Gus would be wise to look around

[saminbama 740]

2 hours ago, AU64 said:

That's a good point but to be honest, some coaches end up playing ranked teams when they don't have near the resources to be competitive....or are just in a tough league.   Especially coaches from the lower rated conferences who play ranked teams as their homecoming turkey. 

Some folks here like Mullen for example.... but he has one of the worst records against ranked teams among Power 5 coaches.  On the other hand, who wants to play bama, Lsu and Auburn who are ranked just about every year....and then pick up games with Ole Miss or TAMU and at least one SEC East powerhouse?  . So how does one rank DM?   hard to say ?  

 

As far as Mullen not having a great record against ranked teams, if my memory serves me correctly, Tubs had never beaten a top 10 team before he came to Auburn.  Shows that coaches at the Mississippi schools face an uphill battle because of smaller budgets.

[keesler 5,924]

Would Mullen fit in at Auburn?  He is rough around the edges, very blunt and straight forward, doesn't push religion or family as a selling point in recruiting.  He doesn't give off that "wholesome" persona that his predecessors have had.  

[GwillMac6 20,677]

5 minutes ago, keesler said:

Would Mullen fit in at Auburn?  He is rough around the edges, very blunt and straight forward, doesn't push religion or family as a selling point in recruiting.  He doesn't give off that "wholesome" persona that his predecessors have had.  

Not saying it has to be mullen but we honestly need someone like that. We should not limit ourselves to only a certain type of coach. I agree though with you that is the type we seem to have gone for lately.

[PoetTiger 1,896]

3 hours ago, ClaytonAU said:

So if we lose to UGA and Bama this year, y’all are okay with Gus being 2-8 against our two biggest rivals? 

No. But how long will the new guy get before the torches and pitchforks come out again. I am undecided on Gus, but if you replace him on some of the premises spoken here, then you have to come with a proven championship level coach. UT, UF, A&M, and maybe a few others all want that as well. I just don’t see but few options out there. I just don’t want Auburn to experience what UT, UF, and a few other schools experienced. Notre Dame almost ran Kelley off last season but he has rebounded (so far) and has ND in the midst of the hunt. We have a coach although neurotic as hell, that still has Auburn in the thick of it. Maybe I am in the minority but since it’s no AD in place I see no reason to run him off after this season. 

[DAG 33,982]

Dan Mullen is coaching at Mississippi State. Are people really crowing because he has a tough time beating AU, UGA, Alabama , LSU?

schools who continuously recruit in the top 15 in the nation ? Yet he is arguably the best coach to ever be at Mississippi State.

I don’t get how that is a rationale argument but a coach with top 15 talent and has a 2-8 record against this squad , ranked or unranked is minimized in importance because of the fear of the unknown.

Just makes zero sense 

[doc4aday 1,887]

23 hours ago, AUcivE09 said:

Curious - if we hire Gundy do we have to stop calling the gumps "The Mullets"?

I do not see us hiring Gundy.  I would think we would hire the likes of a Matt Campbell, the guy from Memphis, PJ Fleck, Jeff Bhromm, maybe Mullen, maybe Fuentes, maybe Venables or another coordinator. I know I will get some flack from this, but watch Matt Canada at Lsu, he could make a good HC somewhere soon. who knows folks though. My hope though is that Gus can coach the games of his life and become the coach we all want. This would solve so many problems though. Does he stay going 0-2 0r 1-2 the next big games?  If both games are blow outs, then we very well could be looking hard for a new HC asap. 

[DAG 33,982]

Another thing that I find laughable is this idea that coaches will be fearful of taking a job in the SEC west because of competition or this idea of failure . These are men who are at the apex of their career , leading young men in an ultra competitive sport. To get to this point , they have to enjoy competition and have an innate confidence level and ability to conquer stress. Unless there is something that is outright better, i doubt these men are afraid of failure, the arms race that comes with the SEC or the expectations.

[bigbird 60,525]

25 minutes ago, PoetTiger said:

No. But how long will the new guy get before the torches and pitchforks come out again. 

long enough to prove one way or another if he can win or not. 

[DAG 33,982]

2 minutes ago, bigbird said:

long enough to prove one way or another if he can win or not. 

People act like 5 years is not enough time to prove your worth . 

[ClaytonAU 4,606]

Some people here really think Auburn is the same as Arkansas and MSU. We have recruited historically well and we’re 2-8 against our biggest rivals. We’re a top 10 program in the country and we’re scared we can’t hire someone better than Florida, Arkansas, and A&M? 

[DAG 33,982]

And to be frank , CGM probably has a mulligan this year. I hate to say it but he probably can lost bama/UGA/Bowl game and still be safe. As long as we are competitive in those games . 

[AUcivE09 582]

25 minutes ago, doc4aday said:

I do not see us hiring Gundy.  I would think we would hire the likes of a Matt Campbell, the guy from Memphis, PJ Fleck, Jeff Bhromm, maybe Mullen, maybe Fuentes, maybe Venables or another coordinator. I know I will get some flack from this, but watch Matt Canada at Lsu, he could make a good HC somewhere soon. who knows folks though. My hope though is that Gus can coach the games of his life and become the coach we all want. This would solve so many problems though. Does he stay going 0-2 0r 1-2 the next big games?  If both games are blow outs, then we very well could be looking hard for a new HC asap. 

Im actually with you. Best case is that Gus becomes "The Guy" and we avoid the turnover. Just doesn't look good.

[PoetTiger 1,896]

I just don’t want to see a revolving door of failure over failure or  a situation where you basically get what you fired. Besides an AD needs to be in place first before any decision is made...jmo

[PoetTiger 1,896]

4 minutes ago, ClaytonAU said:

Some people here really think Auburn is the same as Arkansas and MSU. We have recruited historically well and we’re 2-8 against our biggest rivals. We’re a top 10 program in the country and we’re scared we can’t hire someone better than Florida, Arkansas, and A&M? 

Its not the better that worries me, it’s getting the right coach and not someone the AD or PTB can manipulate. Yes Auburn should be able to hire someone better than them but will they be willing to relinquish control to the coach they hire and get outta the way.

[DAG 33,982]

2 minutes ago, PoetTiger said:

I just don’t want to see a revolving door of failure over failure or  a situation where you basically get what you fired. Besides an AD needs to be in place first before any decision is made...jmo

So let’s look at this from a practical standpoint . Say you have a GF and she is just mediocre . Would you keep that same GF because of the fear of not being able to find someone who may be a better fit for you ?

[PoetTiger 1,896]

4 minutes ago, DAG said:

So let’s look at this from a practical standpoint . Say you have a GF and she is just mediocre . Would you keep that same GF because of the fear of not being able to find someone who may be a better fit for you ?

apples vs oranges ?? and to prevent a thread derail...i will just say i see your point...just take out GF and let’s just say car..job..microwave etc.....anyway if Auburn moves on from Gus it better be a new AD and athletic dept structure in place or it will be repeating the same alleged cycle over and over again.

[NorthGATiger 1,801]

24 minutes ago, ClaytonAU said:

Some people here really think Auburn is the same as Arkansas and MSU. We have recruited historically well and we’re 2-8 against our biggest rivals. We’re a top 10 program in the country and we’re scared we can’t hire someone better than Florida, Arkansas, and A&M? 

I am sick and tired of people wanting to keep a horrible coach for fear of failing at the next hire.  How do you live your lives this way?  You fire Gus because he is not a good football coach.  He is a mediocre football coach and he has proven that to us for 5 straight years.  There is nothing more to see.  Do you keep paying the lawn service to cut your grass even though they do a horrible job because you are worried that the next guy won't be as good?  

I am begging for anyone to tell me what Gus does that is so great that we can't afford to let him go.  There are 25 guys right now that you have probably never heard of that could win with the talent we have.  As a head coach outside of 2013, what is Gus' greatest accomplishment at Auburn?

To me, and yes I am a hater, what Gus does best is underutilize the talent he has for fear of them failing.  He absolutely will let a kid waste 3 years of his life or transfer because he is too worried about a fumble or ability to block better than the guy getting ran into the ground.  He finds 1 productive guy and rides him until he breaks.

[BigWhiskey91 632]

26 minutes ago, ClaytonAU said:

Some people here really think Auburn is the same as Arkansas and MSU. We have recruited historically well and we’re 2-8 against our biggest rivals. We’re a top 10 program in the country and we’re scared we can’t hire someone better than Florida, Arkansas, and A&M? 

While Auburn has recruited historically well, so has a majority of the SEC West. From the 2013 class to the 2017 class, Alabama, LSU and UGA have our recruited us on average. 

Now that Jacobs is out of the mix in terms of making the next hire, the level of worry should dwindle. Still a risk though. Always a risk with any coaching change but that’s the nature of the beast.

[BigWhiskey91 632]

9 minutes ago, NorthGATiger said:

I am sick and tired of people wanting to keep a horrible coach for fear of failing at the next hire.  How do you live your lives this way?  You fire Gus because he is not a good football coach.  He is a mediocre football coach and he has proven that to us for 5 straight years.  There is nothing more to see.  Do you keep paying the lawn service to cut your grass even though they do a horrible job because you are worried that the next guy won't be as good?  

I am begging for anyone to tell me what Gus does that is so great that we can't afford to let him go.  There are 25 guys right now that you have probably never heard of that could win with the talent we have.  As a head coach outside of 2013, what is Gus' greatest accomplishment at Auburn?

A- Has Gus really proven that he’s mediocre for 5 straight years? I don’t think many came way from the 2013 and 2014 seasons thinking that. 

B- The number of people that keep their cable provider despite rising costs and dwindling performance might be surprising to you. The question is, what kind of person/people do we have making that decision for us?

C- There probably are several coach’s that can win with the talent we have now. The overall question should be how many guys out there can win with the current talent, but can also keep or improve the level of talent we have and consistently do so? How many guys are out there that can bring in a defensive staff to pick up where Steele left off (assuming he isn’t retained after a staff change). How many guys are out there that can handle our boosters/AD while having success against our rivals?

D- Honestly we should just start super small. Who can come in and bring us our first back to back 10 win season since Pat Dye?

[DAG 33,982]

24 minutes ago, PoetTiger said:

apples vs oranges ?? and to prevent a thread derail...i will just say i see your point...just take out GF and let’s just say car..job..microwave etc.....anyway if Auburn moves on from Gus it better be a new AD and athletic dept structure in place or it will be repeating the same alleged cycle over and over again.

He will be here next year just because of that. Won’t get fired without an AD in place

[Tiger 8,825]

51 minutes ago, NorthGATiger said:

I am sick and tired of people wanting to keep a horrible coach for fear of failing at the next hire.  How do you live your lives this way?  You fire Gus because he is not a good football coach.  He is a mediocre football coach and he has proven that to us for 5 straight years.  There is nothing more to see.  Do you keep paying the lawn service to cut your grass even though they do a horrible job because you are worried that the next guy won't be as good?  

I am begging for anyone to tell me what Gus does that is so great that we can't afford to let him go.  There are 25 guys right now that you have probably never heard of that could win with the talent we have.  As a head coach outside of 2013, what is Gus' greatest accomplishment at Auburn?

To me, and yes I am a hater, what Gus does best is underutilize the talent he has for fear of them failing.  He absolutely will let a kid waste 3 years of his life or transfer because he is too worried about a fumble or ability to block better than the guy getting ran into the ground.  He finds 1 productive guy and rides him until he breaks.

I'm not on the Gus Bus as you probably have gathered and definitely don't trust Gus at all anymore but I will take a stab at this. This is what he does well IMO:

His teams don't quit. (this was a problem under the previous regime)

He recruits good kids for the most part (everyone has some bad apples, but once he navigated the Duke Williams situation he seemed to understand how these types of things can affect a team's chemistry and it's ability to reach it's ceiling)

He recruits in the top 10 on a yearly basis.

The national media still respects him (they consistently keep ranking us as the highest rated X loss team, I think this is due to them still buying the Gus offense hype as well as how well he's recruited). While this point is not worth much it does keep our program on a nationally relevant stage (until Gus craps the bed in another big, important game of course)

He seems to run a clean program (knock on wood)

---

OK now there are probably other positives that I cannot think of right now, but there is no guarantee that a new coach, while giving us a boost in areas Gus is deficient in, will maintain these, and other that I forgot to mention, positives. And a dip in those could contribute to our program to drop to worse than 8 win seasons. I am not saying that these positives are enough to make up for all the things that he needs to work on and has had ample time to work on. HOPEFULLY worst case is that in the short term a new coach would  absolutely succeed with the type of roster we have now (unless they are truly inept) but then his own deficiencies or ability to learn how to deal with these deficiencies would dictate whether our program moves forward or backwards under new leadership.

That being said, some of Gus' deficiencies make me wonder how he's a HC at an SEC Power at all. There just seems to be a lot of amateur hour BS that comes with Gus.

 

[doc4aday 1,887]

37 minutes ago, NorthGATiger said:

I am sick and tired of people wanting to keep a horrible coach for fear of failing at the next hire.  How do you live your lives this way?  You fire Gus because he is not a good football coach.  He is a mediocre football coach and he has proven that to us for 5 straight years.  There is nothing more to see.  Do you keep paying the lawn service to cut your grass even though they do a horrible job because you are worried that the next guy won't be as good?  

I am begging for anyone to tell me what Gus does that is so great that we can't afford to let him go.  There are 25 guys right now that you have probably never heard of that could win with the talent we have.  As a head coach outside of 2013, what is Gus' greatest accomplishment at Auburn?

To me, and yes I am a hater, what Gus does best is underutilize the talent he has for fear of them failing.  He absolutely will let a kid waste 3 years of his life or transfer because he is too worried about a fumble or ability to block better than the guy getting ran into the ground.  He finds 1 productive guy and rides him until he breaks.

I always enjoy your posts. You seem to be pretty much accurate with your assessments. I got off of the bus after the Clemson game.  Gus will be coaching the games of his life and an 0-8 record against our 2 biggest rivals is something no one should accept including me. I do not hate Gus and do think he has had some great wins, however the players and the entire Auburn nation deserves a coach who can hang with the big dogs and can get his teeth into the biggest dogs and send them yelping home to momma.

[AUApostle 7,651]

1 hour ago, ClaytonAU said:

Some people here really think Auburn is the same as Arkansas and MSU. We have recruited historically well and we’re 2-8 against our biggest rivals. We’re a top 10 program in the country and we’re scared we can’t hire someone better than Florida, Arkansas, and A&M? 

Nope, I just don't see a candidate worthy of us at this time.

[Tiger 8,825]

My biggest concern is we continue to lose to our biggest rivals and lose our status as a top player on the recruiting circuit while Bama stays at the top, UGA and TAMU rise (new coach for TAMU and $$$$), and LSU finds their footing. We badly need TAMU to hire someone underwhelming and on the same level as Sumlin because they are a sleeping giant. We can't end up being 4th fiddle in the West, TAMU is (was?) the only team Gus can beat that recruits just as well as he does.

[AU64 10,122]

4 minutes ago, AUDevil said:

Nope, I just don't see a candidate worthy of us at this time.

Agree....look at the names being tossed around as prospective coaches for all the expected openings.   I have to say that Gus with his warts is as good as or better than anyone being proposed.  JMO.  

Saw that Booger said there could be 6 new coaches in the SEC next season.   I'm wondering how many ADs are going to pay some big buyout settlements and then "hope" they can do better somewhere else. Schools like Missouri and  Arky for example would kill to have some 8 or 9 win seasons and to be competitive in their losses.

Haven't looked outside the SEC but Nebraska and UCLA are frequently mentioned....and of course Oregon State , Baylor, Kansas again yet?   There are a couple dozen power 5 schools with fewer than 5 wins (meaning 4 or less) and some of them will be impatient to do better. 

Seems that imbalance in just about every major conference is worse than I can ever remember.   Some really BAD teams out there...not just lots of losses but losses by huge margins.