Where do you stand with Gus?

[oracle79 3,569]

1 hour ago, ShocksMyBrain said:

Norvell has a gambling problem.

Is he successful at it?

[DAG 34,015]

1 hour ago, ShocksMyBrain said:

Rumor around these parts(Memphis), Norvell has a gambling problem. 

Yep...that apparently was what stopped him from getting the Arky job

[gr82be 14,458]

5 minutes ago, DAG said:

Yep...that apparently was what stopped him from getting the Arky job

I know Arkansas is the so-called better job of the two but I would consider that a blessing in disguise if I were him. Glad he's not our coach or I'd be questioning the last 2 LSU performances. I wish him well though. I had not heard that about him. 

[Mikey 16,714]

8 hours ago, DAG said:

Haha what? Your man crush is part of the problem. Not the solution . Check his background.

The coach whose offenses hold virtually every major record in Auburn history is part of the problem? The guy whose team beat two #1 teams in a three week period is part of the problem? What-evah....

[OnthePlains 2,014]

I would like to stand with Gus outside his house as he packs the U-Haul...

[DAG 34,015]

41 minutes ago, Mikey said:

The coach whose offenses hold virtually every major record in Auburn history is part of the problem? The guy whose team beat two #1 teams in a three week period is part of the problem? What-evah....

Reading comprehension. I was talking about instant gratification history. E.G. when he couldn’t get his way at Arkansas he bolted. When he couldn’t get his way with Chizik, he bolted. He was about to bolt for Arkansas, and even talking to them mid season , unless he had it his way again . So yes, he is a part of the problem. Not the solution in terms of that part. 

[Mikey 16,714]

4 minutes ago, DAG said:

Reading comprehension. I was talking about instant gratification history. E.G. when he couldn’t get his way at Arkansas he bolted. When he couldn’t get his way with Chizik, he bolted. He was about to bolt for Arkansas, and even talking to them mid season , unless he had it his way again . So yes, he is a part of the problem. Not the solution in terms of that part. 

Which of those bolts was the wrong move? Apparently he was smart enough to recognize sinking ships when he was on one.  I don't think he did anything last year except parlay Arky's interest into a better deal for himself at AU. Nothing wrong with that, it's business.

[DAG 34,015]

15 minutes ago, Mikey said:

Which of those bolts was the wrong move? Apparently he was smart enough to recognize sinking ships when he was on one.  I don't think he did anything last year except parlay Arky's interest into a better deal for himself at AU. Nothing wrong with that, it's business.

Never said it was wrong. Said he is part of the the problem . I also don’t think it’s wrong when young adults choose to make a “business” decision and transfer , but it seems to me your friend was making a wild generalization on this generation.

[OnthePlains 2,014]

Mikey in a couple of years in regards to Gus support...

 

 

[DAG 34,015]

4 minutes ago, OnthePlains said:

Mikey in a couple of years in regards to Gus support...

 

 

Mikey is the 20% than 77 (I think it was him) references. There is 10% that thinks Gus can do no wrong. There is the 10% that thinks Gus does everything wrong and then in the middle are the folks who just want some tweaking. Both 10 percenters get tiring. 

[OnthePlains 2,014]

6 minutes ago, DAG said:

Mikey is the 20% than 77 (I think it was him) references. There is 10% that thinks Gus can do no wrong. There is the 10% that thinks Gus does everything wrong and then in the middle are the folks who just want some tweaking. Both 10 percenters get tiring. 

Yeah man I’m hard on him but I hope like hell he turns it around and all is well. 

 

As far as Mikey I respect the hell out of him for his dedication.  Mikey’s that one friend that will stand by you no matter how bad you screw up. He’s like the band members on the Titanic. He’s like the one guy still fighting WWII 30 years later from a remote island. Mikey is the patron saint of lost causes.

[DAG 34,015]

2 minutes ago, OnthePlains said:

Yeah man I’m hard on him but I hope like hell he turns it around and all is well. 

 

As far as Mikey I respect the hell out of him for his dedication.  Mikey’s that one friend that will stand by you no matter how bad you screw up. He’s like the band members on the Titanic. He’s like the one guy still fighting WWII 30 years later from a remote island. Mikey is the patron saint of loss causes.

Ehh blind dedication is never good in my eyes. That is why we are where we are in capitol hill right now BUT that is another topic!

[Randman5000 4,230]

Meh, I WANT To Like Gus but he keeps screwing it up. He definitely showed something with his back against the wall by mopping the floor with thuga and Bama at home last year. But we had a good team. It still ended in a disappointing way BECAUSE we beat the two best teams in the nation and didn't get anything to show for it!!!!!

But we'll get those opportunities because we're AU and we play three prestigious programs every year and typically four to five every other year.

We'll be fine but it's the lack of adaption, lack of improvement, lack of success in his supposed wheelhouse against even the average tier SEC that leave a bad taste in fans mouth. We shouldn't struggle against bad teams, we shouldn't have doubt a back up average QB will transfer, or put our hopes in a future transfer QB because they've learned their skills under someone else's tutelage. An honest question. I hope we will kill it with Gus. 

We wish success but aren't against change. 

Wde

[Rednilla 5,396]

I'm not going to read the rest of the responses, as I can guess what is probably in them. I chose #2, but that's because it's the closest to my opinion of what needs to happen going forward. Gus has been most successful during his time in the SEC with a dual threat QB, and it's difficult to argue that point.

However, the question lends itself to a better answer than the ones found on here. Where do I stand with Gus? I stand right beside him, unflinching, because he is the coach at my alma mater, and I will support him as such until he is no longer here. I'll judge how good a coach he was once he is gone.

Now, to answer the question you are really asking, I think corchjay said it best that we have to execute and have better timing. Stidham can run this offense (no one complained about it during the UGA and UAT games last season), he just has to make the right read and keep the ball sometimes to keep the read man from crashing on the RB so much. He also needs to find the touch he had on the deep ball last year, putting more air under it and letting receivers who have a step or two run under his throw. And he needs to do a better job of reading his progressions so we don't end up with plays like the one highlighted by McElroy (think he was the one to point it out anyway) where there were 3 guys running open and Jarrett took a sack. It isn't that we aren't running intermediate routes, I don't think, it's just that Stidham isn't finding them.

And, of course, the offensive line really needs to gel and get the power run game going consistently so that we can run play action off of it effectively. If all of that happens, our offense will look spectacular again, and we may well be the team that can challenge Bama for the West in spite of the loss to LSU. Of course, I can't help but wonder what happens if UAT beats LSU, we beat UAT, and none of us have another loss in the season. Not sure what the tiebreaker would be in that scenario, and not sure what the chances that one of the 1-loss teams that doesn't make it to the SECCG might make the playoffs. I'd say we'd have a pretty good shot based solely on our win over Washington and the likelihood that they will be a playoff team...but that's getting WAY ahead of myself considering the schedule we still have to play. At this point, I just want to see the offense come together and play up to their capability so the defense can turn into the absolute behemoth it could be with adequate play on the other side of the ball.
 

[AUsince72 11,084]

6 hours ago, Mikey said:

Which of those bolts was the wrong move? Apparently he was smart enough to recognize sinking ships when he was on one.  I don't think he did anything last year except parlay Arky's interest into a better deal for himself at AU. Nothing wrong with that, it's business.

I'm okay with a professional making the best moves, certainly.  I'm a capitalist.

However, I do take exception with this one portion of your post.

A professional, by definition, does his job.  Gus did not do his job the MOST important week of the year....SECCG week.  Instead of creating a fresh game plan and paying attention to see that a one-armed running back was NOT ready to play, he spent his time "parlaying" with Arkansas as you said.

Not sure why you feel this loyalty to him when at the most critical time of the year (the REASON for his high-paying job) he showed little to no loyalty to his team, coaches, players?  And assuming you ask "how do I know?"..... Simple, I watched, read & heard the news all week and almost NONE of it was about the SECCG game, but rather Gus' cat & mouse game.  Oh, and it was obvious to anyone who watched the game that there were no fresh ideas, nor plans of attack.  It was literally thUga 2.0.

I give him the benefit of the doubt, like a sucker, year in and year out hoping the light switch will flip on.  But Loyalty?  No.  He's a good man, I believe that and I like him.  I'm glad he puts God & family first... but as this is about football, he's a mercenary just like every other head coach out there.  The Shug Jordans & Pat Dyes & Tom Osbornes, etc are a thing of the past.  

I have no problem with Gus being critiqued as he performs.  The good & the bad.  He's more than earned that "privilege".

[Mikey 16,714]

2 hours ago, AUsince72 said:

Not sure why you feel this loyalty to him when at the most critical time of the year (the REASON for his high-paying job) he showed little to no loyalty to his team, coaches, players?

How do you know he wasn't coaching football while his agent did the negotiating? I assume that's what was going on. The press was paying attention to something they could cover, which was rumors about deals. Not having access to practice, they didn't have any hot news to write about on that front.

As to that championship game: You want to talk like we went in there not prepared and distracted. That wasn't the case at all. We entered the 4th quarter with a score of 13-7 and in good position to win. Two unfortunate turnover were the difference in that game, not some weird idea about a distracted coach.

[OnthePlains 2,014]

22 minutes ago, Mikey said:

How do you know he wasn't coaching football while his agent did the negotiating? I assume that's what was going on. The press was paying attention to something they could cover, which was rumors about deals. Not having access to practice, they didn't have any hot news to write about on that front.

As to that championship game: You want to talk like we went in there not prepared and distracted. That wasn't the case at all. We entered the 4th quarter with a score of 13-7 and in good position to win. Two unfortunate turnover were the difference in that game, not some weird idea about a distracted coach.

I agree with what you’re saying here Mikey, but what if, just what if we had come in with a better plan knowing KJ wasn’t himself and instead of trailing 13-7 entering the fourth we were up 24-13? I mean we can play the what if games all day but after the opening drive our offense was pretty terrible the test of that game and they coulda played six quarters and we may not have scored again, That 13-7 felt like 27-7 with how we were playing.

[Mikey 16,714]

1 minute ago, OnthePlains said:

That 13-7 felt like 27-7 with how we were playing.

Apparently we didn't watch the same game. Twice we were moving the ball, heading in for scores and suffered fumbles. I don't think the game plan can be faulted for that.

[OnthePlains 2,014]

3 minutes ago, Mikey said:

Apparently we didn't watch the same game. Twice we were moving the ball, heading in for scores and suffered fumbles. I don't think the game plan can be faulted for that.

Turnovers are part of the game man. And while that may be a valid point so is the fact we had 259 yards total offense and were only 4/13 on third downs.

[rexbo 104]

My frustration with Gus is his reluctance or failure to learn from his mistakes from season to season.  People, teams, organizations, etc, go from good to great by making small incremental improvements over time.  You can clearly look at Saban's approach and see this.  Saban not only goes by a set defined process, the purpose of the process is to learn and continuously improve what they are doing.

The offense usually makes some improvement as the season goes along, but I don't see any reason why the beginning of every season seems to feel like the first time he has put a team together.  StatTiger points out continuously areas for improvement; for example, opportunities over the middle that are there and would open up other things, utilizing tight ends more, etc.  We almost never see what are obvious areas for improvement implemented.   We see game to game, quarter to quarter, this blind-eye stubbornness to running his base offensive plays and schemes no matter what.  In some instances he has the talent, execution, and alignment on the defensive side that allows this to work spectacularly.  In a lot of cases, just one of these things falls apart and our offense comes to a screeching halt; and he doesn't seem smart enough to quickly adjust his in-game play calling, or between game planning, or even in between seasons adjusting to his current talent.

[OnthePlains 2,014]

1 minute ago, rexbo said:

My frustration with Gus is his reluctance or failure to learn from his mistakes from season to season.  People, teams, organizations, etc, go from good to great by making small incremental improvements over time.  You can clearly look at Saban's approach and see this.  Saban not only goes by a set defined process, the purpose of the process is to learn and continuously improve what they are doing.

The offense usually makes some improvement as the season goes along, but I don't see any reason why the beginning of every season seems to feel like the first time he has put a team together.  StatTiger points out continuously areas for improvement; for example, opportunities over the middle that are there and would open up other things, utilizing tight ends more, etc.  We almost never see what are obvious areas for improvement implemented.   We see game to game, quarter to quarter, this blind-eye stubbornness to running his base offensive plays and schemes no matter what.  In some instances he has the talent, execution, and alignment on the defensive side that allows this to work spectacularly.  In a lot of cases, just one of these things falls apart and our offense comes to a screeching halt; and he doesn't seem smart enough to quickly adjust his in-game play calling, or between game planning, or even in between seasons adjusting to his current talent.

Careful my friend, that post makes way too much sense...

[AUsince72 11,084]

1 hour ago, Mikey said:

How do you know he wasn't coaching football while his agent did the negotiating? I assume that's what was going on. The press was paying attention to something they could cover, which was rumors about deals. Not having access to practice, they didn't have any hot news to write about on that front.

As to that championship game: You want to talk like we went in there not prepared and distracted. That wasn't the case at all. We entered the 4th quarter with a score of 13-7 and in good position to win. Two unfortunate turnover were the difference in that game, not some weird idea about a distracted coach.

I already anticipated and answered your question in my original post.

Respectfully, and I do respect you and your loyalty and old school mentality... I often wish the world were more old school.... But I know you have this notion that coaches are the only people who know the game and what's going on.  And as for "behind the scenes" you're right, no argument.

However, the product they produce is on the field, in full display for all to see, each and every week.  I may not be a rocket-surgeon and maybe haven't seen as much as you but I have actually played the game through HS at least (was even recruited by a small college) and have watched/studied football for over 40 years.

We're not all just mindless, dumb, rah-rah win or boo  lose.  And believe it or not there are quite a few very football smart posters on this board that can pick up on the nuance of the game to know when a "bad" looking play was actually pretty good or if a "good" play was loaded with mistakes and the team just got lucky.  And yes, some can even pick up if there is a coherant, new, innovative...or old re-used and stale game plan being used.  The SECCG was a prime example of the latter so you have two options if you're being honest - either it was a #ButGus game or it was a #NoGus game.  Either way, he failed the team as the head coach that week and compounded it by looking selfish due to the timing while his agent was off in a vacuum negotiating on his behalf.

[NCTiger1982 171]

Some random thoughts and my opinion. 

How many successful HCs CONSISTENTLY have problems on the side of the ball they cut their teeth on ? I am asking because I can't think of any. 

With any profession the best performers evolve at their trade. Tubs and Saban both believed in a strong running game and stout D to win. Tubs also believed in a good kicking game. While I don't like Saban he has gone outside his comfort zone to open up his O (had to be very uncomfortable) ,  his kicking game, etc. He started recruiting big D linemen that could RUN  to offset  his issues against the spread Os. Saban is not the HC he was 5 years ago. Sure, Saban benefits from the NCAA blind eye and it has allowed him a talent edge, but he has evolved as a HC and multiple areas. Other HCs have as well, but Gus ?

Gus evolved on the D side by hiring SEC caliber DCs. Muschamp & Steele hired SEC quality assistants. Now when you look at the O staff and compare them to the talent on the D side how does it stack up ? Not even close. If Gus would have been fired last year (or we let him go to ARK) every one of the D staff would have found employment easily with other power 5 programs. The O staff ? This has consistently been the problem. Horton has great experience but with our recent RB issues/depth he is on the slide. I like Kody Burns, but felt like he was in over his head for his experience. I still think he is, but he has really come on with recruiting. On OL when Gus hired Hand his resume was simply pathetic. Even though Gus is a hard head when he extended Hands' contract I just thought ……….more of the same. TX does us a favor ….....thank you baby Jesus …..and Gus takes the easy way out and rehires JB Grimes. I like Gus as a person. I think he reps Auburn well and appreciate his Christian values. That said, until he proves otherwise he is in over his head. In year 6 at Auburn (year 7 as HC) Gus evolving into a consistent challenger for the NC/SECC looks more doubtful every year.

War Damn Eagle !       

[GoAU 1,600]

Where is the option that says I think this year's team could be really good, even though JS isn't what I would consider a dual threat QB, but our O line needs work?

[OnthePlains 2,014]

11 minutes ago, GoAU said:

Where is the option that says I think this year's team could be really good, even though JS isn't what I would consider a dual threat QB, but our O line needs work?

That would have been a good option.