Fire Gus!

[passthebiscuits 6,844]

15 minutes ago, AURealist said:

Let's face it:   

Auburn football is circling the drain and nobody at AU is going to step up to change that.  

Maybe they don't care about the W/L record as long as the program is perceived as 'clean'.

Perhaps they're afraid firing him would be an admission that he was a bad hire.

Maybe they just don't have the funds to buy him out.

Maybe they're afraid because they know they don't have the brains to replace him with someone better. 

Maybe they're just gutless.

Whatever the reason, I don't expect anything to happen until the program is mostly dead, because that's become the Auburn thing to do.

 

None of these.

main thing: Covid changed entire infrastructure of the program...monetarily and in terms of expectations. Those in charge are just happy that we are having classes and football at all.

secondarily: this to those in charge is the yearly freak out about the program, and then Gus pulls one out (bama), and we are back to believers. 
 

Sorry to rip off the bandaid. 

[AURealist 2,185]

26 minutes ago, passthebiscuits said:

None of these.

main thing: Covid changed entire infrastructure of the program...monetarily and in terms of expectations. Those in charge are just happy that we are having classes and football at all.

secondarily: this to those in charge is the yearly freak out about the program, and then Gus pulls one out (bama), and we are back to believers. 
 

Sorry to rip off the bandaid. 

Who is 'we'?  

[gr82b4au 5,568]

40 minutes ago, passthebiscuits said:

secondarily: Then Gus pulls one out (bama), and we are back to believers. 

I don’t think that is going to happen this year. I think we are in big trouble. We may lose 5 times. 

[Auburn Tiger 1,340]

Gus isn’t going anywhere unfortunately. He’s an upstanding guy, and I like that about him. But he’s just not a good coach. Auburn is still paying Chizik’s buyout, so Gus knows there is no way he gets canned during Covid. He was never getting fired even without Covid because of the buyouts to both him and Chizik, but adding Covid problems into the mix just tightens his job security for a while. He knows he kind of has AU over a rail right now, just like he and this agent played us for more money a few years ago. We just owe too much money to him and Chizik, and we are taking too much of a financial hit with Covid to buy out his contract. This has supposedly made Gus complacent, and I think it shows. 

Apparently expectation and morale is low in the locker room and has been since thee beginning of the season.  No one cares for Morris’s offense, and no one in the program really has very high expectations for the season. And that’s sad, but you saw it in the first two weeks of games. Kentucky gave us a win, and Georgia ran us off the field.

I’ve also heard that we spent the entire Fall camp preparing for Kentucky and didn’t even sniff preparations for Georgia, which might explain why we looked so pitiful on Saturday, and that is a massive coaching failure.

I say all of this to say that all of these things point back to coaching and development. Unfortunately, Gus just isn’t going anywhere this season. It’s kind of a free pass this year, but the complacency and poor recruiting will continue to hurt our program. 

That said, the only players I felt like wanted to be at the GA game were Seth, Schwartz, Nix, and Tank. Our defensive linemen would occasionally break through the UGA O-line but were far too slow to even come close to sacking Bennett. They took bad angles and were simply out hustled every time. It was sad to see really. 

[weagl1 1,782]

As I have said many times before, run him off then who you gonna hire?  No ridiculous pipe dreams such as we gonna take Nick away from Bammer, Kirby away from UGA, Dabo away from Clemson, Urban away from retirement, Belichick away from the Patriots or any other great coach who would have no interest whatsoever in coming to Auburn.  Most good coaches are going to take one look at our schedule and figure “this ain’t gonna be good for my career path.”  How many coaches have we had to go on to bigger and better things?  In my lifetime Shug retired, Barfield fired, Dye resigned under pressure due to the Ramsey thing, Tater Tot quit, Tubby quit under pressure when he saw the handwriting on the wall (Saban) and now Gus is on the perpetual hot seat.  My guess is we would end up taking a chance on some up and comer that may or may not be better than what we have plus we would likely lose a good defensive staff in the process.  I’m as frustrated as anyone with Gus and I don’t claim to know what we need to do, but I do hope our decision makers will look at our situation realistically and not give in to those who think we need to fire the coach after every loss with no consideration as to what’s next.  

[nixtosanders94 2,180]

10 minutes ago, weagl1 said:

As I have said many times before, run him off then who you gonna hire?  No ridiculous pipe dreams such as we gonna take Nick away from Bammer, Kirby away from UGA, Dabo away from Clemson, Urban away from retirement, Belichick away from the Patriots or any other great coach who would have no interest whatsoever in coming to Auburn.  Most good coaches are going to take one look at our schedule and figure “this ain’t gonna be good for my career path.”  How many coaches have we had to go on to bigger and better things?  In my lifetime Shug retired, Barfield fired, Dye resigned under pressure due to the Ramsey thing, Tater Tot quit, Tubby quit under pressure when he saw the handwriting on the wall (Saban) and now Gus is on the perpetual hot seat.  My guess is we would end up taking a chance on some up and comer that may or may not be better than what we have plus we would likely lose a good defensive staff in the process.  I’m as frustrated as anyone with Gus and I don’t claim to know what we need to do, but I do hope our decision makers will look at our situation realistically and not give in to those who think we need to fire the coach after every loss with no consideration as to what’s next.  

Yep, no programs ever make a change unless they know for 100% certain the next guy will be better.  We should keep Gus forever because we’re not sure who could do better.  🤦‍♂️

[AUwent 3,748]

36 minutes ago, gr82b4au said:

I don’t think that is going to happen this year. I think we are in big trouble. We may lose 5 times. 

Yeah, this year we don't have Marlon and Derrick. Nor do we have UAT at home, nor can we count on some miracle of Tua being out. 

[gr82be 14,423]

1 minute ago, AUwent said:

Yeah, this year we don't have Marlon and Derrick. Nor do we have UAT at home, nor can we count on some miracle of Tua being out.

Well, Tua will be out.

[gr82b4au 5,568]

27 minutes ago, weagl1 said:

I have said many times before, run him off then who you gonna hire?

Would you be willing to sacrifice 2-4 years to start over? I would. It beats what I saw last sat night. Being mediocre is brutal. I know being terrible like TN is not what we want either but in order to get better you have to take a chance. 

[nixtosanders94 2,180]

Just now, gr82be said:

Well, Tua will be out.

Well, tua or no tua, bama might just commit a full on felony in Tuscaloosa against our defense.

[gr82be 14,423]

8 minutes ago, nixtosanders94 said:

Well, tua or no tua, bama might just commit a full on felony in Tuscaloosa against our defense.

Got that right. Can't believe how uninspired I feel about this team. I've planned a trip to see family on Saturday and will be driving during the game. I don't have a good feeling about Arkansas, ARKANSAS!!!! Unbelievable. 

[nixtosanders94 2,180]

5 minutes ago, gr82be said:

Got that right. Can't believe how uninspired I feel about this team. I've planned a trip to see family on Saturday and will be driving during the game. I don't have a good feeling about Arkansas, ARKANSAS!!!! Unbelievable. 

Knowing Gus he will hang 50 on the hogs and half our fans will think everything is golden again.  Although, this does seem to have a different feel to it. That defense isn’t gonna save his bacon(pun intended) this year.  This might be that wheels come off season he has avoided but just our luck he’ll get a free pass because of covid.  

[DAG 33,976]

1 minute ago, nixtosanders94 said:

Knowing Gus he will hang 50 on the hogs and half our fans will think everything is golden again.  Although, this does seem to have a different feel to it. That defense isn’t gonna save his bacon(pun intended) this year.  This might be that wheels come off season he has avoided but just our luck he’ll get a free pass because of covid.  

This is exactly will happen. The offense will click and both sides will look good. The hype will be back on. I was wrong about UGA. Not doing it again until I see improvement consistently against top tier teams since we are paying that top tier money. I will say Arkansas does look competitive.

[gr82be 14,423]

9 minutes ago, nixtosanders94 said:

Knowing Gus he will hang 50 on the hogs and half our fans will think everything is golden again.  Although, this does seem to have a different feel to it. That defense isn’t gonna save his bacon(pun intended) this year.  This might be that wheels come off season he has avoided but just our luck he’ll get a free pass because of covid.  

I know that it's being said that COVID will be a get out of jail free card but if you don't have a lot of starters quarantined during the season and your players are healthy otherwise too, I don't think it necessarily should be an acceptable excuse. Long way to go still though. 

[Zeek 16,649]

1 hour ago, gr82b4au said:

I don’t think that is going to happen this year. I think we are in big trouble. We may lose 5 times. 

What's new? 

[AUBourne 425]

1 hour ago, weagl1 said:

As I have said many times before, run him off then who you gonna hire?  No ridiculous pipe

So you think Georgia made a mistake hiring an assistant? Did Clemson make a mistake for hiring an assistant? Did LSU? Ohio State?  Tennessee? Oregon?  

The strawman argument,"who you going to hire" is frustrating. But not as frustrating as the obvious LBS that Auburn leadership has. They actually are okay with being second tier and beating Alabama about 30% of the time. I think that is the actual goal. 

[AUBourne 425]

2 hours ago, passthebiscuits said:

None of these.

main thing: Covid changed entire infrastructure of the program...monetarily and in terms of expectations. Those in charge are just happy that we are having classes and football at all.

secondarily: this to those in charge is the yearly freak out about the program, and then Gus pulls one out (bama), and we are back to believers. 
 

Sorry to rip off the bandaid. 

How did Covid impact Auburn differently than other schools? Sounds like an excuse for waiting on the buy out to go down. 

Beating Alabama does not make last season successful.   It was still another 4 loss season with a bowl loss to an inferior program. Just points out how LBS infects leadership and explains why Clemson for example is a power and Auburn is 2nd tier program.

[Auburn Tiger 1,340]

At the end of the day, Gus has had plenty of time to show us what he is going to do with the program, and it’s clear that he can’t create or run a powerhouse program. 8-4 or 7-5 is what he is going to produce with an occasional big win at home. Until he consistently has better records, he’s just not a good coach. 
 

we can blame other people all we want—Nix, Morris, O-Line, etc.—but whose program is it? Who runs it? Who chooses the people working under him? You wouldn’t go to a restaurant and blame the server for the crappy menu options would you? No, you blame the boss who made the menu. Gus is in charge of the program. Blame Gus when it fails.

The “who do you hire” mentality is problematic because my grandma could have the same record as Gus against rivals. He just loses. We shouldn’t pay 7 million for nearly sure losses in big games. That’s ridiculous. The fact of the matter is he loses. He loses games he should win, and he loses nearly every game he shouldn’t win. Ever wonder why we are never favored against our rivals? He doesn’t produce. He’s inconsistent. and he loses most of them, even when we are winning in those games, he finds a way to lose them.

The telling part to me is that we just don’t get the same level of recruits that powerhouses are getting. The whole UGA game I saw Pickens playing, and I thought about the fact that he was a last minute flip. Why do our coaches let that happen? Why can’t they land stellar classes?

 

Gus’s record is the tale of his job performance, and he’s paid like a championship coach, but he only produces mediocre seasons most of the time. It’s a sad disparity we’re locked into. I don’t know of anyone else who can keep their job while being far overpaid and underperforming. 

[DAG 33,976]

9 hours ago, gr82be said:

I know that it's being said that COVID will be a get out of jail free card but if you don't have a lot of starters quarantined during the season and your players are healthy otherwise too, I don't think it necessarily should be an acceptable excuse. Long way to go still though. 

I think they are saying because if the money situation. It wouldn’t be financial smart to fire a coach I suppose. But it would be nice if we surprised a lot of people. I know Texans fans are happy Bill o brien is gone and I don’t want Gus to Bill O this program. 

[ArgoEagle 1,771]

11 hours ago, nixtosanders94 said:

Well, tua or no tua, bama might just commit a full on felony in Tuscaloosa against our defense.

Agreeing with you here. Bama can name their score on us this year. Nobody has gotten pressure on Mac this year and I don't see any way we do either. He can just sit in the pocket until a receiver breaks open.

[Carnell 592]

12 hours ago, weagl1 said:

As I have said many times before, run him off then who you gonna hire?  No ridiculous pipe dreams such as we gonna take Nick away from Bammer, Kirby away from UGA, Dabo away from Clemson, Urban away from retirement, Belichick away from the Patriots or any other great coach who would have no interest whatsoever in coming to Auburn.  Most good coaches are going to take one look at our schedule and figure “this ain’t gonna be good for my career path.”  How many coaches have we had to go on to bigger and better things?  In my lifetime Shug retired, Barfield fired, Dye resigned under pressure due to the Ramsey thing, Tater Tot quit, Tubby quit under pressure when he saw the handwriting on the wall (Saban) and now Gus is on the perpetual hot seat.  My guess is we would end up taking a chance on some up and comer that may or may not be better than what we have plus we would likely lose a good defensive staff in the process.  I’m as frustrated as anyone with Gus and I don’t claim to know what we need to do, but I do hope our decision makers will look at our situation realistically and not give in to those who think we need to fire the coach after every loss with no consideration as to what’s next.  

May not know what's next if we fire him.  I do know what next if we retain him.  So when the known is nonstop trip into hell I will take the unknown.

[McLoofus 35,182]

3 minutes ago, Carnell said:

May not know what's next if we fire him.  I do know what next if we retain him.  So when the know is nonstop trip into hell I will take the unknown.

Exactly. We know that what we have is failure. So we try the unknown, which includes at least a possibility of success.

I really thought we were headed in the right direction this time. I'm actually embarrassed by almost everything I've said/predicted this offseason. To anyone who I tried to shout down with optimism or contradict with "it's different this time", I apologize. 

But yeah, fire Gus. If not now, then as soon as we can. Year eight and he just coached possibly the worst game of his career. And that's really saying something. 

 

[Howard Roark 195]

Auburn finishes with LSU, Miss ST, Tenn, UA, and Texas AM.  Based purely on the talent levels at the line of scrimmage, it is very possible AU loses 4 out of its last 5.  Is there any way Gus survives if this happens? 

[DAG 33,976]

1 minute ago, Howard Roark said:

Auburn finishes with LSU, Miss ST, Tenn, UA, and Texas AM.  Based purely on the talent levels at the line of scrimmage, it is very possible AU loses 4 out of its last 5.  Is there any way Gus survives if this happens? 

If we don't have a winning record he should be fired and I am fine with putting in a hold a way coach from within until we find the next one. But Gus is a smart man and I am sure he is banking on him not being close to being fired due to covid. 

[Barnacle 9,064]

34 minutes ago, McLoofus said:

Exactly. We know that what we have is failure. So we try the unknown, which includes at least a possibility of success.

I really thought we were headed in the right direction this time. I'm actually embarrassed by almost everything I've said/predicted this offseason. To anyone who I tried to shout down with optimism or contradict with "it's different this time", I apologize. 

But yeah, fire Gus. If not now, then as soon as we can. Year eight and he just coached possibly the worst game of his career. And that's really saying something. 

 

No apology necessary. I think a lot of us were sharing in the same optimism. Although, seems like Gus is playing with some house money right now. A lot will be blamed on the lack of spring ball, and breaking in a new offensive line/line coach/OC. 

We are in year EIGHT, folks. EIGHT. All of our problems (less Covid-19) are Gus problems. All of them.