Time to fire Gus.

[steeleagle 2,945]

And one more thing...:). Although CGM compounds our current problem with his play calling tendencies, he seemed to be a pretty good play caller when he had CAm and Nick. lol.

Just look at Alabama. They bring in top QBs just about every year. They have 4* and 5* QBs who have been in their offensive system now 2-3 years (Bateman and Cornwell and Barrett) but look who they turned to that gave them the best chance to win on offense...a true freshman. 

[tw4au 16]

On ‎9‎/‎17‎/‎2016 at 10:56 PM, auburntiger1987 said:

I don't want to abandon morals for wins but id love to still find a winner even if he's not an Auburn man. We can make him into one

That is likely what you will get if you hire Petrino. The man can coach but he is a snake. I want to win as much as any Auburn fan does, but I want somebody that wont embarrass the town or the university in the process. Granted, I don't know if we can be anymore embarrassed than we have been the first 3 weeks of the season. I will be the first to say that the Gus Bus needs to leave town and Jay Jacobs needs to be on board. But I want Auburn to get the best hire possible that will win games and still keep a clean program. I cant say that I know who that is but that's why that is not my job. I feel that if we can afford a $92 million arena ( and we needed it ) then we can afford to go get whoever we want to be our next head coach. Although I don't agree, I kind of feel like Gus will be allowed to finish the season, but only because we don't have anybody qualified to be promoted to interim, I don't think. Maybe Kevin Steele??

[Tiger 8,830]

What if we had hired Bielema instead of Gus in December 2012?

[milehighfan 1,240]

We all laughed at Bilema being hired at Arkansas, especially with their losing early in his tenure. As they say, he who laughs last laughs best.

[Tiger 8,830]

On 9/18/2016 at 0:28 AM, auskip07 said:

Best coach in the history of college football.... wont hire because he is mean.    You my friend are special

Legitimately almost un-liked a post to get back under the limit to like this one.

[lionheartkc 6,150]

11 minutes ago, milehighfan said:

We all laughed at Bilema being hired at Arkansas, especially with their losing early in his tenure. As they say, he who laughs last laughs best.

Bilema BEST record at Arkansas is 8-5, which he achieved once. Gus has owned him every year, except last year, and we should have won that game. You would ALL have fired Bilema by now.

[Tiger 8,830]

On 9/18/2016 at 11:14 AM, Auburn2Eugene said:

Guys I am starting to get off the Bus myself...But I DO feel compelled to make this point. 

Auburn has been part of 3 National Championship games. 3 in our HISTORY. Gus was a main part of 2 of the 3. Granted he has looked oblivious the last couple seasons. But any way you slice it, we are not a part of either of those other 2 Championship appearances without Gus.

Just keep that in mind before bashing the man too much...

 

#ChipKelly2016

I too think our best case scenario is Gus holds on to his job this year, then has a fireable season next year. Chip Kelly flames out in SF (doubt he gets fired no matter how bad their first season together is) and wants to rehab his image in the SEC West!! He is stubborn like Gus but would not give in to pressures from PTB as he would probably only come if the PTB tell him "The program is all yours. Come save us!"

 

I can dream, right?

[AUwent 3,775]

It's definitely nowhere near Lashlee's fault, but do you think a major part of the problem is Gus having "yes men" all around him? It's looking like Arky St will fire its coach, so I wonder if we could send Lashlee and the offensive coaching staff over there, hire Kendall Briles, and give him full control over the offense? The only problem would be making sure Gus has incentive to let Briles have that control.

I still feel like this team has too much talent to be down for too many years. Somehow I think we have another really good season before the 2010s end.

 

[Strychnine 1,804]

17 minutes ago, lionheartkc said:

Bilema BEST record at Arkansas is 8-5, which he achieved once. Gus has owned him every year, except last year, and we should have won that game. You would ALL have fired Bilema by now.

 

Negative.  While I do not care for Bielema at all, that is a disingenuous statement.  The performance of Bielema's teams are trending up as his tenure goes on.  3-9, 7-6, 8-5, and currently 3-0.  That is consistent improvement, and no one here would have any rational reason to want him fired.  Bielema is doing that in the SEC West, which is a pool of sharks, while having nothing resembling the resources that Gus has at his disposal.  Considering the investment Auburn makes in the program, and all of the top 10 recruiting, Gus should be owning Bielema's Arkansas teams consistently.  Bielema is doing what a coach is supposed to do.

The crux of people's anger with Gus comes from the fact that his program is trending down.  2015 was an embarrassing collapse for a preseason favorite.  2016 has already started off with two very winnable games, that were losses.  Those games were lost because an offensive genius head coach did not field a competent offense.  Gus is not doing what a coach should be doing.

[Tiger 8,830]

I said Arky made a better hire than us in 2012. Then I ate my crow in '13. Now I don't know if I should eat more crow or just curl up in the corner.

 

How AU and Arky are trending tells the whole story. Plus we have way more built-in advantages than Arky does. Give Bielema our recruiting prowess and his NFL OLines get even nastier

[Tiger 8,830]

And let's not kid ourselves here. You are delusional if you think Jay Jacobs is going to hire anyone other than Kevin Greene to replace Gus.

[lionheartkc 6,150]

9 minutes ago, Strychnine said:

 

Negative.  While I do not care for Bielema at all, that is a disingenuous statement.  The performance of Bielema's teams are trending up as his tenure goes on.  3-9, 7-6, 8-5, and currently 3-0.  That is consistent improvement, and no one here would have any rational reason to want him fired.  Bielema is doing that in the SEC West, which is a pool of sharks, while having nothing resembling the resources that Gus has at his disposal.  Considering the investment Auburn makes in the program, and all of the top 10 recruiting, Gus should be owning Bielema's Arkansas teams consistently.  Bielema is doing what a coach is supposed to do.

The crux of people's anger with Gus comes from the fact that his program is trending down.  2015 was an embarrassing collapse for a preseason favorite.  2016 has already started off with two very winnable games, that were losses.  Those games were lost because an offensive genius head coach did not field a competent offense.  Gus is not doing what a coach should be doing.

While nothing you said is incorrect, the Auburn fan base would not put up with 3-9, 7-6, 8-5.  They just wouldn't.  It shows improvement, but they would shout to the rooftops that 8-5 isn't good enough. Had Gus not gone to the title game in 2013 he would have been fired last year, and arguably wrongfully so, because until this year, it wasn't all his fault.  This year, it has been all his fault.

As for Arkansas being 3-0 this year, we would arguably be 3-0 as well with their schedule. We'll see how good ole Bret really is on Saturday.  

[Strychnine 1,804]

9 minutes ago, lionheartkc said:

While nothing you said is incorrect, the Auburn fan base would not put up with 3-9, 7-6, 8-5.  They just wouldn't.  It shows improvement, but they would shout to the rooftops that 8-5 isn't good enough. Had Gus not gone to the title game in 2013 he would have been fired last year, and arguably wrongfully so, because until this year, it wasn't all his fault.  This year, it has been all his fault.

As for Arkansas being 3-0 this year, we would arguably be 3-0 as well with their schedule. We'll see how good ole Bret really is on Saturday.  

 

I doubt any rational member of the fanbase (much less anyone that could actually make it happen) would be wanting to fire Gus if he were trending upward.  The real issue is that at this point in his tenure, things like Clemson and Texas A&M should not be happening.  I could understand if the the defense was struggling, but the particular problem these last two seasons has been his specific field of expertise.  As you said, this is all his fault.

[lionheartkc 6,150]

1 hour ago, Strychnine said:

I doubt any rational member of the fanbase (much less anyone that could actually make it happen) would be wanting to fire Gus if he were trending upward.

You obviously missed all of the "less than 10 wins a year is not good enough" talk that's been going on around here.  You could argue that none of those fans are rational, but they are certainly the majority.

 

1 hour ago, Strychnine said:

the particular problem these last two seasons has been his specific field of expertise.

Last season, the problem was a combination of one deer in the headlights QB and a lot of injuries.  This year, it's the O-Line.  Last year, I give him a pass for not having a solution, because the best he could do was try to stop the bleeding, which he did, for the most part.  This year, I don't give him a pass, because he has the play makers to make it work, but he's not calling a good game at all. Some of the calls yesterday were so glaringly inept that it makes you wonder if he wants to lose and get fired.

[AUwent 3,775]

Why is our O-line so bad? Obviously Dampeer and Leff are out of their league, so who would be good replacements for them? I would love to play Horton at tackle, but it sounds like he will be a guard starting next year. It still would probably help to give him some playing time. Are we likely to move Golson back to center next year? If not, give Kim some time at center. There's no reason to be playing as many people who will be gone next year as we are if we have a bad O-line!

Oh, and our starting receiving corps needs to primarily consist of Kyle Davis, Slayton, NCM, Hastings and Stove.

[doc4aday 1,887]

On ‎9‎/‎17‎/‎2016 at 10:58 PM, Mustprotect said:

They should be on the phone with Petrino agent right now getting the deal done before the season ends.

hey...your link to another site does not work.

[Bathel 50]

5 hours ago, steeleagle said:

And one more thing...:). Although CGM compounds our current problem with his play calling tendencies, he seemed to be a pretty good play caller when he had CAm and Nick. lol.

I disagree, if anything they didn't know what they had for the first 3 or 4 games and tried to keep Cam from running at all.  Only later in the season did they allow him to make magic and really that was his own creation, not a designed play or play call.  Most of the time it was him beating the best on the other side of the line.... and I don't think it had much to do with CGM... just my opinion... 

As for the NM year, I would say that we had one of the best RB in the country that had the most determination I've ever seen in a player in a long time.  He willed and battle and busted up in the line like I've very few ever have.  At least CGM was smart enough that year to ride that pony for 40 carries or more a game and very rarely try to throw the ball.  I'll give him credit there... but the play calling wasn't that special... it was more a force of will on Tre Mason's part that made us so good that year.

[keesler 5,928]

49 minutes ago, AUwent said:

It's definitely nowhere near Lashlee's fault, but do you think a major part of the problem is Gus having "yes men" all around him? It's looking like Arky St will fire its coach, so I wonder if we could send Lashlee and the offensive coaching staff over there, hire Kendall Briles, and give him full control over the offense? The only problem would be making sure Gus has incentive to let Briles have that control.

I still feel like this team has too much talent to be down for too many years. Somehow I think we have another really good season before the 2010s end.

 

Gus will never allow anyone to have full control of his offense any more than Saban will allow anyone full control of his defense, or Jimbo Fisher will allow anyone full control of his offense/QBs, same for Bobby Petrino and Urban Meyer, etc.  

Some coaches are cut out to manage big time Power 5 programs some aren't.  Gus has the talent, he has the facilities, he has the money backing to spend as he sees fit for his program, and after an exodus of damn near 75% of his coaching staff from last year, he has "his" men on staff now.  Gus wants to do things HIS way, and he'll either take this thing to the mountain top or he'll run it in the ground.

There's still a lot of football left to be played anything is possible at this point in the season.

[lionheartkc 6,150]

5 hours ago, steeleagle said:

Although CGM compounds our current problem with his play calling tendencies, he seemed to be a pretty good play caller when he had CAm and Nick. lol.

Cam and Nick, Cam especially, are the kind of players who make bad plays look good, because they improvise. It's not like very play Gus calls is bad.  He just calls some really bone headed plays and gets stuck in a rut when things aren't working.

[keesler 5,928]

50 minutes ago, lionheartkc said:

You obviously missed all of the "less than 10 wins a year is not good enough" talk that's been going on around here.  You could argue that none of those fans are rational, but they are certainly the

 

Last season, the problem was a combination of one deer in the headlights QB and a lot of injuries.  This year, it's the O-Line.  Last year, I give him a pass for not having a solution, because the best he could do was try to stop the bleeding, which he did, for the most part.  This year, I don't give him a pass, because he has the play makers to make it work, but he's not calling a good game at all. Some of the calls yesterday were so glaringly inept that it makes you wonder if he wants to lose and get fired.

This decline will soon span over 2 seasons though.  Some blame 2014 on defense - even though the red-zone issues raised it's ugly head at the end of that season as well.  Some blame 2015 on QB & mass injuries even though the play calling and roster management were inept.  Now here we are in 2016 with QB issues, inept play calling, serious oline problems and bungling roster management again.

So while folks are rationalizing the beginning of the decline in 2014 all the way through 2015 and now into 2016.....the ONLY noticeable improvement is the defense.  At the end of the day the highest paid person on that staff carries the lions share of the blame for fielding an unprepared, under developed and at times an undisciplined football team all the while screwing up his area of expertise >>> offense.

 

[Strychnine 1,804]

1 hour ago, lionheartkc said:

You obviously missed all of the "less than 10 wins a year is not good enough" talk that's been going on around here.  You could argue that none of those fans are rational, but they are certainly the

 

Last season, the problem was a combination of one deer in the headlights QB and a lot of injuries.  This year, it's the O-Line.  Last year, I give him a pass for not having a solution, because the best he could do was try to stop the bleeding, which he did, for the most part.  This year, I don't give him a pass, because he has the play makers to make it work, but he's not calling a good game at all. Some of the calls yesterday were so glaringly inept that it makes you wonder if he wants to lose and get fired.

 

I saw such talk, I just ignored it.  When double-digit seasons consistently happen, then I might consider such expectations to be reasonable.  Until then, there is no historical precedent upon which to base such an expectation.  That said, at some point the top 10 recruiting classes need to turn into top 10 teams that play like top 10 teams, consistently.  I will agree with that perspective to at least that extent.

Like you, I gave him a pass last year.  I know I said several times that I was going to form my opinion of Gus on this season.  Losing two winnable games at home on primetime national television due primarily to incompetence tells me that he did not learn much from the egg to the face he got last year.  If Clemson or Texas A&M had simply beaten what I thought was Auburn's best effort, I could accept that.  He brought in his buddy to coach the O-Line.  He said he was getting more involved and/or hands-on.  "We've got to get better" is not something we should be hearing from a 4th year coach with 4 years of excellent recruiting behind him.  I agree with you, it is completely befuddling.  I want to rationalize it, and have it make sense, but I have no choice but accept that it is simply incompetence.

[lionheartkc 6,150]

40 minutes ago, keesler said:

This decline will soon span over 2 seasons though.  Some blame 2014 on defense - even though the red-zone issues raised it's ugly head at the end of that season as well.  Some blame 2015 on QB & mass injuries even though the play calling and roster management were inept.  Now here we are in 2016 with QB issues, inept play calling, serious oline problems and bungling roster management again.

So while folks are rationalizing the beginning of the decline in 2014 all the way through 2015 and now into 2016.....the ONLY noticeable improvement is the defense.  At the end of the day the highest paid person on that staff carries the lions share of the blame for fielding an unprepared, under developed and at times an undisciplined football team all the while screwing up his area of expertise >>> offense.

No argument that everything that is happening this year is 100% on Gus.  

Last year was injuries, a QB who is a practice only superstar, and poor receiver play... much of the play calling was a result of those issues.  

This year, both of those issues have been fixed. Our receivers are playing MUCH better (noticeable improvement #1, besides defense, over last year) and, I can't believe this year people can't get their head around this fact, but we do NOT have QB issues (noticeable improvement #2 besides defense).  We have a QB who's averaging nearly a 70% completion ratio and another who is running all over every team he faces.  What we do have is O-Line issues and play-calling issues (the one serious and hard to understand hangover from last year), and while the later may have something to do with the former, that's inexcusable because when a coach has his whole roster at his disposal, he needs to make it work. If one unit is non-functional, that's on him. 

[lionheartkc 6,150]

1 minute ago, Strychnine said:

I want to rationalize it, and have it make sense, but I have no choice but accept that it is simply incompetence.

I'm having trouble even excepting incompetence at this point.  Someone with his track record can't just be football stupid.  I have no clue what's going on, but it's not good.

[Strychnine 1,804]

1 hour ago, lionheartkc said:

I'm having trouble even excepting incompetence at this point.  Someone with his track record can't just be football stupid.  I have no clue what's going on, but it's not good.

 

I do not think he is football stupid.  I think he rose too far too quickly in a very competitive industry without really learning from anyone.  A national championship and a Heisman winner in his 3rd year as OC at a major FBS school probably did not help.  If that is not the case, making a national championship game in his first year as HC at such a school definitely did not help.

I think he never had to learn to adapt, because he was never anywhere in college football for very long.  He was in high school longer, and I doubt he had to adapt much there either.  I say incompetence because I think he is in over his head, and has no experience to use.  People say "throwing things against the wall hoping it will stick".  That is the kind of thing a desperate person does when in over their head.

[aubaseball 2,652]

At this time,AU does not have a QB.   We don't know what JF3 can do because he really hasn't been put in a situation to show that he can throw.    What we have seen is that he can run.   In order for AU to win against the remaining teams, is to let him run the offense.   The entire offense, not just zone read.   Live and die with him.  He is going to make mistakes but I believe he will also make plays.