Rednilla

I can vouch for this one.

Ooh, that's a bit troubling. I wasn't meaning that 25 was our year, but that the program would be out of the hole Harsin dug us into by then. But the 10 wins bit was talking about what I see as our ceiling this year.

No "yeah, but". Just acknowledging that it wasn't all on him. He did nothing to make the situation better, which *is* on him, but there was more going wrong in Auburn athletics at the time than just Harsin. That's all I was saying.

I didn't mean to say we would necessarily hit the mark of 10 wins with a bowl victory, only that it's not at all unattainable.

In fairness, they didn't have a lot of booster support, so I think they reverted to their small school thought process because they were fighting such an uphill battle. That hire was an unmitigated disaster from beginning to end. I blame Allen Greene.

I know this was a response to a misunderstood joke, but I like the bit, so I'm going to respond to it. I didn't think it was a 3-5 year job in any way except for getting us fully back to national prominence, but I didn't realize Hugh was going to have to do so much work in recruiting to get us back there. Let it be clear, the man worked tirelessly this past season re-engaging with high school coaching contacts in order to reopen the lanes of recruiting over our footprint area, and the groundwork that has been established will serve us exceedingly well for years to come. It's still utterly befuddling how magnanimously Bryan Harsin screwed up our football program, and now, having full perspective on what his tenure meant for Auburn football, I shake my head that I bought in for the time that I did, even though I do feel I have an excuse. The last time we spoke, my friend who was the connection to Harsin's staff seemed to be trying to convince me to stand by him still, saying I wasn't one of the typical Aubs who couldn't see how much work Harsin put in, and while I don't doubt that he gave it legitimately his best shot, it's clear to see he was in over his head. He didn't get even a salt lick of support from TPTB, so it's not really a fair situation to judge him on, but he was reverting to full Boise on us. To hear my friend tell it, because Hars put a couple of players from his Boise teams in the NFL, their standard is just as good as ours. I think I may have lost the friendship when I explained, as gently as I could, that peak Auburn does more than put a couple of random guys in The League. But as to the job Freeze is doing, honestly, he's doing about as I expected him to do, though his challenge was greater than I understood when he was hired. That 3-5 years until we're competing for championships is still in order, though we are on track to meet the early end of it due to the influence of the portal. I don't think there's a whole lot of chance that we get ahead of schedule and legitimately find ourselves in the hunt for the playoffs this season, but 10 wins (with a bowl victory) doesn't seem too far out of bounds. Of course, for next year (2025) to be our year, we'll need one of the young QBs to step up, but we do, at least, have a few seemingly capable options there who will get at least one full season in the offense before taking over.

To be fair, I knew you weren't specifically talking about me because I haven't been talking on the subject. I was going to bat for those in my position... but then, I really don't know what, exactly, is being said about this except for what's on this board. He's supposed to be the best WR in the portal this round, but that doesn't mean we're dealing with the next Randy Moss here, it just means he's the best we could reasonably have hoped to add to the WR room in the portal. That said, you're not wrong that we should be slow to put great expectations on this year's team. I prefer to look at it as a floor/ceiling type of deal... but 7 wins is the absolute floor for this team, IMHO, and that's only if we suffer key injuries. I don't think we're a true playoff contender, but I think we're good enough that we'll get some hype so long as we aren't too slow out of the gate, and with just a touch of Auburn magic we could be right in the thick of things. So no, don't put lofty expectations on us, but don't count us out, either.

Getting Lambert doesn't in and of itself transform the team, but it adds quality experience to the WR corps to go along with the influx of talented freshmen we signed. Combined with the other additions to the team, I don't think it's unfair to say the unit has been transformed. How many new starters will we have? How many additions to the 2-deep? The question is whether the transformation is a healthy one. I refuse to enter this season with my expectations set at a 7-win year because I do think we'll be better than that. But apparently it's a bad thing for me, a moderator, to lead a conversation suggesting that getting Lambert completes (or at least furthers) a transformation of the team we had last year. Heaven forbid that we think a better roster should lead to better results and try to encourage Auburn fans to be positive about the coming season...

That didn't happen because of basketball, brother...

This is going to either be a home run hire or it's going to end ugly, but I love the story of the daughter only relenting to wear the colors of her dad's employer with Kentucky socks underneath. I would have gone with underwear and undershirt to protect the vital areas from corruption, but it's the thought that counts.

Have you heard somewhere that Bruce is going to alter his strategy? Because I would think that with the number of fouls we commit playing Bruceball defense, having that kind of depth is kind of necessary to keep guys from fouling out.

You act as if UK sh*ts gold bricks and farts rainbows. Walk-on? I would ask for some of what you're smoking, but you've got some mad paranoia going on. Bruce will retire as an Auburn Tiger. Of that, I am virtually certain.

No. You're saying Bruce has done a good enough job that he should have a loud voice in who his successor will be. It's a little difficult to know how much of the job Steven has done should be attributed to his father for you to be able to say that CSP has done such a great job for the program. Now, I don't mind him being given a courtesy interview if that will make Bruce happy, but Auburn should never hire an assistant basketball coach to take over as head basketball coach. If Steven really thinks he's got the chops to take over for his dad, then he needs to take a head coaching job at a smaller program and build it up some on his own. That's the only way he's going to really know if he can handle the position of head coach, and he doesn't deserve the opportunity to learn it without his dad for the first time while at Auburn.

No, it still is. It's just going to go longer despite already being long enough.

Tomorrow, Feb 10 2024, will be 28 years to the day since the last time Auburn beat Florida in basketball in Gainesville. I'd say 28 years is long enough.