Carnell Williams new RB coach

[Dual-Threat Rigby 8,662]

5 hours ago, GwillMac6 said:

He said SEC blue blood and we absolutely are. We are one of the big 6.  Top 13 program all time nationally and a sec blue blood historically. 

I don't think there's 13 blue blood programs in all of football, there's rarely polls that refer to Auburn as one either. My list of consensus blue bloods probably stops at UT (which gives you  around 10) on the all time winningest list, and then I'd have Miami, Florida, UGA, LSU and AU in that second bracket, with Miami probably being the closest up next because they were peak football several times. 

[IronMan70 3,277]

Seems to me that a guy who was an excellent running back, both in college and the NFL, will know the RB position. I'm going to bet Caddy can translate that to coaching the position in the SEC. I'm also going to guess that some good high school RBs will like the idea of Caddy being their RB coach. He is also a good and decent person.

[Dual-Threat Rigby 8,662]

3 hours ago, AUght2win said:

I disagree. Being a blueblood is about having a resume of program accomplishments and a history of national relevance. Auburn has that. Three heismans, tons of all americans, healthy amount of SEC and national titles. Consistency would help but we are just as historically consistent as LSU or Florida.

You know what the real sign of a blueblood is? Brand relevance and stadium size. You can't convince me that any school who consistently fills an 80,000+ seat stadium isn't a blueblood. 

I don't think Auburn has been relevant enough for enough extended periods of time. Like you compare them to Florida, Florida went against the last embers of prime Tennessee in the 90s and was still arguably the most interesting program in the East that decade. Had the most notable (not the best, per se) 3 year run of this millenium under Urban. There's alot of media things and how worth reading about a stretch is for someone who doesn't like CFB if we're talking blue blood. If USC goes 7-6 like in 2011, that was a real story that made the waves (out of notoriety, mayhaps). I think that's brand relevance: when you can still suck and people want to hear about you. Auburn has a year like last season and we were basically forgotten about by mid October. 

 

IMO, of course

[alexava 6,973]

1 hour ago, MaitlandTiger said:

Good Lord,  how hard can it be to coach the running backs?   And if all he does is get us IMG’s number one running back every year, he’s worth every penny. My goodness, he could bust off a long run better than any Auburn running back I can remember

I think there’s more to it than it seems ( coaching RBs). But if he can coach them and be a contributing member of the regime I’m happy. What he can do is convey what it takes to get be successful in big time college, top five pick/$ and production in the NFL. I think it’s a recruiting move. But I gotta believe he can coach too. 

It just concerns me that Gus is so much surrounded by youth on that side. 

[The Plainsman 948]

2 hours ago, auburnphan said:

Share the 5 strips my friend so we can hallucinate with you.   the fact is nobody wants to work with our coach because he went from genius to moron faster than maybe any coach in history but still thinks he is a genius.  If not for contract, he is long gone.

I mean this with respect,. But all your truly saying is Cadillac is an idiot.   If you do not have faith in Gus,. Atleast have a little in Cadillac.  

[Tigerbelle 5,299]

1 hour ago, weagl1 said:

Some folks would complain if you hung’em with a brand new rope!  

   😂  🤣

[Tigerbelle 5,299]

34 minutes ago, IronMan70 said:

Seems to me that a guy who was an excellent running back, both in college and the NFL, will know the RB position. I'm going to bet Caddy can translate that to coaching the position in the SEC. I'm also going to guess that some good high school RBs will like the idea of Caddy being their RB coach. He is also a good and decent person.

I think he will be an excellent coach. Why anyone would think he doesn't have the ability to convey his RB knowledge to the kids he coaches is just hard to understand. He has already been coaching the same kind of kids he will be recruiting. He knows what it takes to succeed in the SEC and at the highest level in the NFL. He can be the example for them to follow. There may be some things he needs to learn but he is a hard worker so he'll get it done. It's not like he's in completely unfamiliar territory....and the kids will listen to him because he has been so successful. 

I am somewhat surprised by the lack of support for Caddy on one hand....but on the other...the negativity that has overtaken this board about everything that Gus does is so pervasive that it's really not unexpected. 

Welcome back to Auburn, Cadillac and WDE! 

[AUallday 30]

This is a great hire in many ways. Anyone who disagrees has their own agenda to push. Caddy is a good guy, and was a great High School RB and leader. He played SEC RB at the top level, while sharing the payload with RB and  had a team mentality. He was a Top 5 NFL draft pick (i think...def 1st round). And played for several years past the 3-4 RB average...it also builds his coaching resume, which is impressive for a young coach anywhere.

I am sure he has learned from each experience, and will be able to teach it too. 👍

[GwillMac6 20,670]

1 hour ago, Dual-Threat Rigby said:

I don't think there's 13 blue blood programs in all of football, there's rarely polls that refer to Auburn as one either. My list of consensus blue bloods probably stops at UT (which gives you  around 10) on the all time winningest list, and then I'd have Miami, Florida, UGA, LSU and AU in that second bracket, with Miami probably being the closest up next because they were peak football several times. 

lol AGAIN We are not a blue blood on a national scale but we are a sec blue blood. That is all I am trying to say. We are a top 13 program historically. I did not mean for you to take that I meant there is 13 blue blood programs nationally all time because correct there absolutely is not. The only teams I would put as a blue blood on a national scale are Ohio State, Oklahoma, USC, Bama, Notre Dame, Michigan and Texas.

[Beaker 2,457]

As a coach, Caddy will be just fine.  Come on....think about what he did at Auburn and in the NFL.  He was more that just legit.

As a recruiter, well time will tell.   All the street cred is there and with Porter and T Will to help mentor him, he will be fine.   Not a homerun hire, but could develop into one.   

I am going to believe this will be a huge homerun. 

As for all of us wanting Porter to be the RB coach - hello,  we all complain about the TE position and its utilization.   We better have a good coach there if we want that position to ever develop!  Careful what you wish for....can't whine about TE play and not have a good coach there too!  

[AUght2win 6,833]

2 hours ago, Dual-Threat Rigby said:

I don't think there's 13 blue blood programs in all of football, there's rarely polls that refer to Auburn as one either. My list of consensus blue bloods probably stops at UT (which gives you  around 10) on the all time winningest list, and then I'd have Miami, Florida, UGA, LSU and AU in that second bracket, with Miami probably being the closest up next because they were peak football several times. 

This is just pure semantics, dude. There's no point to a distinction like that.

If the average recruit visits Auburn, Miami, USC, Alabama, Ohio State, and LSU, you think he would come away thinking SC, Bama, and OSU were on a whole other plane?

At each stop they are hearing about legends, Heismans, titles, NFL pipelines. You can believe in blueblood tier 1 and blueblood tier 2 if you like but there's no real meaningful distinction there.

[AUght2win 6,833]

2 hours ago, Auskip said:

You are so right, weagle.

Some of the yahoos on this board never fail to amaze me.  My query to those who are questioning whether Mr. Carnell Williams will be successful as a college running back coach is this: what are you smoking? 

Let me give a few basic facts:

1.  Fact 1-The man played in the NFL for 7 years. Did he learn a few X's and O's about the running back position during his career? Yeah, probably a whole lot more than some coach who may have labored away as an assistant at State U somewhere.

2. Fact 2 - The man has made millions (signed for $31 million with Tampa Bay) yet humbly came back to his alma mater to finish his degree. Why is he even coaching? Probably because he loves the game and wants to help young men who share that passion.

3. Fact 3 - The man has learned to work hard and persevere against extreme difficulties. At Auburn, he broke his collarbone. He came back. The next year, he broke his ankle. Yet he came back and set an Auburn single season record with 17  touchdowns. He could have left for the NFL after his junior season but returned for his senior year and helped lead Auburn to a perfect 13-0 season, setting the Auburn career record for rushing attempts and touchdowns.  Later after a sensational rookie year in the NFL, he suffered a injury that nagged him throughout his second year. He worked his way back, but then in his third year he tore the patellar tendon in his right knee. This was a devastating injury that many thought would end his career. But the man went to work. He worked long and hard and went through the arduous rehab and came back the next year. However, he then tore the patellar tendon in his left knee. Again he went through the surgery and all of the the hard and painful work of rehab necessary to get back on the field. He played again in 2009 and was second to Tom Brady for Comeback Player of the Year. He went on to play two more years in the NFL: 1 for the Bucs and 1 for the Rams. Can he recruit? Yeah, I think he can damn recruit. Recruiting is nothing but hard work. And one thing this man, this Auburn man, has shown me is that he knows how to work hard and how to persevere and overcome in even the most difficult of circumstances.

So complain about the "brand new rope" if you want but don't worry about whether Carnell can do the job. You can put your trust in this man, and if you can't do that, you can at least trust the proof of all the hard work he has shown in the past.

 

 

That truly is all great, but why is this his first college football job then.

[alexava 6,973]

5 minutes ago, AUght2win said:

That truly is all great, but why is this his first college football job then.

It’s not 

[AUght2win 6,833]

Just now, alexava said:

It’s not 

I stand corrected. Just checked the wiki. The analyst job at West Georgia counts. But, ya know...

[alexava 6,973]

2 minutes ago, AUght2win said:

I stand corrected. Just checked the wiki. The analyst job at West Georgia counts. But, ya know...

I think he was at Henderson st too. 

[Texan4Auburn 1,626]

10 hours ago, DAG said:

How do we know Gus didn’t try to bring in an well experienced RB coach? Could it possibly be that some of those top notch coaches are smart enough to know not to jump ship from a stable job to one that can change in the blink of an eye?

According to my Power 5 source you can just end the discussion right here and now. Winner.

[AUFriction 1,179]

A lot of people are implying that he will be a good coach because he was a good running back. I'd argue that this isn't really how it works. Someone who is good at something may or may not be good at teaching someone else to do it. Caddy has very limited experience as a coach, which, while experience is overrated (someone can have years of experience being terrible at something), he still has a lot of room to grow into a coaching role. As such, I think the jury is very much out as to how Caddy will do as a coach for us. I'd imagine his reputation will make him a really valuable recruiter though. Also, I'm very happy to have him back on the plains. Hopefully he pans out! I would rate my feelings on this hire as cautiously optimistic. 

[alexava 6,973]

I hope he can recruit because nobody knows. 

[ChrisH 135]

T-Will had about the same amount of coaching experience and look what he's doing for us now. I think we will be fine. 

[alexava 6,973]

1 hour ago, ChrisH said:

T-Will had about the same amount of coaching experience and look what he's doing for us now. I think we will be fine. 

I didn’t think about that. He has been huge.

[im4aual 487]

I like the hire.  Those who don't seem to base their opinion on two assumptions. The first is that since Gus hired him and they believe Gus to be inept at everything, so he must be bad.  That's their view and they are entitled to it, although I wish that they didn't feel the need to constantly remind the rest of us that that's their view.  The other assumption is that since he has limited coaching and recruiting experience, he will fail at both.  I have no idea how good a coach he will be, but he certainly knows more about playing running back at the highest level than anyone on this board and deserves the benefit of the doubt if for no other reason than he has been successful at everything he has attempted.  While it's true that his ability to recruit is unknown, he has all the tools to be a great recruiter.  He was recruited by every elite program in high school, and has a knowledge base there that will prove valuable.  Every high school coach in the country know who Cadillac Williams is, which puts him ahead of almost every other first year coach on the recruiting trail - and his accomplishments on the field earn him respect from those same coaches.  Any kid who Googles his name will see a highlight reel unlikely to be matched by any other recruiter.  Parents will get to meet a genuinely great individual who is the best example of what Auburn can do for their son - great college and pro career, managed his money well, got his college degree, and is now coaching a game he loves at a school he loves.  Please remember, all of the negatives people are throwing out about this hire are the same things that could have been said about Pat Sullivan when Pat Dye hired him in 1986, and all he did was revamp our offense, beat bama four straight years, and win three SEC titles.  Would it really be the worst thing to support Cadillac and give him a chance?

[AU '76 16]

8 hours ago, GwillMac6 said:

lol AGAIN We are not a blue blood on a national scale but we are a sec blue blood. That is all I am trying to say. We are a top 13 program historically. I did not mean for you to take that I meant there is 13 blue blood programs nationally all time because correct there absolutely is not. The only teams I would put as a blue blood on a national scale are Ohio State, Oklahoma, USC, Bama, Notre Dame, Michigan and Texas.

What are your evaluation metrics ?

[McLoofus 35,182]

8 hours ago, Beaker said:

As for all of us wanting Porter to be the RB coach - hello,  we all complain about the TE position and its utilization.   We better have a good coach there if we want that position to ever develop!  Careful what you wish for....can't whine about TE play and not have a good coach there too!

Our problems at TE haven't been because of position coaching. It's primarily been a combination of Gus not trusting his talent there and his extremely elementary passing concepts.

Also, it challenges my sense of logic to suggest that we're dissatisfied with TE production so we should keep the current coach there.

Moot conversation at this point, obviously.

 

[aujeff11 6,243]

3 minutes ago, McLoofus said:

Our problems at TE haven't been because of position coaching. It's primarily been a combination of Gus not trusting his talent there and his extremely elementary passing concepts.

That and our most talented TE signed prior to this year got kicked off the team due to sexual assault allegations. 

[McLoofus 35,182]

9 hours ago, GwillMac6 said:

The only teams I would put as a blue blood on a national scale are Ohio State, Oklahoma, USC, Bama, Notre Dame, Michigan and Texas.

Hear, hear. 

17 minutes ago, AU '76 said:

What are your evaluation metrics ?

All of the teams GWill lists have national championships won in at least 4 different decades. They all have massive fanbases. They are all teams that will get national TV and media coverage even in down seasons. They all can and do recruit nationally. They are all teams that have heavy influence in their conferences or, in Notre Dame's case, don't even have to be in a conference. And, less easily proven, they will all get the benefit of the doubt anytime pollsters or committees are called upon to choose a "better" team when all else is equal.

More succinctly, 2004 wouldn't ever happen to any of those teams. It's no accident that it was in fact two of those teams who played in that game and not Auburn.