Carnell Williams new RB coach

[aujeff11 6,243]

15 minutes ago, McLoofus said:

It's crazy how folks suddenly pretend that experience doesn't matter- for coaches or players- when we choose to forego it at a particular spot on the staff or roster. 

Carnell knows his craft and will be a good mentor. What matters is how Cadillac relates to the prospects and our RBs. Just like T Will. Nobody is saying it’s a HR hire. It’s just not a freak out hire. At worst this is Gus’s last.hoorah and the whole staff will eventually disperse.

[I_M4_AU 7,788]

I’m a wait and see type of fan.  This hire could be good or not, we shall see.  The concerns I have are recruiting and Caddy being able to move the needle in Gus’ tendency to have one golden boy RB and end up with no experienced RB at the end of the season.

Some have claimed Caddy recruited at IMG, well that’s like recruiting at Bama, they get who they want.  At Auburn, he will have to overcome the negative recruiting that has been established by Gus having his golden boy RB and running him into the ground by year’s end.  This may take a season or two.  The plan last year was to have a RB get 1000 yards so the streak could be extended and that could be on Horton or Gus, IDK.  Hopefully Gus has abandoned that approach and Caddy can affect change.  The way to go is having more than one RB ready to go when (not if) injuries occur.  A true RB rotation, JMO.

When was the last time a position coach changed the way Gus managed his roster?  Certainly not the QB coach, given the trends in the RB position, not the RB coach either, Kodi has learned under Gus, so enough said.  I will be interested to see if the newbie coaches in Dillingham and Caddy can move that needle.

If you want to take this as bashing Gus, go ahead.  It’s just voicing concerns.

[McLoofus 35,182]

23 minutes ago, gravejd said:

I like the new blood mentality versus the usual hire of re-tread coaches. We weren't going to steal any of the RB coaches that have been beating us for these top backs so if the choice is between some guy who coached at North Texas (rando example) vs an Auburn legend with coaching experience i'll take the Auburn legend. Besides it has tended to work out well for us when we have hired former players. I don't think playing at AU should be a requirement for the job but i definitely consider it a bonus. Its easy to sell what you love and from everything i know caddy loves AU. 

There's a vast gap between Dell McGee and whoever the guy at Directional U is.

Like maybe Des Kitchings at NC State. He's got 15 years experience in college ball, 7 years at a P5 program where he's both RB coach and recruiting coordinator. He makes $242k a year, which we could double if we wanted. He could possibly make Jamious Griffin a slam dunk signing. While very experienced in college ball, he's also still relatively young.

I have no idea how good of a candidate he would actually be but that is somebody that it took me about 5 minutes to identify and research. There are undoubtedly more guys with similar credentials. 

This isn't me crapping on Caddy or the hire. But I disagree that there aren't other young candidates with experience (Caddy doesn't actually have on-field coaching experience in CFB) at middle-of-the-road programs who could come in hungry and energetic, and more importantly who we could actually get. 

Oh, Kitchings also coached tight ends at one point, so he could actually give Gus some options as to how to structure the staff. Again, just some random guy I pulled up. 

[Tiger 8,818]

I love Caddy. I loved his time at AU. I will never forget his 4 years at AU. I'm a life-long Panthers fan and even have a Cadillac Buccaneers jersey.

But the underlying problem here is that Gus has effectively put intern-level coaches around him on offense in key positions and has turned AU into a handsomely paid training experience for extremely young and literally unproven coaches. Auburn should never, ever be a place where coaches with no prior experience are manning critical positions on staff. This is baffling. Gus either wants to surround himself with people that make him feel like the smartest in the room or simply does not realize what kind of sleeping giant he works for. An elite staff could turn this program into what Clemson is right now and that's not hyperbole.

Cadillac, the man, is caught in the middle of it. But the questions about him, the coach, are very much warranted. We just don't know if he can be a good coach. And quite honestly, that alone should be a non-starter at a place like AU. We have the resources, history, and brand to never be hiring question marks from an ability standpoint on staff. 

[aujeff11 6,243]

14 minutes ago, Tiger said:

We have the resources, history, and brand to never be hiring question marks from an ability standpoint on staff. 

We are also a blue blood that cannot afford to fire our coach. Yeah we should be able to hire better RB coaches but it’s not happening this year. 

[McLoofus 35,182]

11 minutes ago, Tiger said:

But the underlying problem here is that Gus has effectively put intern-level coaches around him on offense in key positions

The fact that we are saying that in the plural is... well... I doubt there are many other teams with championship aspirations who are also doing this. 

 

[oracle79 3,569]

21 minutes ago, Tiger said:

Gus either wants to surround himself with people that make him feel like the smartest in the room or simply does not realize what kind of sleeping giant he works for.

[Tiger 8,818]

22 hours ago, aujeff11 said:

We are also a blue blood that cannot afford to fire our coach. Yeah we should be able to hire better RB coaches but it’s not happening this year. 

The angst is due to this not being a one time thing exclusive to this year. 

22 hours ago, McLoofus said:

The fact that we are saying that in the plural is... well... I doubt there are many other teams with championship aspirations who are also doing this. 

 

Exactly. I would bet our total number of years coaching on offense is significantly lower than any other P5 team out there, especially ones with goals to win their division and/or conference. We aren't some freakin start-up program trying to catch fire. We can be a damn national power with the right hires. Even with all of Gus' shortcomings he could make this a reality by making good hires throughout the entire program, not just defense.

[PoetTiger 1,896]

I think he is going to do a great job, great work ethic, a legend in the state of Alabama...not to mention he has Porter right next to him for insight if needed. Gus swung and missed on some big guns, so he went with an early up and comer. I have no problem with the decisions Gus makes. First they are out of my control, secondly if they work and we win then everyone is happy. Now if it does not work then Gus will be held accountable for his decisions and eventually get the boot. Which I’m sure will make many here happy. 

[AU64 10,122]

1 hour ago, aujeff11 said:

When it occurs ad nauseam in every football thread that you’re in, the persistent criticisms swing toward “bitching.” 

As I said earlier, Gus struck out on better RB coaches and ended up with Caddy, a fan favorite and a name already known in most recruit’s homes. No sunshine pumping, no redundancy of Gus bitching. Sure it would be nice if our program was stable enough to attract a top dog, but it’s not, and it hasn’t been stable since the season ended. Nothing we can do about it.  

Do we even know who the top dog RB coaches are?  And which ones did Gus "strike out on"....need some names and please don't run Del Magee by us again.  

 I did a little looking to see what the background was guys who are supposed to be top RBs....and many are young guys making a step from HS or even coming from off field assignments and many are pretty young and presumably ae able to identify well with incoming players. 

[Dual-Threat Rigby 8,652]

13 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.

IDK why you’d put Texas but not Tennessee though...if we’re talking accolades, they’re at least up there with them and probably USC

[Dual-Threat Rigby 8,652]

12 hours ago, AUght2win said:

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.

I would think Bama and OSU are on another plane because they are, id hope that’s something we can all recognize without having to be dubbed as fake fans or something. USC has the recent history domination factor plus California going for them, so that’s something worth mentioning. I think there’s an important distinction between them and that tier 2 or they wouldn’t be the ones that are top 6 in recruiting every year 

[aujeff11 6,243]

21 minutes ago, Tiger said:

The angst is due to this is not being a one time thing exclusive to this year. 

It’s all related to Gus. It’s been coaches on training wheels since Gus was hired. Gus was one himself. Some hires are just more shocking than others. I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve heard Gus has been turned down over the years. Still, Kodi Burns and T Will bave been successful here despite their lack of experience and can’t really argue against their hires now. 

[Tiger 8,818]

2 minutes ago, aujeff11 said:

It’s all related to Gus. It’s been coaches on training wheels since Gus was hired. Gus was one himself. Some hires are just more shocking than others. I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve heard Gus has been turned down over the years. Still, Kodi Burns and T Will bave been successful here despite their lack of experience and can’t really argue against their hires now. 

Agree those hires have turned out well. The problem is we are putting ourselves at risk of it not working because nobody knows if they can get the job done when we have no reason to. That's a Sun Belt move IMO.

T-Will and Kodi both have turned out to be good hires. And I'll be the first to say I was railing against the Kodi hire for the same reason I'm not feeling great about the Caddy hire. Hopefully it turns out well for us.

[aujeff11 6,243]

19 minutes ago, AU64 said:

Do we even know who the top dog RB coaches are?  And which ones did Gus "strike out on"....need some names and please don't run Del Magee by us again.  

 

Apparently we reached out to Luper.

19 minutes ago, AU64 said:

I did a little looking to see what the background was guys who are supposed to be top RBs....and many are young guys making a step from HS or even coming from off field assignments and many are pretty young and presumably ae able to identify well with incoming players. 

Don’t remember who posted tbe adage “anybody at the bar can be a RB coach...” but it’s almost accurate. 

[aubiefifty 16,740]

i believe some folks are taking a shot at caddy just because gus hired him. a lot of people other than gus i believe have to sigh off on the hire as well. caddy is a winner. he is a great person. i believe he has learned plenty enough in his playing days at the college level as well as the pro's to get our kids ready. i say welcome aboard caddy!

[Tiger 8,818]

I can't get on board with the idea that any Joe Schmoe can just be a RB coach. I feel like it's insulting pretty much the entire industry on some level

[baldeagle55 32]

21 hours ago, AUght2win said:

It means that Cadillac was not a sought-after coach. And unless the great offensive genius Gus Malzahn knows something we, and all other big time football programs don't know, then Cadillac is a total crapshoot hire. 

For past reference, here is a list of others things Malzahn thought he knew that nobody else did: Jeremy Johnson being a great QB, Cox-cat being a revolutionary formation, and not recruiting offensive linemen being a great strategy. 

Well I do know this much. It's been less than 20 years ago that Caddy was very heavily recruited himself. That's a big plus when he goes into a kids home to talk with him and the parents. He's also been there and done that. Meaning he's been a star in HS, college, and the pro's. If you don't think that will sell to kids and parents these days, then you ain't very bright. You can go ahead and stick to your opinion where I'm concerned, because that crow you eat should be delicious. 

[AUght2win 6,828]

1 hour ago, aubiefifty said:

i believe some folks are taking a shot at caddy just because gus hired him. a lot of people other than gus i believe have to sigh off on the hire as well. caddy is a winner. he is a great person. i believe he has learned plenty enough in his playing days at the college level as well as the pro's to get our kids ready. i say welcome aboard caddy!

I don't think I have seen anybody take a shot at Cadillac as a player, as a person, or as an Auburn man. I think everybody here loves him. I think everybody here believes he will work hard and be a great representative of Auburn while he does so. But none of that changes the fact he's completely unproven as a coach. Gus has hired a lot of totally unproven coaches particularly on offense, and our offense has particularly struggled for the past several years. I think people like me just view this as Gus making another dumb, Gus-like move. It may totally pay off! But like I said earlier, just because it works out, doesn't mean it wasn't a dumb move.

[Tigerbelle 5,299]

4 hours ago, AU64 said:

Funny reading the complaints about Caddy and his new job and guess the bitc****  is mostly an opportunity to take a cheap shot at Gus …..and not caddy.  

 

It's pretty much one and the same. You can't say that it's a last ditch, desperation move by an inept Gus and have that mean anything complimentary regarding Caddy's return to Auburn.

 

[AUght2win 6,828]

17 minutes ago, baldeagle55 said:

Well I do know this much. It's been less than 20 years ago that Caddy was very heavily recruited himself. That's a big plus when he goes into a kids home to talk with him and the parents. He's also been there and done that. Meaning he's been a star in HS, college, and the pro's. If you don't think that will sell to kids and parents these days, then you ain't very bright. You can go ahead and stick to your opinion where I'm concerned, because that crow you eat should be delicious. 

Being good and experienced at something doesn't mean you know how to teach or lead others in that field. Michael Jordan, the greatest basketball player of all time, has been a downright terrible owner for the Charlotte Hornets. I'm not rooting against Cadillac. My goodness, no. I am pointing out this is not a smart move by Gus. Hiring Kodi was not a smart move by Gus. Going from Rhett to Chip was not a smart move by Gus. It may work out! But that doesn't make it a smart move.

[AUght2win 6,828]

1 hour ago, Tiger said:

Agree those hires have turned out well. The problem is we are putting ourselves at risk of it not working because nobody knows if they can get the job done when we have no reason to. That's a Sun Belt move IMO.

T-Will and Kodi both have turned out to be good hires. And I'll be the first to say I was railing against the Kodi hire for the same reason I'm not feeling great about the Caddy hire. Hopefully it turns out well for us.

I'm not sold that Kodi can yet be considered a good hire. He is good recruiter, no doubt. But I won't call him a good coach until he proves he can develop. Will be interesting to see what happens to Seth and Schwartz.

[Tigerbelle 5,299]

3 minutes ago, AUght2win said:

I don't think I have seen anybody take a shot at Cadillac as a player, as a person, or as an Auburn man. I think everybody here loves him. I think everybody here believes he will work hard and be a great representative of Auburn while he does so. But none of that changes the fact he's completely unproven as a coach. Gus has hired a lot of totally unproven coaches particularly on offense, and our offense has particularly struggled for the past several years. I think people like me just view this as Gus making another dumb, Gus-like move. It may totally pay off! But like I said earlier, just because it works out, doesn't mean it wasn't a dumb move.

Caddy is not totally unproven as a coach. He is new to the SEC as a coach. But since he was a RB in the SEC....it's not unfamiliar territory,  and he has people he can call on....like TWill.  Ellis Johnson was very experienced and you see what happened with that.

If it works out it was still a dumb move?  I think that's a dumb statement.

[Tigerbelle 5,299]

4 minutes ago, AUght2win said:

Being good and experienced at something doesn't mean you know how to teach or lead others in that field. Michael Jordan, the greatest basketball player of all time, has been a downright terrible owner for the Charlotte Hornets. I'm not rooting against Cadillac. My goodness, no. I am pointing out this is not a smart move by Gus. Hiring Kodi was not a smart move by Gus. Going from Rhett to Chip was not a smart move by Gus. It may work out! But that doesn't make it a smart move.

Michael Jordan is not like Caddy. MJ is a jerk and I would've said upfront that he'd make a terrible coach due to PERSONALITY and an inflated ego. Not the same situation at all.

All head coaches hire people that don't work out for one reason or another. It is not unique to Gus.

Caddy may not work out but I think he's a great guy and a low risk hire who will give it all he's got. Auburn will benefit from his return in one way or another.

[Tiger 8,818]

I really wish we had HD highlights of Cadillac's career at AU