How has Gus split the fan base?

[GwillMac6 20,575]

2 minutes ago, nixtosanders94 said:

This is well said...but damn dude I just used the crayon line on canuck!!! Lol...ugh well now I feel bad...not really but honestly this is a good post. I’ve said before that most all of us would sit and have a drink together at a tailgate and get along fine. Its definitely the anonymity that drives some of the really bad stuff.  It won’t change until Gus is gone and even then it may not depending on who the next guy is and how he does.  This might be the way it is now...but what can I say, I’m a pessimist... 

This is why we deserve a coach that unifies the whole fan base for the duration of his tenure. We basically have been fighting non stop about gus since the end of 2014! lol. We need our football version of Bruce Pearl where like 99.7% of the fanbase loves the guy and it galvanizes us all together. 

[nixtosanders94 2,180]

1 minute ago, GwillMac6 said:

This is why we deserve a coach that unifies the whole fan base for the duration of his tenure. We basically have been fighting non stop about gus since the end of 2014! lol. We need our football version of Bruce Pearl where like 99.7% of the fanbase loves the guy and it galvanizes us all together. 

Wait wait wait!!! Who is in the .3% of folks who don’t love Bruce!!!!!??????? 

[GwillMac6 20,575]

1 minute ago, nixtosanders94 said:

Wait wait wait!!! Who is in the .3% of folks who don’t love Bruce!!!!!??????? 

There is 1 poster I KNOW OF who takes cheap shots at him every now and then lol. You will not be suprised at all when you notice it during basketball. You will go ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh that makes sense. Shoulda known! haha.

[nixtosanders94 2,180]

3 minutes ago, GwillMac6 said:

There is 1 poster I KNOW OF who takes cheap shots at him every now and then lol. You will not be suprised at all when you notice it during basketball. You will go ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh that makes sense. Shoulda known! haha.

he wouldn’t have numbers in his name by chance?? 

[GwillMac6 20,575]

5 minutes ago, nixtosanders94 said:

he wouldn’t have numbers in his name by chance?? 

 

[nixtosanders94 2,180]

8 minutes ago, GwillMac6 said:

 

This made me spit out my drink!! Lol

[kevon67 2,368]

1 hour ago, auburnphan said:

Since you did not find me funny, i kid.

Muschamp: JJ gave him a blank check.  Muschamp ripped Gus a new one that he ran sissy practices and if he didn’t change it he was gone.

to these other points, it is part of his job, you don’t get credit for doing what you are suppose to do.  Fixing problems u created while helpful needs one to ask why did it happen in the first place.  When your child out grows their clothes and u get new ones for them that is not a sign of u becoming a better parent, IMO.

Lindsey called the plays last year, I thought.  That is why it would be better this yr with Gus calling them.

Nix is throwing more because of down and distance and even though they are not great at pass blocking it is the strong suit of the o-line compared to their run blocking.

If Gus simply evolved his offensive scheme from wr routes, blocking schemes and pre-snap tendencies none of this would matter.  People would overlook his recruiting lapses if his specialty performed and evolved consistently.  
 

You believe he is gonna do this or doesn’t need to, I am not sure on what is in your head.  Most of us think 7 years is enough of an opportunity to see real change and not little tiny baby steps every now and then.  Even though we are happy to see them.

Some like @AU64 believe that unless there is what is a sure fire candidate to take his spot we stay the course.

No clue what Mikey is thinking, lol. J/k mikey

Well thinking @AU64 is hoping Auburn avoids jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire.......Auburn could do much worse and he's right in my opinion......agree or disagree with him @AU64 is no dummy.

 I may be late for the party.....but after Saturday the time for change is now..........I can't find any reason not to hold Gus responsible for the loss on Saturday. 

 

[auburnphan 6,050]

6 minutes ago, kevon67 said:

Well thinking @AU64 is hoping Auburn avoids jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire.......Auburn could do much worse and he's right in my opinion......agree or disagree with him @AU64 is no dummy.

 

Agreed, I am just stating his stance.

[kevon67 2,368]

For me if Auburn wins out it only makes the Florida and LSU loss that much worse.

[AUFriction 1,179]

7 hours ago, GwillMac6 said:

Like why? What is it about him that has people so staunchly defend him? I am genuinely asking a question. I really do want to truly try and understand it. Because I do not get it at all. 

Because you would think after 7 years of groundhog day reliving the same movie over and over again and it ending the same way when we go on the road and lose against a quality team that more and more people would be tired of it. But truly it seems like it is split 50/50 down the middle and I for one am baffled at it. The losses to florida and LSU this year seem to make the people in his corner get even more defensive. 

The Auburn fan base is in a intense battle with each other way more than we ever are with different fan bases.

I’m going to skip the last couple of pages that are probably just mindless bickering and address the original question directly.

Gus hasn’t split the fan base. Nick Saban has split the fan base. Tommy Tuberville was forced out after going 9-4 and 5-7 in his last two season. There were almost riots on campus over him leaving. This happened when the SEC was not as good as it is now. Gus Malzahn loses two games to top 10 opponents, and part of the fan base wants him and Bo Nix run out of town on a rail. People are ignoring the fact that Malzahn is the only other SEC West coach since he was hired to play for a national championship and for an SEC championship (twice may I add). People are forgetting that he’s finished in the top 2 in the SEC West for 1/2 of his seasons at Auburn. 

What changed in 10 years? Nick Saban’s success. People were fine with losing a game or two when Bama was down because we still had bragging rights in the state. With Bama reaching insane levels of success right now, a lot of Auburn fans are quite frankly sick of being in Saban’s and Bama’s shadow. Any season where we aren’t as successful as they are will be seen as failure. As painful as it is, right now they are achieving unparalleled success, so, to be as successful as they are, you have to win every single game, which is quite frankly unreasonable. 

We lost to a top 10 team on the road by 3 with a freshman QB in a place that we haven’t won in in 20 years with LSU’s offensive line being allowed to mug our defensive line on a large percentage of plays. I’m not suggesting a moral victory or that we celebrate. We lost, and probably put ourselves out of the playoffs barring some weird finish to the season. It’s upswtting. But that’s not worthy of the complete meltdown that is happening right now. Those of us that aren’t comparing our success to Bama’s can see that. Those of us that are only going to be happy if we are better than Bama are throwing temper tantrums like 5 year olds.

[gr82be 14,401]

3 hours ago, kevon67 said:

For me if Auburn wins out it only makes the Florida and LSU loss that much worse.

This, this, this this this! @Auctoritas made a great post but beating UGA and/or Bama would only make the losses that much worse. Not winning a winnable game is why we are all at this impasse of "who ya got" or which side are you on? Sorry but beating Bama at this point just means that I won't have to hear those fans run their mouth for a year...oh wait, no it doesn't, because they will still get in the championship game with one loss because we'd be a respectable loss, a good loss. That's the face of Auburn football now. We can beat anyone on the field including ourselves and we do that 75% of the time we face a good team. The only Top 10 team that has beat us this year is AUBURN. That's unacceptable because it is a staple in Gus's tenure. 

[Hay Field 101 629]

10 hours ago, abw0004 said:

Well, if you look at it he has improved in areas.  At the beginning the defense was terrible so he went out and got Muschamp.  And then Steele.  Then we couldn’t recruit wide receivers to save our life.  And then we got some.  Then it was quarterbacks.  And then we got Stidham, Gatewood, and Nix.  Now it is the OL and I like the mix of JUCO’s and high schoolers in the next class.

Also on offense, many don’t realize that last year we were pretty even on the run/pass ratio.  That is an improvement.  Even this year, Gus is having his true freshmen throw more than other big time programs when they had true freshmen.

I am also looking at other factors that make this less black and white and more grey.  Many want it to be black and white so they force it to be.  Does that help?

this is beyond pathetic 

[abw0004 10,102]

23 minutes ago, Hay Field 101 said:

this is beyond pathetic 

@auburnphan this is the exact type of poster I am referencing.  Does it make sense now of what I was originally saying?

[aucom96 1,611]

6 hours ago, AUFriction said:

I’m going to skip the last couple of pages that are probably just mindless bickering and address the original question directly.

Gus hasn’t split the fan base. Nick Saban has split the fan base. Tommy Tuberville was forced out after going 9-4 and 5-7 in his last two season. There were almost riots on campus over him leaving. This happened when the SEC was not as good as it is now. Gus Malzahn loses two games to top 10 opponents, and part of the fan base wants him and Bo Nix run out of town on a rail. People are ignoring the fact that Malzahn is the only other SEC West coach since he was hired to play for a national championship and for an SEC championship (twice may I add). People are forgetting that he’s finished in the top 2 in the SEC West for 1/2 of his seasons at Auburn. 

What changed in 10 years? Nick Saban’s success. People were fine with losing a game or two when Bama was down because we still had bragging rights in the state. With Bama reaching insane levels of success right now, a lot of Auburn fans are quite frankly sick of being in Saban’s and Bama’s shadow. Any season where we aren’t as successful as they are will be seen as failure. As painful as it is, right now they are achieving unparalleled success, so, to be as successful as they are, you have to win every single game, which is quite frankly unreasonable. 

We lost to a top 10 team on the road by 3 with a freshman QB in a place that we haven’t won in in 20 years with LSU’s offensive line being allowed to mug our defensive line on a large percentage of plays. I’m not suggesting a moral victory or that we celebrate. We lost, and probably put ourselves out of the playoffs barring some weird finish to the season. It’s upswtting. But that’s not worthy of the complete meltdown that is happening right now. Those of us that aren’t comparing our success to Bama’s can see that. Those of us that are only going to be happy if we are better than Bama are throwing temper tantrums like 5 year olds.

There were as many who despised Tuberville by 2008 as Malzahn. More, maybe. The cries of "8 wins" were as prevalent then as they are now. The SEC wasn't especially down. LSU and Florida were winning national titles under Miles and Meyer and bama was right behind. Saban certainly has a part is the amplitude of many Auburn fan's feelings, but it isn't all of it.

Malzahn has run a dysfunctional program since recruiting fell under his watch. We've recruited as good a group of raw talent as we ever have, but we were miserable on defense until Gus' job was arguably on the line over it. We have watched the vaunted HUNH vanish with a hodge-podge of convoluted offensive strategy to replace it. We haven't developed offensive talent, we haven't recruited offensive need well. Unlike Tuberville and Chizik, the wheels haven't completely fallen off with Gus but the curve is flattening out. Also unlike Tuberville and Chizik, Gus is one of the highest paid coaches in America and he isn't competitive with the top teams in the league.

A&M isn't going to stay down forever. Florida, UGA, LSU and even South Carolina are getting stronger. 8 wins won't get Gus fired anymore than it did Tuberville, but every year we continue to look lost on the offensive side of the ball with a coach who was hired for offense...the discord is only going to increase.

[Timeslider 6 269]

The positive thing about this is, whoever comes in after Gus will have a load of talent to work with. He can't coach at this level but he can recruit.

[Mims44 1,863]

14 hours ago, GwillMac6 said:

Like why? What is it about him that has people so staunchly defend him? I am genuinely asking a question. I really do want to truly try and understand it. Because I do not get it at all. 

Because you would think after 7 years of groundhog day reliving the same movie over and over again and it ending the same way when we go on the road and lose against a quality team that more and more people would be tired of it. But truly it seems like it is split 50/50 down the middle and I for one am baffled at it. The losses to florida and LSU this year seem to make the people in his corner get even more defensive. 

The Auburn fan base is in a intense battle with each other way more than we ever are with different fan bases.

It's not him it's the fanbase that is split, he's simply the focal point.

The older fans, the ones to have seen more of our overall .631 winning pct and 1 national championship out of their 30+ years of watching are a bit more kind about losing a close game to another team.

Newer fans know Auburn only as a power house program, and thus demand more from their team.

 

 

I will say, Gus is splitting people less now than before, a lot of newer and older fans alike have gotten tired of the high hopes to dashed dreams.

[gr82be 14,401]

4 minutes ago, Mims44 said:

It's not him it's the fanbase that is split, he's simply the focal point.

The older fans, the ones to have seen more of our overall .631 winning pct and 1 national championship out of their 30+ years of watching are a bit more kind about losing a close game to another team.

Newer fans know Auburn only as a power house program, and thus demand more from their team.

 

 

I will say, Gus is splitting people less now than before, a lot of newer and older fans alike have gotten tired of the high hopes to dashed dreams.

Not all of the older group feels like being more kind about losing a close game. I'm old enough to have seen Sullivan play. I don't like losing period. The first football game I was a part of in Jr High was a 2-0 win. We weren't supposed to beat the team we had never beaten before. We blocked a punt for a safety and found a way to win. That helped me with the mindset that you do what it takes to win. I don't hate it when I don't win but I do hate it when I lose. They are very different things. 

[abw0004 10,102]

6 minutes ago, Mims44 said:

It's not him it's the fanbase that is split, he's simply the focal point.

The older fans, the ones to have seen more of our overall .631 winning pct and 1 national championship out of their 30+ years of watching are a bit more kind about losing a close game to another team.

Newer fans know Auburn only as a power house program, and thus demand more from their team.

I will say, Gus is splitting people less now than before, a lot of newer and older fans alike have gotten tired of the high hopes to dashed dreams.

I do agree with this.  I will also tag another thing onto this if you do not mind and this is something I researched in the demographics thread.  I have noticed that those who did not attend the university  for any period of time are quicker to jump on the program if it does not find the success they demand.  Those that did are slower to react or do not react as heavily.  Of course there are exceptions to this too.  I think this comes down to if you attended the school, or any school for that matter you have a lot more invested.  You spent sweat, time, and financial equity in the school so the school is more to you than a sports program.  Those that do not have this bond to the school only see it for the sports acumen.

To give an example, many want more money poured into the stadium as it is not to par with other stadiums (and it isn't to be fair).  But people like me look and see where the school is also investing in.  Outside of the stadium, we probably have the most advanced campus as far as buildings and technology.  This last year alone we had two mega buildings opened along the concourse across from Brown Hall.  So I am okay with the stadium not being as up to date because I see the other investments being made.  Auburn is a school first after all.

[auburntiger1987 759]

For me I know Auburn is better than the record. We've ruined multiple defenses with a below average offense and when he "changes" you only see it during games that don't matter. He can't beat his rivals who always seem to know exactly what is coming and how to exploit it. It is not using his personnel efficiently, its the 8 games in and we don't know who we really are on offense, its the we have a senor laden offensive line that cant push anyone and continues to get penalties that should be easily corrected, its the lack of attention on recruiting certain positions while steele and company have lost so much talent but brought in and coached up the players so we are ready on that side of the ball. But mostly its because he's too stubborn to understand that there are simple easy fixes that even I can point out that would have us closer to if not undefeated right now. 

 

Then you have that he's a "nice guy"  and doesn't cuss so hes a good face for the University. We don't hear about having to have extra security and door checks like we did with Chiz and we don't have the suspensions and off the field issues like we used to. Not to mention like some have said already, he seems to find a way to make rock bottom 8 wins. 

He's your old truck that still runs pretty good. Sure it leaks oil and might have some rust spots. But you can buy a whole lot of oil to put in it for the price of a new vehicle. 

[McLoofus 35,182]

15 hours ago, GwillMac6 said:

Like why? What is it about him that has people so staunchly defend him? I am genuinely asking a question. I really do want to truly try and understand it. Because I do not get it at all. 

Because you would think after 7 years of groundhog day reliving the same movie over and over again and it ending the same way when we go on the road and lose against a quality team that more and more people would be tired of it. But truly it seems like it is split 50/50 down the middle and I for one am baffled at it. The losses to florida and LSU this year seem to make the people in his corner get even more defensive. 

The Auburn fan base is in a intense battle with each other way more than we ever are with different fan bases.

Gus is boring, safe, sometimes runs the ball a lot... He seems to appeal to a certain demographic. So there's that.

There are some people who consider the head coach an extension of the University, and therefore interpret any criticism of him as an attack on the University. So there's also that.

Also- and this is the most important thing to me- Gus is surrounded by people who are either doing a good job, or who are doing the job that he tells them to do. That is the current state of affairs as I see it. The people over whom Gus has the most control and influence are the ones who are failing. I mean, that seems almost indisputable at this point. 

And this is where emotion comes into it for me. When Gus's apologists do their apologizing, they can only do so by displacing blame onto those people around Gus. I've heard them blame the defense. I've heard them blame quarterback after quarterback. I've heard them blame other offensive players for not being talented enough. I've heard them blame the offensive coordinators that Gus has micromanaged and neutered. I've heard them blame every assistant that left and promise that all our problems were going out the door with them. And, really, they're just modeling their dude. Gus blamed our offensive performance this past Saturday on penalties. He thinks that false starts were the primary culprit in our inability to move the ball and score. He refuses to hold himself accountable, and that is reflected in his dwindling fanbase. Which means that coaches and players who are simply doing their jobs- and who are in fact responsible for Gus still having one- are being blamed for his failures. I don't know about you, but that pisses me off, and I'm going to call a spade a spade when I see it happening. It's useless and dumb, but I can't help it. 

So, that's the role I'm playing in this schism. 

[WarEagle1983 2,185]

12 hours ago, oracle79 said:

Take away 4 things and he's a minimum 4 loss per year coach (in his best years) and never sniffs a national championship/playoff game.

1. Cam

2. Marshal

3. Prayer in Jordan Hare

4. Kick Six

It ain't 50/50. More like 90/10. I can't explain or fathom what the 10 fantasize about.

100% agree. It's no longer split. I don't hear many Auburn fans defending to keep him. I'd agree there's about 15% - 20% that do. The reasons that they've given me has been. 1. What good coach would want to come to AU 2. No good coach wants to contend with having to deal with Saban and Bama each year. 3. Who are we going to get that's better. Most of the rebuttals sound like fans who are flat out scared and are simply fine with 8-4 with the occasional run at championship. I simply can't subscribe to that mentality knowing what we have done and capable of much more. 

[auburnphan 6,050]

39 minutes ago, abw0004 said:

I do agree with this.  I will also tag another thing onto this if you do not mind and this is something I researched in the demographics thread.  I have noticed that those who did not attend the university  for any period of time are quicker to jump on the program if it does not find the success they demand.  Those that did are slower to react or do not react as heavily.  Of course there are exceptions to this too.  I think this comes down to if you attended the school, or any school for that matter you have a lot more invested.  You spent sweat, time, and financial equity in the school so the school is more to you than a sports program.  Those that do not have this bond to the school only see it for the sports acumen.

To give an example, many want more money poured into the stadium as it is not to par with other stadiums (and it isn't to be fair).  But people like me look and see where the school is also investing in.  Outside of the stadium, we probably have the most advanced campus as far as buildings and technology.  This last year alone we had two mega buildings opened along the concourse across from Brown Hall.  So I am okay with the stadium not being as up to date because I see the other investments being made.  Auburn is a school first after all.

I don't understand your example.  They are not an either or decision.  One has absolutely zero binding on the other.     

[doverstutts 1,643]

1 hour ago, Mims44 said:

I will say, Gus is splitting people less now than before, a lot of newer and older fans alike have gotten tired of the high hopes to dashed dreams

Thats me. I'm done bitchin' because he is not going anywhere unless by his own choosing, and I am just too old for the emotional drain anymore.  He will not be fired any time soon, and I have ran out of damns to give. If being an also ran is fine with the fan base, hell, its fine with me

[TigerFanAU 586]

Gus is a JOKE! He's hiding behind Nix and destroying him at the same time! The season is OVER. No SECCG, no playoffs, just another boring bowl game.

[AUcivE09 582]

There are only about 3 coaches that would unify this base. 1 is Saban, 2 is Lincoln Riley, 3 is the Bear. We all compare ourselves to that team across the state. Those who are adamant about firing Gus have pushed everyone else into a corner creating 2 factions. Flex said it best already. It is almost exactly like politics at the moment - the extremes have taken over and everyone in the middle has been forced to choose a side or get mocked by everyone.

Me personally - I do not believe Gus will get us to the top, let alone keep us there. We will be a perennial pain in the buttocks for the cream of the crop. I have seen too much now to believe that he will adequately develop a QB (or maybe it is more about the passing schemes?). I just worry that we could very well end up like TN. If you fire an 8-9 win coach then you better have a 10-11 win coach lined up or we are right back here. 

The worst are the people that are staunch fire Gus guys that "just want anyone else". I would be real careful what you wish for in this case. I had rather at least have a chance.