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Christian Robinson expected to be hired


Tony4AU

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On 1/22/2022 at 9:46 AM, oracle79 said:

Harsin may flame out or he may turn it around. I'll predict if he's fired without getting 4 years to get his recruits and culture instilled, it'll be another 50 years before we win an NCAA football championship. But, that just may be what we deserve.

After rereading your prediction, I agree with it completely. I misunderstood it to be begin with.

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On 1/21/2022 at 9:54 AM, DAG said:

Some, if not, most of you guys should be happy Mason is gone. I know a few agenda driven posters will use it to shape their narrative. However will say, I am not upset with CBH for finally getting his guys nor will I quit on him. I am upset that it seems like it took a year for this to occur. I am starting to feel like behind the scenes their was AGAIN tension and a power struggle. Again, this is why Auburn will be Auburn.

Dag, sounds like you think Harsin didn't hire some of his original staff because he wanted to but had them forced on him.  Is that accurate?  If so, what do you (or others that have posited that as well) base that on?  

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Just now, japantiger said:

Dag, sounds like you think Harsin didn't hire some of his original staff because he wanted to but had them forced on him.  Is that accurate?  If so, what do you (or others that have posited that as well) base that on?  

I base that on the fact that there seem to be concern about SEC experience needed coming in to build relationships. This is of course all my opinion but the staff just seemed disjointed. I like that we had so many different opinions and smart people in the room but I feel like for success to occur, everyone needs to be accord. To me it seemed like I seen CBH with that stoic face, shaking his head quite a bit this season and a part of that is because things were disjointed at times. I also think this is why we see both our OC and DC going out the door this last season. Personally, I wish this would’ve occurred when he first got here. If he wants his own people in, so be it. As long as it works I don’t mind. 

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16 minutes ago, DAG said:

I base that on the fact that there seem to be concern about SEC experience needed coming in to build relationships. This is of course all my opinion but the staff just seemed disjointed. I like that we had so many different opinions and smart people in the room but I feel like for success to occur, everyone needs to be accord. To me it seemed like I seen CBH with that stoic face, shaking his head quite a bit this season and a part of that is because things were disjointed at times. I also think this is why we see both our OC and DC going out the door this last season. Personally, I wish this would’ve occurred when he first got here. If he wants his own people in, so be it. As long as it works I don’t mind. 

I certainly agree with you that things seemed disjointed many times; and yes, Harsin was shaking his head a lot on the sidelines.  Not sure I can make the leap that his two main assistants were not  of his own choosing though.  But, I also can't claim to have been 100% convinced in the past that it was not true either...so we may not have agreed 100%; but we certainly haven't disagreed 100% on this point either.

My other thoughts on this are that this was the first time that Harsin was really building a P5 staff or looking at football thru a lens not Boise centric.  He played, GA'd, was an assistant, coordinator and ultimately head coach there.  Of his 21 years of coaching experience, all but 4 were at Boise.  His only other HC experience was one year at Arky State.  While Boise had competed with top P5 programs in the past, it's a different animal running an SEC program vs being as assistant at Boise.  Scale, staff, budget, personalities, talent, ego's, media, expectations...all an order of magnitude different than Boise.  Did a lot of big time coaches come from programs like Boise; sure...but that funnel gets tight pretty quickly of those that last at SEC type programs.    

I can see him having a bit of an inferiority complex in coming into the SEC and I can see him taking a lot of advice from others on what makes a successful SEC staff; in this case probably too much advice.  He and Bobo were friends for over a decade and Mason was a hot commodity as a DC given his availability and past Samford experience.  Both had SEC experience...many (on this forum and otherwise) thought Mason's Samford experience was pure gold and that alone was enough to hire him.  Many on here were jumping up and down listening to his video's going into fall practice and declaring him just what we needed.   

Where I really 1st doubted that these guys were forced on Harsin; was when the offense reverted to early season form after the three games of much more open game plans when we beat Ole Miss, etc. And what really shook me was the bowl game, game-plan, crap fest.  Without Bobo around, we did none of the things that had spelled success mid season.  At that point, this was 100% Harsin's offense...which was another way of saying it looked like to me that Bobo was doing what Harsin wanted him to do.  Same thing after Miss St on defense.  How do you stay in a 3 man rush against Leach when it is obvious you're going to lose that game.  Any HC should have stopped that in it's tracks.  A quarter?  A half? Maybe...but stick with it while you're getting eaten alive...no HC worth a damn should set there and let that happen...unless of course that's what he actually believes is best.  I still can't bring myself to talk about the end of the IB... still too raw 😩

I think Harsin hired these guys...maybe being overly influenced from the outside or by friendship.  At one level I just don't want to think he had them forced on him; I hope we hired a fully formed adult.   But like you, I'm not upset either coordinator are gone.  I'm also not near as optimistic as I was on him either for the reason's stated above.  I am afraid the main weaknesses we had in approaching these games were Harsin's doing...maybe with complicit coordinators...but I don't think getting rid of these guys solves the problem.   

I certainly hope I am wrong; at least on the point about it all being Harsin's idea; and even if I am right; I hope Harsin has learned from the valuable, and painful, experience he went thru; and that his new coordinators will serve him better than the last two.    I truly want the guy to be successful...I just can't stand to think he would be the 3rd incarnation of Doug Barfield at Auburn in my lifetime.  

 

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6 minutes ago, japantiger said:

I certainly agree with you that things seemed disjointed many times; and yes, Harsin was shaking his head a lot on the sidelines.  Not sure I can make the leap that his two main assistants were not  of his own choosing though.  But, I also can't claim to have been 100% convinced in the past that it was not true either...so we may not have agreed 100%; but we certainly haven't disagreed 100% on this point either.

My other thoughts on this are that this was the first time that Harsin was really building a P5 staff or looking at football thru a lens not Boise centric.  He played, GA'd, was an assistant, coordinator and ultimately head coach there.  Of his 21 years of coaching experience, all but 4 were at Boise.  His only other HC experience was one year at Arky State.  While Boise had competed with top P5 programs in the past, it's a different animal running an SEC program vs being as assistant at Boise.  Scale, staff, budget, personalities, talent, ego's, media, expectations...all an order of magnitude different than Boise.  Did a lot of big time coaches come from programs like Boise; sure...but that funnel gets tight pretty quickly of those that last at SEC type programs.    

I can see him having a bit of an inferiority complex in coming into the SEC and I can see him taking a lot of advice from others on what makes a successful SEC staff; in this case probably too much advice.  He and Bobo were friends for over a decade and Mason was a hot commodity as a DC given his availability and past Samford experience.  Both had SEC experience...many (on this forum and otherwise) thought Mason's Samford experience was pure gold and that alone was enough to hire him.  Many on here were jumping up and down listening to his video's going into fall practice and declaring him just what we needed.   

Where I really 1st doubted that these guys were forced on Harsin; was when the offense reverted to early season form after the three games of much more open game plans when we beat Ole Miss, etc. And what really shook me was the bowl game, game-plan, crap fest.  Without Bobo around, we did none of the things that had spelled success mid season.  At that point, this was 100% Harsin's offense...which was another way of saying it looked like to me that Bobo was doing what Harsin wanted him to do.  Same thing after Miss St on defense.  How do you stay in a 3 man rush against Leach when it is obvious you're going to lose that game.  Any HC should have stopped that in it's tracks.  A quarter?  A half? Maybe...but stick with it while you're getting eaten alive...no HC worth a damn should set there and let that happen...unless of course that's what he actually believes is best.  I still can't bring myself to talk about the end of the IB... still too raw 😩

I think Harsin hired these guys...maybe being overly influenced from the outside or by friendship.  At one level I just don't want to think he had them forced on him; I hope we hired a fully formed adult.   But like you, I'm not upset either coordinator are gone.  I'm also not near as optimistic as I was on him either for the reason's stated above.  I am afraid the main weaknesses we had in approaching these games were Harsin's doing...maybe with complicit coordinators...but I don't think getting rid of these guys solves the problem.   

I certainly hope I am wrong; at least on the point about it all being Harsin's idea; and even if I am right; I hope Harsin has learned from the valuable, and painful, experience he went thru; and that his new coordinators will serve him better than the last two.    I truly want the guy to be successful...I just can't stand to think he would be the 3rd incarnation of Doug Barfield at Auburn in my lifetime.  

 

Well let me say, I am not saying they told him to hire those guys. I think CBH absolutely had the final say. I am saying it was strongly encouraged and he agreed to listen to it because it does make sense on paper but it obviously failed in reality. I don’t think the leaders went out and found those two and said hire these guys. I do think they recommended that he find some guys with SEC experience and those were the two he got. Now , he is completely doing it his own way and it seems like people are all up in arms because of so. 

Edited by DAG
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I am not saying it occurred at AU and I didn't realize this was even a "thing" until recently but "highly suggested support hires" appear to be a nuance with certain HC vacancies. I am unsure if that is the result of typical micromanagement and control from AD leadership/donors/politicians, i.e., a program's culture, or if circumstances justify instilling a framework for a new coach as a way to get a program up and running quickly and allow for breathing room for the coach to instill future adjustments. Could be both.

I feel pretty confident all of this coaching transition is fuel for rivals to fan the flames of instability with recruits. I would probably do the same thing if I worked in such a cut-throat biz. Maybe recruits are more willing to try AU during these times vs. a player years ago. Heck, if they don't like it they can portal-bolt. "Try before you buy."

 

 

Edited by AU_Canoe
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5 minutes ago, AU_Canoe said:

I am not saying it occurred at AU and I didn't realize this was even a "thing" until recently but "highly suggested support hires" appear to be a nuance with certain HC vacancies. I am unsure if that is the result of typical micromanagement and control from AD leadership/donors/politicians, i.e., a program's culture, or if circumstances justify instilling a framework for a new coach as a way to get a program up and running quickly and allow for breathing room for the coach to instill future adjustments. Could be both.

I feel pretty confident all of this coaching transition is fuel for rivals to fan the flames of instability with recruits. I would probably do the same thing if I worked in such a cut-throat biz. Maybe recruits are more willing to try AU during these times vs. a player years ago. Heck, if they don't like it they can portal-bolt. "Try before you buy."

 

 

True for new recruits anyway.

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Well boys and girls, been lurking and occasionally voicing an opinion for quite a while now and it seems that a great many of you are extremely naive regarding the pressures brought to bear by those whose desire is perceived power. It was an acknowledged fact back in the day of the Aronov reign of terror that it was indeed a fact of life. Board Members are blessed with altruistic character that is called Fantasy Island!  At age 76, I have seen it at play from the Board Room to the field of play. If you think for one minute that all is kosher in the Boardroom you know absolutely nothing about human nature and the power of greed and power! Boardrooms are the playground of the rich and powerful and more often than not they try to be King makers!  Nuff said/

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16 hours ago, Cardin Drake said:

So what's the deal with Robinson?  Are we hiring him or what?

Auburn officially announced his hire on the 22nd.  

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