auburn-football-gus-malzahn-staff-assistant-coaches-2018

[RHN1975 302]

I don't have a problem with Gus being nominated but having Bill Clark left off the finalist make this award a joke. There is no one in this country that can touch the job Clark did this year reviving a program and putting it in a bowl. 

[lionheartkc 6,150]

50 minutes ago, RHN1975 said:

I don't have a problem with Gus being nominated but having Bill Clark left off the finalist make this award a joke. There is no one in this country that can touch the job Clark did this year reviving a program and putting it in a bowl. 

Unfortunately, just like an undefeated UCF didn't have even a remote shot at the playoffs, the coach at UAB has no shot at a coach of the year award.

[LKEEL75 2,566]

26 minutes ago, lionheartkc said:

Unfortunately, just like an undefeated UCF didn't have even a remote shot at the playoffs, the coach at UAB has no shot at a coach of the year award.

Sad, but true...

[DAG 33,982]

Frost won the award. Gus should want to slap the piss out of him come January 1st. Welcome to the big league Frost .

[aujeff11 6,243]

1 hour ago, lionheartkc said:

Unfortunately, just like an undefeated UCF didn't have even a remote shot at the playoffs, the coach at UAB has no shot at a coach of the year award.

Clark won both the CBS Sports Coach of The Year and the Bleacher Report National Coach of the Year awards. They might not mean much but people are paying attention.

FWIW, the ex UCF coach won the Eddie Robinson award as nations best coach as well.

But let’s be realistic, coaches in these positions are looking for the financial rewards  that comes with better job opportunities within the power 5.

[lionheartkc 6,150]

1 hour ago, aujeff11 said:

But let’s be realistic, coaches in these positions are looking for the financial rewards  that comes with better job opportunities within the power 5.

This. If you are a non-power 5 school with a great coach, enjoy him while he lasts... and if you are a great coach in a non-power 5 school, you better hope your skills translate when you start playing the big boys every week.

[aujeff11 6,243]

19 minutes ago, lionheartkc said:

This. If you are a non-power 5 school with a great coach, enjoy him while he lasts... and if you are a great coach in a non-power 5 school, you better hope your skills translate when you start playing the big boys every week.

Yep. I wonder how Fleck is doing in Minnesota. I know he makes 3.5 mil per year now compared to only 800,000 at WMU. 

[lionheartkc 6,150]

1 minute ago, aujeff11 said:

Yep. I wonder how Fleck is doing in Minnesota. I know he makes 3.5 mil per year now compared to only 800,000 at WMU. 

There's that, too. Thanks to sports agents, any coach that can last 3-4 year in the big leagues can retire and live off of investments.

[AU64 10,122]

8 minutes ago, lionheartkc said:

There's that, too. Thanks to sports agents, any coach that can last 3-4 year in the big leagues can retire and live off of investments.

My wife describes guys like Frost....maybe Fleck too as "one and run"......said that for the rhyme but not too far off I think for some of the guys moving up a big step after a really hot season.    

As for Clark....his loss to the 1-11 Charlotte 49er team has to be the most unexplainable loss by any Div 1 coach...almost a firing offense....and certainly a good reason to leave him off the list. . 

[gravejd 3,270]

I really hope Gus wins this award. I wouldn't vote for him personally for coach of the year. But i still hope he gets it. 

[ToraGirl 5,498]

8 hours ago, abw0004 said:

Wait I thought people on this forum said Gus Malzahn was a terrible coach...  This must be a mistake.  There is no way he deserves this since posters on this forum said he would never be a good coach and that he needed to be fired and was a waste of money.  What does the rest of America say to those posters:

 

Please use the word SOME with posts like these.  Thank you.  Inaccurate generalizations raise ire and birth unnecessary  threads quicker than breeding rabbits. 

[gr82b4au 5,568]

Beating two #1 teams in the span of 3 weeks will get you some praise for sure. 

[murpjf88 506]

He's not winning COTY and he Doesn't deserve to.

[abw0004 10,112]

15 hours ago, ToraGirl said:

Please use the word SOME with posts like these.  Thank you.  Inaccurate generalizations raise ire and birth unnecessary  threads quicker than breeding rabbits. 

It is fairly accurate with the general consensus being throughout the season what I said.  It was safe to say there was a very small minority on this forum defending Malzahn over the course of the season.

[McLoofus 35,182]

40 minutes ago, abw0004 said:

It is fairly accurate with the general consensus being throughout the season what I said.  It was safe to say there was a very small minority on this forum defending Malzahn over the course of the season.

Yep. I can only remember one person saying that LSU was the players' fault. That's as small as a minority gets.

The guy did a terrible job in every big game for 2 1/2 seasons. It ran counter to any logical assessment of his abilities that he saved the season in November. Then some poor decisions on his part came home to roost in the SECCG. All of the criticism is still valid. 

[abw0004 10,112]

19 minutes ago, McLoofus said:

Yep. I can only remember one person saying that LSU was the players' fault. That's as small as a minority gets.

The guy did a terrible job in every big game for 2 1/2 seasons. It ran counter to any logical assessment of his abilities that he saved the season in November. Then some poor decisions on his part came home to roost in the SECCG. All of the criticism is still valid. 

If you are implying that is what I said after the LSU game, it wasn't.  Unless I am misinterpreting what you are saying.

And you can't blame the SEC Championship game on Gus.  There were a lot of factors into the outcome.

[McLoofus 35,182]

8 minutes ago, abw0004 said:

If you are implying that is what I said after the LSU game, it wasn't.  Unless I am misinterpreting what you are saying.

And you can't blame the SEC Championship game on Gus.  There were a lot of factors into the outcome.

Nope, but one of your fellow members in the Tiny Band of Believers did. Point being, the belief wasn't always logical. 

And some of the factors in the outcome of the SECCG were, again, Gus's misfires earlier in the season coming home to roost. And,. really, any time your team gets beaten by multiple touchdowns, your coach deserves to be blamed for some things. I was never *mad* about the SECCG, and Gus was not rewarded for all he'd done right up until and in that game, but let's not pretend his decisions up until and in that game were perfect or even near it. 

I'd be happy for Gus if he won this award. He probably works as hard as anyone in the business, even if he doesn't always make the best decisions. I'd also be shocked, though. 

[abw0004 10,112]

1 minute ago, McLoofus said:

Nope, but one of your fellow members in the Tiny Band of Believers did. Point being, the belief wasn't always logical. 

And some of the factors in the outcome of the SECCG were, again, Gus's misfires earlier in the season coming home to roost. And,. really, any time your team gets beaten by multiple touchdowns, your coach deserves to be blamed for some things. I was never *mad* about the SECCG, and Gus was not rewarded for all he'd done right up until and in that game, but let's not pretend his decisions up until and in that game were perfect or even near it. 

I'd be happy for Gus if he won this award. He probably works as hard as anyone in the business, even if he doesn't always make the best decisions. I'd also be shocked, though. 

I think the way I view it, and what I have said all season, is that we needed to give Gus the full season before judgements were made.  We needed to see his whole body of work, because it is easy to get too excited or upset if view too closely over a one-game span.  It is like the stock market.  If you look at it just over a one day span, you would be flipping out every other day.  But if you look at it over a one year span, you would be very pleased with the performance.

If you look at Gus' tenure, he is steadily trending up, which is what you want to see.  No plateau.  He is learning from his mistakes and making the right moves.  I believe the voters see this as well and rewarded him with the finalist position. We are finally being set up for long-term success, not just a flash in the pan.

I am excited for 2018, that is for sure.  And it all starts with the Peach Bowl!

[McLoofus 35,182]

2 minutes ago, abw0004 said:

I think the way I view it, and what I have said all season, is that we needed to give Gus the full season before judgements were made.  We needed to see his whole body of work, because it is easy to get too excited or upset if view too closely over a one-game span.  It is like the stock market.  If you look at it just over a one day span, you would be flipping out every other day.  But if you look at it over a one year span, you would be very pleased with the performance.

If you look at Gus' tenure, he is steadily trending up, which is what you want to see.  No plateau.  He is learning from his mistakes and making the right moves.  I believe the voters see this as well and rewarded him with the finalist position. We are finally being set up for long-term success, not just a flash in the pan.

That's the whole thing. The first half of this season was every bit as poorly coached as the first and last quarters of last season. That's why so many of us hit the eject button. He had not learned. He had not learned to trust his staff or his players. He had not learned that he has to make in-game adjustments. And we lost games we shouldn't have because of it. Again.

It's not particularly logical, in my mind, to continuously isolate every moment into whatever category that will allow you to maintain a positive outlook- it absolutely does matter when the crap we're seeing halfway into this season looks just like the crap we suffered through last season- but hey, dilly dilly, I truly do envy that ability.