How does this make you feel?

[DAG 33,977]

Gus is a good man. But Good men get fired all the time if they don’t meet expectations. It’s time to start winning those games. I honestly don’t care about our coach being the prom king or the most liked. 

[I_M4_AU 7,801]

39 minutes ago, DAG said:

Gus is a good man. But Good men get fired all the time if they don’t meet expectations. It’s time to start winning those games. I honestly don’t care about our coach being the prom king or the most liked. 

Normally I agree with this statement, however, during these times Gus has proven his worth.  When we get through the pandemic and things get settled in and football gets back to who we beat and how we lose, I’m with you.

[DAG 33,977]

24 minutes ago, I_M4_AU said:

Normally I agree with this statement, however, during these times Gus has proven his worth.  When we get through the pandemic and things get settled in and football gets back to who we beat and how we lose, I’m with you.

I mean being a good individuals during these times should be expected , whether you are a coach , nurse , teacher, student , etc. At the end of the day , he is a football coach lol. He recruits a lot of black athletes so at the very least I would expect him to empathize with the situation we are going through. That might sound rather harsh but there are a people with a lot less going through a pandemic and social issues. So as a major figure of a university, who has the power and the voice to raise awareness, I EXPECT him to do more. Honestly , anytime these preseason rankings occurred, this same conversation tends to occur. Personally, I think it is a way to mask the deficiencies of his job performance .

[I_M4_AU 7,801]

14 minutes ago, DAG said:

I mean being a good individuals during these times should be expected , whether you are a coach , nurse , teacher, student , etc. At the end of the day , he is a football coach lol. He recruits a lot of black athletes so at the very least I would expect him to empathize with the situation we are going through. That might sound rather harsh but there are a people with a lot less going through a pandemic and social issues. So as a major figure of a university, who has the power and the voice to raise awareness, I EXPECT him to do more. Honestly , anytime these preseason rankings occurred, this same conversation tends to occur. Personally, I think it is a way to mask the deficiencies of his job performance .

Every person has their strengths and weaknesses.  Gus is not so good at communicating to the fan base, but is excellent at communicating to the team and the team believes in him.  Gus has not changed his personality to adjust to the current climate, he has stayed true to who his is and that is what I am referring to.

[DAG 33,977]

1 minute ago, I_M4_AU said:

Every person has their strengths and weaknesses.  Gus is not so good at communicating to the fan base, but is excellent at communicating to the team and the team believes in him.  Gus has not changed his personality to adjust to the current climate, he has stayed true to who his is and that is what I am referring to.

That’s great and all, but I am strictly talking about him as a football coach. I mean this thread is about auburn football the last several years. How good of a personality you have away from football really doesn’t matter between those lines. The team has believed in him since 2013. So , I don’t know how that moves the dial one bit. 

[I_M4_AU 7,801]

5 minutes ago, DAG said:

That’s great and all, but I am strictly talking about him as a football coach. I mean this thread is about auburn football the last several years. How good of a personality you have away from football really doesn’t matter between those lines. The team has believed in him since 2013. So , I don’t know how that moves the dial one bit. 

I agree with your OP when criticizing him strictly as a football coach, but he is proving he is a cut above in these times.  The criticism will start back up if and when we start a season.  Mark My Words.

[GwillMac6 20,666]

3 hours ago, bigbird said:

I really like Gus as the face of the program. He is absolutely what we want/need as a HC with regards to running a program. I hope the addition of Chad and the willingness to relinquish offensive control works like it did at LSU.  If that comes together like we hope, then Auburn will annually be in the playoff discussion. If it works, Gus will cement a winning legacy and could possibly go down as one of the best we've had.

One of the things he is lacking is I don't see him having that killer instinct on the recruiting trail that our rival head coaches have and even Pruitt seems to have when it comes to closing and sealing the deal on the elite recruit's. We have recruited really well under Gus but it still think it should of been better. Some key battles we lost could of really changed the perception.

[steeleagle 2,945]

2 hours ago, GwillMac6 said:

One of the things he is lacking is I don't see him having that killer instinct on the recruiting trail that our rival head coaches have and even Pruitt seems to have when it comes to closing and sealing the deal on the elite recruit's. We have recruited really well under Gus but it still think it should of been better. Some key battles we lost could of really changed the perception.

Yes. I agree.

If we are in the mix for say 10 5* players each recruiting season, we seem to get 1 most years and maybe 2 every now and then, finish 2nd with about 5-6, and a close 3rd on the rest.

We are finishing, just going off memory, in the top 4-5 in the SEC, but the top teams we have to play every year are finishing 1-2-3 EVERY year. And it seems we're heading to 5 or 6th lately with TaM and Florida starting to do better in recruiting.

 

[bigbird 60,499]

2 hours ago, GwillMac6 said:

One of the things he is lacking is I don't see him having that killer instinct on the recruiting trail that our rival head coaches have and even Pruitt seems to have when it comes to closing and sealing the deal on the elite recruit's. We have recruited really well under Gus but it still think it should of been better. Some key battles we lost could of really changed the perception.

I think Gus is much better than shown publicly. Recruits and their families love him. Could he be better? Sure, but he's not as bad as some think.

[TigerCatcher 182]

4 hours ago, DAG said:

Gus is a good man. But Good men get fired all the time if they don’t meet expectations. It’s time to start winning those games. 

Not at Auburn they don't, at least not with Jay Gogue at the helm.  Makes the pragmatist pine for the days of Bobby Lowder.

[Tiger Refuge 6,662]

7 hours ago, Maverick.AU said:

 

[DAG 33,977]

3 hours ago, GwillMac6 said:

One of the things he is lacking is I don't see him having that killer instinct on the recruiting trail that our rival head coaches have and even Pruitt seems to have when it comes to closing and sealing the deal on the elite recruit's. We have recruited really well under Gus but it still think it should of been better. Some key battles we lost could of really changed the perception.

I think that killer instinct you are mentioning is the negative recruiting a lot of other coaches do. I think that is a skill in itself . Some of that “negative” recruiting may honestly just be some hard truths. 

[nixtosanders94 2,180]

2 hours ago, DAG said:

I think that killer instinct you are mentioning is the negative recruiting a lot of other coaches do. I think that is a skill in itself . Some of that “negative” recruiting may honestly just be some hard truths. 

I think we might be having this exact same debate in 2035 after our sixth Music City Bowl title and another 8 win season...

[McLoofus 35,182]

5 hours ago, GwillMac6 said:

One of the things he is lacking is I don't see him having that killer instinct on the recruiting trail that our rival head coaches have and even Pruitt seems to have when it comes to closing and sealing the deal on the elite recruit's. We have recruited really well under Gus but it still think it should of been better. Some key battles we lost could of really changed the perception.

I feel like it's more a plus than a minus. He's landed some mighty big recruits mainly by offering something different from the pure meat packing plants in the league. Lawson and DB come to mind. Having TWill and CRG (and now Chad) hasn't hurt at all but they're all selling Gus's culture.

I think even just ok OL recruiting and decent game plans/play calling would be more important to changing the narrative. Jmo

[GwillMac6 20,666]

3 hours ago, DAG said:

I think that killer instinct you are mentioning is the negative recruiting a lot of other coaches do. I think that is a skill in itself . Some of that “negative” recruiting may honestly just be some hard truths. 

Absolutely. Nobody negative recruits better than Kirby. I think it comes back to that killer instinct and win at all costs. I don't think Gus has it in him. Like you said in this thread. He is a really good man. But that doesn't always make the best football coach. Or in this case recruiter.

[GwillMac6 20,666]

57 minutes ago, McLoofus said:

I feel like it's more a plus than a minus. He's landed some mighty big recruits mainly by offering something different from the pure meat packing plants in the league. Lawson and DB come to mind. Having TWill and CRG (and now Chad) hasn't hurt at all but they're all selling Gus's culture.

I think even just ok OL recruiting and decent game plans/play calling would be more important to changing the narrative. Jmo

Maybe it's because enough time has gone by that all I remember is nostalgia and the positive memories. Because from a just straight recruiting standpoint it felt in the glory days of the tiger prowl and when big cat weekend was just starting and we had trooper, luper, Jeff Grimes and thigpen that we won more recruiting battles against the elite programs than we do now. We still haven't found a guy who could recruit the OL position at a consistently high level like Jeff Grimes did. Bicknell is off to a good start but we need to keep stacking good classes on top of good classes. We haven't still been able to pull any tackles yet the caliber of Greg Robinson and shon Coleman among others like we did back then.

At the end of the day right now when we are going against a kid who Georgia, Clemson or bama really wants and prioritizes I just do not have that much confidence it will work out in the end for us.  We win some but lost some ones vs them that were really key. That's just my perception of things. It feels like Gus has peaked and plateued when it comes to how good he will recruit. Really good most of the time just not great. Just can't seem to get over that last hump and hurdle just like on the field.

[AlaskanFAN 1,665]

Yawl's debate is similar to the which came first, the Chicken or the Egg - do you get the recruits to win games or do you win game to get the recruits.

[bigbird 60,499]

3 hours ago, GwillMac6 said:

I think it comes back to that killer instinct and win at all costs. I don't think Gus has it in him. Like you said in this thread. He is a really good man. But that doesn't always make the best football coach. Or in this case recruiter.

I think Gus isn't willing to compromise the atmosphere he's built for a particular recruit. He has done a tremendous job of recruiting really good players that have the right personality that fits his culture and he's willing to pass on those that might be better that wouldn't necessarily fit. 

 

He has certainly missed on more than he's landed as far as the "big time" players go, but he has also passed on a bunch that have become issues and distractions for other programs. His discernment in that area is a plus IMO.

[Brad_ATX 13,654]

1 hour ago, bigbird said:

I think Gus isn't willing to compromise the atmosphere he's built for a particular recruit. He has done a tremendous job of recruiting really good players that have the right personality that fits his culture and he's willing to pass on those that might be better that wouldn't necessarily fit. 

 

He has certainly missed on more than he's landed as far as the "big time" players go, but he has also passed on a bunch that have become issues and distractions for other programs. His discernment in that area is a plus IMO.

His recruiting talent hasn't really been an issue with me.  It's roster management with regards to recruiting that's been an issue, with the offensive line being the most glaring example.  It looks like that may be turning a corner finally, but we shouldn't have had to dip into the JUCO and transfer ranks as much as we did for this year just to field a line.

[bigbird 60,499]

2 minutes ago, Brad_ATX said:

His recruiting talent hasn't really been an issue with me.  It's roster management with regards to recruiting that's been an issue, with the offensive line being the most glaring example.  It looks like that may be turning a corner finally, but we shouldn't have had to dip into the JUCO and transfer ranks as much as we did for this year just to field a line.

My biggest gripes with Gus have almost always been with player utilization and roster Management and development. Well, that and not having an identity halfway through a season...and bullheaded play calling...and an inability to pivot when plan A is stopped...and

[Auctoritas 2,828]

15 hours ago, nixtosanders94 said:

I think we might be having this exact same debate in 2035 after our sixth Music City Bowl title and another 8 win season...

Hey, on the bright side, if he's still here in 2035 that means he's not had a season bad enough to get him fired outright...and given the heat of his seat, it probably means he's been above his historical average. Just sayin'.
 

[DAG 33,977]

2 minutes ago, Auctoritas said:

Hey, on the bright side, if he's still here in 2035 that means he's not had a season bad enough to get him fired outright...and given the heat of his seat, it probably means he's been above his historical average. Just sayin'.
 

Gus is the king at doing just enough to not get fired lol 

[Zinzan 123]

I still can’t believe we lost to Tennessee in 2018. 

At least we’ve been in the national conversation throughout the decade, and most of Gus’s tenure. Our schedule contributed to this, but also contributed to a number of our losses. 
 

[steeleagle 2,945]

34 minutes ago, DAG said:

Gus is the king at doing just enough to not get fired lol 

That's what happened to Coach Richt. He did just enough over the first 12 years to keep him, but when Saban took off at Bama and LSU was doing pretty well w/ Miles, then he got on the hotseat those last 3 years, when Richt couldn't get his team in the playoff hunt. 

So it took GA what, 15 years to decide they needed a change?

[Brad_ATX 13,654]

1 hour ago, Zinzan said:

I still can’t believe we lost to Tennessee in 2018. 

At least we’ve been in the national conversation throughout the decade, and most of Gus’s tenure. Our schedule contributed to this, but also contributed to a number of our losses. 
 

Jeez.  We've played every team on this list except Ohio State during this time period.  That's crazy.