Gus Just Doesn't Hate to Lose

[CleCoTiger 1,957]

Malzahn's reputation has in the past been that of a man who can't stand losing, who remembers every issue in losses.  I still think he's that way.  Now whether or not he knows how to win more than 8 games a year consistently...that is what I don't yet know.  He's right on the average for AU coaches as far as wins vs. losses.  AU fans, me included, want to see that average go from 8 or so wins to a consistent 10, at least.  Hard to do in the SEC, especially the SEC West with UGA as a permanent cross division rival added on top of that. 

(Our Tigers have year in and year out played the toughest or one of the toughest schedules in the SEC.  They used to call the end of the season Amen Corner. There's a reason for that.)

[CleCoTiger 1,957]

On 10/7/2018 at 2:46 AM, murpjf88 said:

Maybe he'll take his job more seriously if the Pancake house yanks his reserved seat.

No waffles for you! - The Waffle Nazi

 

 

[TigerToe 13]

Instead of saying, “I’m proud of our guys” after a dumpster fire game, how about “this is totally unacceptable” and chew some butt. I don’t get it! 

[oracle79 3,569]

9 hours ago, CleCoTiger said:

Malzahn's reputation has in the past been that of a man who can't stand losing, who remembers every issue in losses.

His brain is probably too full for new information then.

[ToomersStreet 795]

I'm going to split hairs and say that it's not  that us hates to lose, but he wants to be right about his offense more  than he wants to  win.

[tigeraddikt 1,590]

3 hours ago, ToomersStreet said:

I'm going to split hairs and say that it's not  that us hates to lose, but he wants to be right about his offense more  than he wants to  win.

Very excellent point, and well stated.

[kwagoner 214]

18 hours ago, TigerToe said:

Instead of saying, “I’m proud of our guys” after a dumpster fire game, how about “this is totally unacceptable” and chew some butt. I don’t get it! 

He says he’s proud of the guys, got to get better, that starts with me.... 

Generally speaking, you won’t get the best out of people with public ridicule/blame/etc. A few exceptions are motivated by that.  And a few exceptions can get away with that tactic.

Forum rules prohibit downing players in fear of them or future players seeing the comments. If CGM does that, wouldn’t that be more detrimental than a fan babbling on a board?

As a business owner, when our employees are taking a beating (like our players are from fans and media, specifically OL and QB) we stand behind them in a public forum but correct in private. Sometimes buddy-buddy. Sometimes chewing some butt.  Regardless, our clients never see it.

More on topic, I would say that any coach at a major school much less SEC hates to add to the “L” column. Otherwise there is no way they get to this level. How they handle it varies. I personally think Gus internalizes it and exhausts himself with the full burden to correct. I think to grow into the CEO, he needs to let that pressure be dispersed across the staff. I believe he has ceased control of most aspects, except that. I think it will come, though, as he is still maturing as a HC. AU knew there would be growing pains. This is one of them. Save me the “this is year 6....” If you are top dog at your job, I would venture to say you are more than 6 years in. And I bet you had a tough learning curve, with several setbacks, somewhere other than you current place of employment. And save the $49 million blah blah. It is on the high end of current market value, much where we all prefer to be.

[kwagoner 214]

Don’t get me wrong, I want more wins. And I especially want to see better preparedness. 

 

And Gus needs to fix those. I think it will happen. Hopefully it is sooner, rather than 10 years from now when the kinks are worked out and he’s at a rival.

[bigbird 60,368]

On 10/8/2018 at 12:48 PM, Tiger said:

Gus lost his marbles ever since Nick Marshall and CAP had that fumbled exchange in the redzone vs TAMU in 2014 and still hasn't found them.

 

100% agree. TAMU 2014 was definitely the break point. I'm not sure it was the goaline fumble or the final NM fumble that sealed the game. Either way since then, his offense hasn't been the same, his play calling hasn't been the same, and his aggressiveness hasn't been the same. 

[fredst 9,064]

And this is why a lot of us on here argued how foolish it was to cave and give Gus the extension/raise last year instead of calling his bluff. Anybody that was paying attention could see Gus’ limitations as a head coach, it didn’t take great insight. What we heard and what led to the final decision was the mumbo-jumbo about stability and “what the market is”. Now we have the same mediocre coach but with a financial package that makes it exponentially harder to pull the trigger on making a change. But, if the predictions in the score-prediction thread come to pass....Gus’ seat is gonna be justifiably incinerator-hot through next year and I could see him being gone after 2019 if the trajectory continues. I will not lament him leaving if that’s the case.

[aubiefifty 16,683]

On 10/6/2018 at 9:57 PM, tigeraddikt said:

That's about all I can come up with. I think he's a great human being, probably a good husband, dad, citizen. I think he's a football strategist/ scientist/philosopher/missionary. But certainly not anywhere near an elite or consistent head football coach who will stop at nothing to keep from losing.

I believe that the players lost this game tonight. They dropped passes, fumbled, missed tackles, missed a kick, etc. But who ultimately is responsible for setting the tone and holding these players accountable? Who gets paid to have everybody on the same page?

i disagree. you do not coach if you enjoy losing unless it is peewee or something. i just think that is not a fair statement. gus has fire he just does not show it much. he has been known to let a cuss word or two slip at practice from what i have read. he wants to win bad. i would bet my life on it.

[Tigerbelle 5,299]

4 minutes ago, aubiefifty said:

i disagree. you do not coach if you enjoy losing unless it is peewee or something. i just think that is not a fair statement. gus has fire he just does not show it much. he has been known to let a cuss word or two slip at practice from what i have read. he wants to win bad. i would bet my life on it.

I agree.  No one goes into the profession of coaching without an intense desire to win games. I think he is just a little lost on how to achieve a consistently winning program. Players at this level don't work as hard as they do to lose either. Everyone involved wants to win but they can't seem to figure out how to get there on a weekly basis.

[Auburn2Eugene 2,317]

On 10/8/2018 at 3:08 PM, Bathel said:

Listening to his post game presser, he just sounds defeated too.  Or maybe clueless on how to fix things... 

What I hate most is the feeling I get that he's just in over his head...  It's like the team is running itself or something.  We play to the level of the competition... if we play a good team we look good.  If we play a bad team, we "most of the time" look bad.  There seems to be no accountability to the performance they put on the field from the coaching staff.

Let's bookmark this and come back to it after we play UGA and Bama and talk about how good we looked against them. Maybe we will look good against them, or maybe my dog will have a cat grow out of its ribcage... But I wouldn't put money on either happening... 

On 10/9/2018 at 12:57 AM, CleCoTiger said:

Malzahn's reputation has in the past been that of a man who can't stand losing, who remembers every issue in losses.  I still think he's that way.  Now whether or not he knows how to win more than 8 games a year consistently...that is what I don't yet know.  He's right on the average for AU coaches as far as wins vs. losses.  AU fans, me included, want to see that average go from 8 or so wins to a consistent 10, at least.  Hard to do in the SEC, especially the SEC West with UGA as a permanent cross division rival added on top of that. 

(Our Tigers have year in and year out played the toughest or one of the toughest schedules in the SEC.  They used to call the end of the season Amen Corner. There's a reason for that.)

In the 100+ years of playing football, Auburn has won 10 games in back to back seasons 1 (ONE) time in the HISTORY of the program. 

I'd LOVE to consistently win 10 every year. I'll settle for once in my adult life. I'm 40 now. It's happened once in my life, but it was before I knew what Auburn football was. I sure thought we were going to do it this year... But of course... #ButGus happened. 

[steeleagle 2,945]

16 minutes ago, Tigerbelle said:

I agree.  No one goes into the profession of coaching without an intense desire to win games. I think he is just a little lost on how to achieve a consistently winning program. Players at this level don't work as hard as they do to lose either. Everyone involved wants to win but they can't seem to figure out how to get there on a weekly basis.

and  the bad part is it involved creating a smooth offense that can run, pass, do well in the RZ, and score TDs to control the game. And GM is the offense coordinator in chief. Regardless that CL is calling the plays, the coaches he hired for his offense and the scheme and plays GM either chooses for CL to incorporate in his playbook, or CL created, IT IS NOT WORKING.

Now with a very good QB (even with his weaknesses he did throw for 3,000 yards with a good TD/INT ratio) is now not playing well, and his weaknesses are coming through.

[Auburn2Eugene 2,317]

12 minutes ago, steeleagle said:

and  the bad part is it involved creating a smooth offense that can run, pass, do well in the RZ, and score TDs to control the game. And GM is the offense coordinator in chief. Regardless that CL is calling the plays, the coaches he hired for his offense and the scheme and plays GM either chooses for CL to incorporate in his playbook, or CL created, IT IS NOT WORKING.

Now with a very good QB (even with his weaknesses he did throw for 3,000 yards with a good TD/INT ratio) is now not playing well, and his weaknesses are coming through.

What is not working is Gus hiring an offensive coordinator and not allowing him to:

A. Bring in his own coaches

or

B. Run their own offense. 

 

When Chip was hired, he was not allowed to bring in any of his own assistants to coach his offense like other coordinators. Like Chip did at his last two stops. Chip is also not allowed to run his offense that got him the OC job at Southern Miss or the OC job at Arizona State. He has to run Gus schemes with Gus run plays mixed with his passing plays. THAT is what's not working. 

Chip could of been a very successful OC here. If Gus would of just handed the offense to him, like he handed the defense to Steele. But Gus didn't. 

If Gus really hates to lose, he will hire an OC and let them have full control of the offense. Gus trying to force his ideas into the offense don't work. Some coaches can be head coach and still run the offense. This is year 6. Gus has shown he cannot do that and be successful, otherwise his seat wouldn't always have been hot (before this extension) and he wouldn't always have the fanbase calling for his job. 

Gus needs to take the next step,  and actually become the CEO he has claimed to become multiple times. He needs to hire a legit OC, not another yes man, he needs to let that OC replace whatever offensive coach he wants to replace, and he needs to have no part in game planning the offense. He needs to let his offensive coaches do that. 

If Gus can take that step, he can silence everything immediately. But as long as Gus is #ButGus and continues to make the same mistakes over and over, things will never get better. 

Gus needs to be on the phone with Hugh Freeze yesterday in preparation for the OC change at the end of the year. If Gus didn't have the massive buyout, I could see him throwing Lindsey under the bus and firing him mid-season. But Gus could lose every remaining game on the schedule, and he will be the coach next season, so I don't see him doing that to Chip. 

[aubiefifty 16,683]

On 10/9/2018 at 6:40 AM, TigerToe said:

Instead of saying, “I’m proud of our guys” after a dumpster fire game, how about “this is totally unacceptable” and chew some butt. I don’t get it! 

because he is not going to throw his kids under the bus to joe public. i bet they know what is not unacceptable in practice and team meetings. good grief.

[Auburn Kev 1,653]

12 minutes ago, aubiefifty said:

because he is not going to throw his kids under the bus to joe public. i bet they know what is not unacceptable in practice and team meetings. good grief.

Kevin Steele had no problem, stating publicly, that the defensive play was unacceptable.

https://www.al.com/auburnfootball/index.ssf/2018/10/kevin_steele_auburn_defense_un.html

 

[aubiefifty 16,683]

2 minutes ago, Auburn Kev said:

Kevin Steele had no problem, stating publicly, that the defensive play was unacceptable.

https://www.al.com/auburnfootball/index.ssf/2018/10/kevin_steele_auburn_defense_un.html

 

you are very right. he does not however call names and belittle his players. he does it in a general sense. and he does it with class.

[aubiefifty 16,683]

8 minutes ago, Auburn Kev said:

Kevin Steele had no problem, stating publicly, that the defensive play was unacceptable.

https://www.al.com/auburnfootball/index.ssf/2018/10/kevin_steele_auburn_defense_un.html

 

i am glad you are ok with that. it might look like i was saying you had no class etc which never crossed my mind. war eagle!

[Auburn Kev 1,653]

2 minutes ago, aubiefifty said:

i am glad you are ok with that. it might look like i was saying you had no class etc which never crossed my mind. war eagle!

I just wish Malzahn would show more fire instead of just saying we got to get better.

[SumterAubie 3,031]

On 10/8/2018 at 2:57 PM, keesler said:

Saban even hates winning like he did Saturday - pissed at his defense, he said it didn't feel like they'd beaten the other team when they gave up +30 pts.  Never mind what his offense accomplished, he was red hot focused on that poor defensive performance and fixing the deficiencies.

 

Thus the difference between Malzahn and the little guy. The little guy is chewing ass even when bamr wins by a ton. Seems Malzahn pats a head and says it'll be alright. Even when the play blows the game.

[gr82b4au 5,568]

11 hours ago, bigbird said:

 and his aggressiveness hasn't been the same. 

This is something that I have been harping for years. We are stagnant. We are boring. We run the same plays that don't work. Where is the innovation? But most of all - where is the aggressiveness? 

[Hopsing 572]

13 hours ago, bigbird said:

100% agree. TAMU 2014 was definitely the break point. I'm not sure it was the goaline fumble or the final NM fumble that sealed the game. Either way since then, his offense hasn't been the same, his play calling hasn't been the same, and his aggressiveness hasn't been the same. 

I agree with these statements.

What baffles me along the same lines is each year we have a bad offense game or 2 (or 3 so far this year) and his reaction is we will get this fixed. Why at this point does he not have a system that works in place so this gap in every season doesn’t show up? The offense will pick it up and go on a run but the season is dented. Just don’t get it! Talking out loud and every fan feels same way, but why we can’t achieve consistency is baffling.

[mayor4522 11]

1 hour ago, gr82b4au said:

This is something that I have been harping for years. We are stagnant. We are boring. We run the same plays that don't work. Where is the innovation? But most of all - where is the aggressiveness? 

We are a slow motion, predictable and terrible execution team at this point. I love Auburn but we don't seem to get better. We always  seem to be a hit or miss team. We have not been consisant for several years. The most frustrating  I've been. Seems to be no answers.

 

 

[tigeraddikt 1,590]

9 hours ago, aubiefifty said:

i disagree. you do not coach if you enjoy losing unless it is peewee or something. i just think that is not a fair statement. gus has fire he just does not show it much. he has been known to let a cuss word or two slip at practice from what i have read. he wants to win bad. i would bet my life on 

I've never said he enjoyed losing.