8-17! (merged threads)

[aujeff11 6,243]

1 minute ago, Barnacle said:

We (the University) absolutely have the ability to fire him. 

That remains to be seen. We are just fans. We are stuck with whatever decision Greene and Leath chooses. 

[KolchakAU85 430]

1 minute ago, alexava said:

Ok just donate 32$ million and it’s done 

Five dollars here, 10 dollars there, and it'll add up in no time.  Count me in for the first donation of $10.

[aujeff11 6,243]

10 minutes ago, AidiAU said:

I would be fine with Bama sitting Tua until that December game. 

Yep. Tua needs to rest up for CFP. 

[Barnacle 9,064]

1 minute ago, aujeff11 said:

That remains to be seen. We are just fans. We are stuck with whatever decision Greene and Leath chooses. 

Yeah we as fans are stuck. I thought you were saying the University can't fire him. They most certainly can.

[NorthGATiger 1,801]

1 minute ago, alexava said:

Ok just donate 32$ million and it’s done 

Listen.  The buyout is not a problem.  Greene said what he said last week about Gus being here next year to try and salvage recruiting.  Auburn will lose tons of revenue if he stays.  He is going to need a good word from the AD every year to keep recruits coming in because the talk of him leaving will never end.

[screwtape 16]

Please send all donations to me!  As soon as I get the 32,000,000 I'll pay him off.

[Aucater 150]

1 hour ago, The Six said:

Yep. Every bit of it. Whatever. Gus ran it up on Kirby last year and talked smack after the game. Comes with the territory.

Seems like I remember Gus frantically calling the the offense off late in that game after Malik Willis hit a 37 yard pass to Marquis McClain that almost went to the house. Hand offs up the middle after that instead of letting the 2nd string get some good reps in. 

[NorthGATiger 1,801]

3 minutes ago, AUJedi said:

I would terribly hate to see Coach Garner and TWill go and as for Steele, I attribute defensive play back to Gus and offense. What’s their motivation? But for the rest, yeah, they can’t get gone fast enough

I too will hate to lose Garner and T-Will.  Just not as bad as I hate watching what our players go through every year under Gus.  The only way to salvage these guys is to make Steele a head coach.  I'm not sure that is the right thing to do.  Give me a Defensive minded head coach with a nasty streak who hires and fires Offensive personnel based on their production.  

[weagl1 1,781]

Good points NGATiger  who you gonna replace him with?  It is going to cost $32 million to get rid of him and probably a long term contract at $50 million to get a good replacement.  Then there are the contracts for the assistants that are not cheap either. So spend something approaching $100 million counting terminating the current head coach and the current assistants and hiring a new head coach and new assistants.  Then who do we to get?  Reality says this ain’t happening.  At most we are looking at a change in OC and possibly some assistants.  It may have been stupid to give him that long term contract with the high buyout but it is what it is at this point.

[AUwent 3,747]

1 minute ago, weagl1 said:

Good points NGATiger  who you gonna replace him with?  It is going to cost $32 million to get rid of him and probably a long term contract at $50 million to get a good replacement.  Then there are the contracts for the assistants that are not cheap either. So spend something approaching $100 million counting terminating the current head coach and the current assistants and hiring a new head coach and new assistants.  Then who do we to get?  Reality says this ain’t happening.  At most we are looking at a change in OC and possibly some assistants.  It may have been stupid to give him that long term contract with the high buyout but it is what it is at this point.

And this is why Leath should be fired.

[weagl1 1,781]

Just now, AUwent said:

And this is why Leath should be fired.

And that’s fine too.  But whoever the new pres might be he/she is not going to eat $100 million to replace Gus and staff either.  We got what we got.  There is a lot of buyer’s remorse but it is what it is.  Logically Gus ain’t going anywhere.  

[NorthGATiger 1,801]

3 minutes ago, weagl1 said:

Good points NGATiger  who you gonna replace him with?  It is going to cost $32 million to get rid of him and probably a long term contract at $50 million to get a good replacement.  Then there are the contracts for the assistants that are not cheap either. So spend something approaching $100 million counting terminating the current head coach and the current assistants and hiring a new head coach and new assistants.  Then who do we to get?  Reality says this ain’t happening.  At most we are looking at a change in OC and possibly some assistants.  It may have been stupid to give him that long term contract with the high buyout but it is what it is at this point.

Think of it this way.  Gus is getting fired.  This mistake is not correcting itself.  Do you sit in fear for 2-3 more years holding hands in a circle hoping that Gus is going to miraculously change or do you stop it now and save 3 years of the inevitable and begin correcting it.  Gus in charge of our football program is like swimming with sharks.  He may have some great escapes and maneuvers but the outcome is the outcome.  The finality of it all is not changing.  Never ever in life fire someone tomorrow that should be fired today.  You are just setting your business back further and further behind.

[selias 2,398]

9 minutes ago, weagl1 said:

Good points NGATiger  who you gonna replace him with?  It is going to cost $32 million to get rid of him and probably a long term contract at $50 million to get a good replacement.  Then there are the contracts for the assistants that are not cheap either. So spend something approaching $100 million counting terminating the current head coach and the current assistants and hiring a new head coach and new assistants.  Then who do we to get?  Reality says this ain’t happening.  At most we are looking at a change in OC and possibly some assistants.  It may have been stupid to give him that long term contract with the high buyout but it is what it is at this point.

Multiple insiders have repeatedly said the money is there to dump the staff and build a new one.

[alexava 6,973]

15 minutes ago, screwtape said:

Please send all donations to me!  As soon as I get the 32,000,000 I'll pay him off.

If you need an assistant treasurer....,

[alexava 6,973]

14 minutes ago, Aucater said:

Seems like I remember Gus frantically calling the the offense off late in that game after Malik Willis hit a 37 yard pass to Marquis McClain that almost went to the house. Hand offs up the middle after that instead of letting the 2nd string get some good reps in. 

You’re right he emphasized “ don’t throw it “ after that play. 

[around4ever 4,139]

20 minutes ago, weagl1 said:

Good points NGATiger  who you gonna replace him with?  It is going to cost $32 million to get rid of him and probably a long term contract at $50 million to get a good replacement.  Then there are the contracts for the assistants that are not cheap either. So spend something approaching $100 million counting terminating the current head coach and the current assistants and hiring a new head coach and new assistants.  Then who do we to get?  Reality says this ain’t happening.  At most we are looking at a change in OC and possibly some assistants.  It may have been stupid to give him that long term contract with the high buyout but it is what it is at this point.

If we don't fire him now it only gets worse financially for Auburn. 

Fire him Dec 2, it costs us $32M buyout. 

Fire him next Dec 2, it costs us $7M salary + $27M buyout = $34M

Fire him the next Dec 2, it costs us $14M salary (2yrs) + $22M buyout = $36M

It's time to cut our losses and move on. 

[NoALtiger 3,849]

8-17 against our rivals is completely unacceptable. I can’t see how even the most ardent  Gus Bus supporter could deny this. Clearly with a record like this is a pattern and not going to change. I don’t pretend to fully know the financial implications of what firing him would mean, but clearly this can’t continue. If we do cut cord, we need to hit a homerun. Don’t need Joe Up And Comer Gus Part Deux. 

[aujeff11 6,243]

37 minutes ago, NorthGATiger said:

Listen.  The buyout is not a problem

I keep being told this. I guess I’ll believe this one of these days. 

[bigbird 60,368]

I'd love to see the cost analysis of potential shrink in ticket sales, season tickets, TV revenue, lack of bowl game payout, and increased advertising cost for the next year or two. Then we can compare it to the 15 million owed after 30 days. We just need to be concerned with the initial 15 million. The balance will be absorbed like it has been for other coaches.

I'd be surprised if they weren't negligible.  It's time, and it might be crappy, but I'd do it after the early signing period is over. Lock them in. If they are too concerned, hold off till February.

[bigbird 60,368]

11 hours ago, corchjay said:

Their running backs were better then our backers.  Their backers and ends were better then our running backs. 

I'd say their backs were equal to our backers. The problem was two fold. 1) They schemed their backs into positions of success and 2) The OL were able to routinely get to the 2nd level and onto our LB.

I'd also say their backers and ends were better than our OL not the backs. I can't find much fault in the backs. They are put in limiting positions by scheme and blocking.

 

My absolute biggest complaint is our incessant ability to go away from success.  Seriously, if you have a back avg 5+ ypc and he bust out a 30+ yard run, why do we not see him again? IMO, Shivers should be RB1 and it's not close.  To me, he has better speed, power, aggression, and heart.  

[AUsince72 11,084]

1 hour ago, aujeff11 said:

Are we going to pretend that we have the ability to fire him?

Okay, I admit it....

I, personally, don't have the ability to fire him.

...you got me. 😉

But something tells me that AU boosters include at least 10, or so, zillionaires, who just watched that crap last night and are about to watch even worse in 2 weeks, would each be willing to chip in a million-1/2 bucks for the immediate payout.  That would be a drop in the bucket to them and I'd bet they're far more arrogant and would answer your question very differently than me.

The balance of the payout will probably come from bonds & interest so it really won't be that painful, vs what's going to be lost watching the same garbage next year.

[tgrogan21 6,198]

54 minutes ago, AUwent said:

It may have been stupid to give him that long term contract with the high buyout but it is what it is at this point.

May have been? That's the understatement of the century, right there.

[aujeff11 6,243]

6 minutes ago, AUsince72 said:

But something tells me that AU boosters include at least 10, or so, zillionaires, who just watched that crap last night and are about to watch even worse in 2 weeks, would each be willing to chip in a million-1/2 bucks for the immediate payout.

We might as well buy out Saban if we are that loaded. Hit ‘em where it hurts.

[NCTiger1982 167]

MONEY Part 

Greene & the money folks need to projecting the cost (payout) of firing Gus versus the cost of inaction . 32 million is huge, but the potential loss in revenue (ticket sales, donations, etc)  allowing Gus to continue at Auburn is what ? Our fan base is very loyal  and JJ exploited that often escaping accountability for his MANY bad hiring and contract decisions. Greene should not have to pay for JJ's sins, but it appears the majority of our fan base is fed up and wants a solution. I suspect most season ticket holders will buy their tickets not to lose their status, but I see 2019 sales being the weakest they have been in years. 

Gus is a 7-8 wins per year HC with top 10 recruiting classes. Last year we dropped to 12th. What are we looking at in 2-3 years if our open slots in this current class are filled with 3*s and if we lose any of the 5*/4* guys ? We may only attract 3*s as replacements. The rebuilding project for the incoming HC is that much steeper. Donors ? What incentive do donors have to invest in our facilities ?

Liberty game - This sounds cruel, but Liberty game attendance is the fan base's last shot to provide a glimpse into 2019 if Gus is kept another year. Our seniors deserve a proper sendoff, but the health of our program's future is most important. The more empty seats there are in JH next Saturday, the more our fan base gives Greene and our money guys something to think about.   

Observations

For every Bob Stoops there are 10+ coordinators and/or smaller program HCs that get a shot at running a bigtime program before they are ready. There is risk with any hire and I PRAY the Auburn leadership will get professional help with this search and NOT make the easy hire only to repeat history. Gus deserved plenty of credit for our 2010 run, but Cam could make any OC look pretty good. There are similar scenarios that come to mind where gifted players elevated a HC's stock only for their true abilities to become exposed later. Brett Farve got Curly Hallman the LSU job. Curly was a great recruiter, but inadequate HC. Got fired by LSU and eventually wound up as a secondary coach for Saban years ago.   Matt Ryan elevated Tom O'Brian's stock at Boston College and got him a nice contract at NC State. Credit O'Brian with recruiting Russell Wilson, but when Russell transferred to Wisconsin (played lights out) O'Brien's true HC abilities got exposed. Recruiting is obviously a huge part of a HC's performance, but player development and HC development must BOTH happen as well and Gus is lacking in both areas.  In hindsight too much was read into Gus' 10 win season at  ASU. Freeze built that team (not Gus) and his Ole Miss teams seemed to be physical on both O & D. Freeze also seemed to do a better job developing players.

I've mentioned it before, but can anyone name a successful HC that consistently had problems on their side of the ball ? Gus is the problem and the excuses must stop. 

Like most of you here I was born in an Auburn family, raised my kids Auburn and bleed orange and blue. I like Gus as a person, how he represents Auburn and that he is a good Christian man, but he has sucked the life out of our program for many of us. We have been conditioned to expect disappointment and that is totally unacceptable.

War Eagle !    

[AUsince72 11,084]

Just now, aujeff11 said:

We might as well buy out Saban if we are that loaded. Hit ‘em where it hurts.

Oh, I wish we could.  ..at least buy the blackmail material on Emmert to help Auburn ignore the rules and buy some officiating.