Age Old Auburn Coaching Questions

[Tigers77 281]

I’ve been an Auburn guy since the Dye years. Dye won 4 SEC Titles in 9 years. Different time though. No divisions or SEC Championship game. Teams often shared the title. 
 

Tubs had a 10 year career with 1 SEC Title and 1 other title game appearance. Dominated Bama but Bama was definitely down most of those years. 
 

Gus had no losing seasons and made a bowl every year.  One SEC Title, one Natty appearance and 1 other SEC Title game appearance. His 8 year record would probably have him as a coaching success in many places. A good portion of our fanbase( myself included) was not happy by the end of his tenure for many reasons including our record against UGA and LSU.  
 

During Gus’s tenure I was often accused of expecting too much.  Of wanting to duplicate what Bama was doing. 
I never expected that at all. Give me 2- 3 SEC Titles and appearances combined with being in the playoff convo more often than not.  Give me .500 against our big 3 rivals with an occasional road win in those series.  Give me consistent recruiting with glaring flaws addressed either on NSD or in the portal. 
 

Is it unrealistic to expect these things from Auburn? Say, three 10 plus win seasons out of 7-8?  And 8-9 most other years? 
 

So, over a 7 year period, what is YOUR definition of success? And do you believe those in power at Auburn share our vision for success in football at Auburn? 
 

[auburnatl1 4,895]

The full spectrum - from the win at all costs/top 10 every year or fire-em crowd vs the integrity first/have to respect the coach as a person /eight wins is fine group.  And every combination in between. Like most things, the extremes of each side are usually the most…. passionate. Obviously Freeze is the poster child for this debate.

Edited September 28, 2022 by auburnatl1

[AUwent 3,748]

How many teams are .500 against those three in the last five years? The answer is: no, it’s not realistic.

Your part about recruiting is realistic. We should always finish at least in the top 15 recruiting top 10 at least 1/4 of the time.

I do not think SEC titles are realistic going forward. Maybe one appearance in an eight year span. Maybe if the SEC were going to 1-7 and not 3-6, but even if god willing we get Vandy in that third spot, with our schedule going forward (don’t forget that in addition to losing a cupcake, we have games with Baylor, UCLA and the Miami in the future!), our expectations should be:

-Get in the expanded playoff once every five years.

-9 wins incl. bowl AT LEAST twice every five—should aspire to three times, but that might not be realistic.

-Get to a bowl the traditional non-APR backdoor way 100% of the time.

Edited September 28, 2022 by AUwent

[Tigers77 281]

3 minutes ago, AUwent said:

How many teams are .500 against those three in the last five years? The answer is: no, it’s not realistic.

Your part about recruiting is realistic. We should always finish at least in the top 15 recruiting top 10 at least 1/4 of the time.

I do not think SEC titles are realistic going forward. Maybe one appearance in an eight year span. Maybe if the SEC were going to 1-7 and not 3-6, but even if god willing we get Vandy in that third spot, with our schedule going forward (don’t forget that in addition to losing a cupcake, we have games with Baylor, UCLA and the Miami in the future!), our expectations should be:

-Get in the expanded playoff once every five years.

-9 wins incl. bowl AT LEAST twice every five—should aspire to three times, but that might not be realistic.

-Get to a bowl the traditional non-APR backdoor way 100% of the time.

Yeah, and I guess my .500 against those three was more in a general sense not necessarily right now. I don’t see UA and UGA being this good forever. AND I wii say that Gus’s 3-5 against Bama was actually a pro in his favor. 

Edited September 28, 2022 by Tigers77

[AUwent 3,748]

8 minutes ago, Tigers77 said:

Yeah, and I guess my .500 against those three was more in a general sense not necessarily right now. I don’t see UA and UGA being this good forever. AND I wii say that Gus’s 3-5 against Bama was actually a pro in his favor. 

If you see any sign of them declining any time over the next decade, point them out! I’m completely apathetic to DSOR at this point, marked it as an automatic loss going forward until we prove me wrong. Thank god for the expanded playoff.

Edited September 28, 2022 by AUwent

[Gowebb11 9,314]

27 minutes ago, Tigers77 said:

s it unrealistic to expect these things from Auburn? Say, three 10 plus win seasons out of 7-8?  And 8-9 most other years? 
 

So, over a 7 year period, what is YOUR definition of success? And do you believe those in power at Auburn share our vision for success in football at Auburn? 
 

I agree with your expectations but would add more consistency. We have had back to back 10 win seasons once in our history and not since 88-89. That’s unacceptable.

While I believe those in power share our vision, they don’t make strategically sound decisions to make it happen. 

[DAG 33,977]

Auburn should never if rarely be 500 or below. 8 wins should be the floor and o expect us to be competing for the playoffs going into freaking November . Guess what? We had Texas and OU? Guess what ? We also have 12 playoff spots now too. There is no way why auburn shouldn’t at least be in the playoffs once every four years. PERIOD

[fredst 9,064]

2 hours ago, Tigers77 said:

I’ve been an Auburn guy since the Dye years. Dye won 4 SEC Titles in 9 years. Different time though. No divisions or SEC Championship game. Teams often shared the title. 
 

Tubs had a 10 year career with 1 SEC Title and 1 other title game appearance. Dominated Bama but Bama was definitely down most of those years. 
 

Gus had no losing seasons and made a bowl every year.  One SEC Title, one Natty appearance and 1 other SEC Title game appearance. His 8 year record would probably have him as a coaching success in many places. A good portion of our fanbase( myself included) was not happy by the end of his tenure for many reasons including our record against UGA and LSU.  
 

During Gus’s tenure I was often accused of expecting too much.  Of wanting to duplicate what Bama was doing. 
I never expected that at all. Give me 2- 3 SEC Titles and appearances combined with being in the playoff convo more often than not.  Give me .500 against our big 3 rivals with an occasional road win in those series.  Give me consistent recruiting with glaring flaws addressed either on NSD or in the portal. 
 

Is it unrealistic to expect these things from Auburn? Say, three 10 plus win seasons out of 7-8?  And 8-9 most other years? 
 

So, over a 7 year period, what is YOUR definition of success? And do you believe those in power at Auburn share our vision for success in football at Auburn? 
 

I think that your definition of “successful” is appropriate and realistic for Auburn. One of the most frustrating things to me with the last regime was losing winnable games and often not even appearing competitive or well-prepared in those games. Anybody expecting a run like Bama has had or like it appears UGA may be starting *is* being unrealistic but what you lay out is really where we should be. Just give me some hope man…..

Edited September 28, 2022 by fredst

[SaltyTiger 7,790]

2 hours ago, Tigers77 said:

Yeah, and I guess my .500 against those three was more in a general sense not necessarily right now. I don’t see UA and UGA being this good forever. AND I wii say that Gus’s 3-5 against Bama was actually a pro in his favor. 

Say what you want about Gus. He did seem to come with something that made Saban uncomfortable. No reason we should not expect to compete with Bammer and UGA year in and out. Usually computes to a good season.

[ChristoThor 70]

I think what I want is for us to stay in the top 15 in recruiting and ranking on a regular basis. I am not saying every year has to be up there, but we should at least be a team that gets top 15 recruiting classes and 8 win seasons are the floor of our expectations most years with legitimate chances at making SEC championship appearances every few years.