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Broken record of Mazahn hits


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From USAToday

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/college/auburn/2018/11/07/buckle-up-auburn-fans-your-broken-record-malzahn-hits-keep-playing/1920441002/

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Buckle up Auburn fans, your broken record of Malzahn hits will keep on playing

 
 
They say timing is everything. For Auburn, it spells disaster.

Do you find it odd that Auburn athletic director Allen Greene waited until Tuesday before saying Gus Malzahn will be the coach next year? And, that he’s looking forward to working with him for a long time?

It came days after the Tigers defeated Texas A&M 28-24 at Jordan-Hare Stadium in what was the worst performance I’ve seen by a winning team in 35 years of covering college football. Yes, it was that bad.

Don’t try to couch it being positive for Auburn in any way. If you do believe the win was something positive, you’ve been fooled too long.  

What the victory bought Auburn fans was more of the same.

Because Auburn won, the awkward pressure was removed from Greene — and more importantly Auburn President Steven Leath, who saddled Auburn with Malzahn’s ridiculous $49 million contract (with a buyout that currently sits north of $32 million) last December.

If Auburn lost to the Aggies, Greene and Leath would not have been allowed off the hook so easily in the court of public opinion.

The pressure to act on Malzahn would have intensified with humiliating losses in its final two SEC games beginning this Saturday at Georgia and Nov. 24 in the Iron Bowl in Tuscaloosa. And, they will be humiliating.

Auburn could play its best games of the season against the Bulldogs and Crimson Tide and be humiliated. The gap between the schools is large. The discrepancy between the leadership of the programs is even larger.

But Auburn has gone through this situation previously.

In 2010, Auburn won the national championship under Gene Chizik. 

Chizik won the title because of Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Cam Newton more than any program Chizik created. Chizik has been described as the “worst coach ever to win a national championship.”

 

Athletic director Jay Jacobs was under the misguided belief that Texas would want Chizik if then-coach Mack Brown retired. So, he rewarded him with an extension that increased his salary to $3.5 million annually.

Two years later, Jacobs fired Chizik after the worst season in school history which included an 0-8 SEC record and season-ending conference losses to Texas A&M, Georgia and Alabama by a 150-21 score.

By the time this-Malzahn fiasco is completed people will look back on the Chizik debacle fondly for two reasons: the cord was cut quickly and the payout — though huge at the time — dwarfs the situation now.

Remember the “Who will get fired bowl” between LSU and Auburn in 2016? Auburn won 18-13 and Les Miles was fired the next day.

LSU thought it had scored a game-winning touchdown on the final play for an 19-18 victory, but the touchdown was overruled.

If Auburn lost that game, the coach on the chopping block would have easily been Malzahn. The same could be said for last Saturday’s game against the Aggies.

If Auburn lost, there’s no way Greene comes out this week with his vote of confidence. This is what that confidence is going to get you.

A head coach who pursues a quarterback that doesn’t fit his system, but he keeps banging away with the square peg in the round hole and expecting incredible results and wondering why it doesn’t happen.

A good coach can adjust his system to players skill sets the same way a CEO can accentuate his workers strengths to accomplish goals.

Every SEC head coach and defensive coordinator knows Malzahn’s system inside-and-out. It’s not innovative any more but rather pedestrian.

When every sports writer, aunt, uncle, grandfather, grandmother, brother, sister, pet dog, cat or bird, can correctly predict every single play Auburn will run on each possession there’s a problem.

 

Let’s see wide-receiver reverse. Attempt a run-pass option where everyone in the stadium knows there is no “run” option because Jarrett Stidham will not run the ball. Then, a wide receiver screen that has no chance at success from the outset for a three-yard loss. Punt.

There’s nothing against Malzahn personally. He’s caring, loyal, hard-working (though a bit paranoid) and espouses values that we need much more of in our society. But is he worth what Auburn bought into?

Because of back-to-back wins over top-ranked Georgia and Alabama last season, the school over-inflated Malzahn’s market value because of the threat that Arkansas would offer him a similarly ridiculous contract.

This is where an amended Disney Song should have blasted over the Jordan-Hare PA system: “Let him go, let him go … can’t hold him here anymore … turn away and slam the door … let him go, let him go …”

 

Now, Auburn fans will enjoy a 10-win season every five years (during a year when the Georgia and Alabama are home games) but four seasons of 7-5 or 8-4 campaigns with a multitude of head-scratching decisions.

For this, Auburn made him the fifth-highest paid head coach in the country. And forget about winning another national championship.

If it’s not going to happen in a season with the Prayer at Jordan-Hare and Kick Six or in a season when Auburn beats two No. 1-ranked teams and those teams end up playing for the national championship while you sit at home watching them … then it ain’t ever going to happen.

Remember, this is the coach who brings in talent and does not make them better. Where four-and-five-star athletes don’t ever perform to that expected level or disappear entirely from the program.

This is a coach who thought it was wise to play three different quarterbacks in the same game (Clemson 2016) and brought in the “passing” quarterback to run and the “running” quarterback to pass. You know, to throw off the defense. They were probably laughing.

He cannot make midgame adjustments. If something doesn’t work, you can pretty much forget about it. The handwriting is on the wall.   

And, so it is for Auburn fans. Your wagon’s hitched to Malzahn. What you’ve seen so far is what you are going to get for the remainder of his tenure on the Plains.

 

Review last week’s “win” while it’s fresh in your mind … no running game, overmatched offensive line, defensive backs that have never been able to play the ball, pitiful execution, etc. Improvement in those areas may not even make a dent to respectability in difficult to stomach games against Georgia and Alabama.

Auburn fans, you better get used to wallowing in it because that broken record is going to go round and round for years to come.

Timing is everything. If Auburn got the result it deserved against Texas A&M, the flame would have got hotter. But know Auburn is going to continue to pay an enormous sum for smoldering mediocrity.

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The writer definitely reads AUFamily.

Basically the whole article is full of direct quotes and ideas from this forum.

The writer ain't wrong either.

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Not defending anyone,but,this goon did not make sense after his initial bashing. Huge talent gap?? AU curb stomped uat and uga last season.......

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1 hour ago, WarTim said:

Not defending anyone,but,this goon did not make sense after his initial bashing. Huge talent gap?? AU curb stomped uat and uga last season.......

Exactly. I have no sympathy for Gus because he creates his own problems. That said this team has loads of talent across the board. We may have the best WR group in the country. Our front seven on defense can go toe to toe with anyone. Our dbacks have some coverage issues but the speed and raw talent is very good. We have some safeties that pack a major blow when they hit. JS has the arm if he can just keep his rabbit feet in check and give flash. Seth and Ryan time to get open . That said I think the uga game will be close. If we can pull off a win there ( and that’s a big if) then we could ride into west JH and give the turds nightmares. A lot of ifs but I do believe this team has it in them if Gus and Chip don’t screw it up.

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That article sounds like somebody has been ease dropping on our family conversations. I recognize most of that. Are we in a quandary with no championship outcome in sight. Just run of the mill.

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Spot on. I hold out hope that the money folks see the A@M game for what it is. Does a fluke 7-5 record save a coach who would've been 6-6? Is 26 mil next year really that much different than 32 mil now? 
I'm probably just dreaming.

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I got blasted on here when i said let him go to Arkansas. Now we're stuck with him. SMH. Football offseason is already long enough. But it's going to be even longer knowing we're going to have to sit through much of the same next year. 

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13 minutes ago, WarEagle1983 said:

I got blasted on here when i said let him go to Arkansas. Now we're stuck with him. SMH. Football offseason is already long enough. But it's going to be even longer knowing we're going to have to sit through much of the same next year. 

This, the most frustrating thing about it. We’ll go into next year with a still struggling O line, no RD at WR, new QB, new offensive coaches by the look of it, as well as, more than likely losing a chunk of our DL,  Davis at LB, etc. Not a whole lot to be excited about next year

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1 minute ago, Maverick.AU said:

This, the most frustrating thing about it. We’ll go into next year with a still struggling O line, no RD at WR, new QB, new offensive coaches by the look of it, as well as, more than likely losing a chunk of our DL,  Davis at LB, etc. Not a whole lot to be excited about next year

Exactly why I've already predicted we'll likely fire him halfway through next season. Our first 5-6 games are going to be a huge challenge with all of the changes you mentioned. Playing Oregon at Jerry World...traveling to A&M, Arkansas, Florida and LSU before November. How on earth are we going to survive that? We're basically keeping him to get the buyout down because next year will be the same if not worse. 

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Why are people still pretending just because Greene said that Gus will be here next year, that he will in fact still be here?

Guess what? There’s probably not much that has changed. Greene got pressed for a quote and he obliged. There’s no reason not to believe that he can walk back his comments. 

Money talks, and if the big money people say they want Gus gone and they’re going to put a stop on their donations until he’s gone; then Gus will be gone.

Not to mention season ticket holders are probably apprehensive to renew next year. An AD is also a fund raiser, and Greene, being a brand new fund raiser for AU, would probably like to appease the people with money.

In summation: Shift the blame to Leath and ousting him in the process. Apologize for speaking preemptively. Fans and donors are happy. 

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6 hours ago, ShocksMyBrain said:

In summation: Shift the blame to Leath and ousting him in the process. Apologize for speaking preemptively. Fans and donors are happy. 

I get what you are stating here but do you realize how much turmoil that would put on the entire university? Getting rid of football coaches is one thing. When a university ousts a President, it creates a serious leadership vacuum. Not only would the President have to go but the entire infrastructure Leath has put in place would have to go as well. That's normal people with normal people jobs. Families uprooted, homeless. Serious stuff.

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There was a time when a few big donors could get together and tell the AD that it was time for a coach to go, and he would be gone.  Those days are over.  The money brought in by TV contracts and Under Armour dwarf yearly donations given outside of ticket priorities.  Yes, the AD wants their donations to keep coming, but they don't hold the sway that they once did.  As far as ticket sales, do you really think I'm giving up the seats I've had for forty years because of a few bad (but winning) seasons?  I've been through worse patches with Auburn.  Am I disappointed in our record this year? Absolutely.  Do I know all the multitude of things that contributed to it? No.  I believe I know some, but not as much as the AD and his staff.  Most of this board seems to have a favorable opinion of our new AD, so let him do his job.  All the constant complaining probably effects potential recruits more than it does anyone in the athletic department at Auburn.  

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7 minutes ago, im4aual said:

There was a time when a few big donors could get together and tell the AD that it was time for a coach to go, and he would be gone.  Those days are over.  The money brought in by TV contracts and Under Armour dwarf yearly donations given outside of ticket priorities.  Yes, the AD wants their donations to keep coming, but they don't hold the sway that they once did.  As far as ticket sales, do you really think I'm giving up the seats I've had for forty years because of a few bad (but winning) seasons?  I've been through worse patches with Auburn.  Am I disappointed in our record this year? Absolutely.  Do I know all the multitude of things that contributed to it? No.  I believe I know some, but not as much as the AD and his staff.  Most of this board seems to have a favorable opinion of our new AD, so let him do his job.  All the constant complaining probably effects potential recruits more than it does anyone in the athletic department at Auburn.  

I don't even know if complaining matters to recruits. They care about developing and being featured enough to try and go pro (the big time recruits, that is). They no more listen to what fans say or write on on the Interwebs than the coaches do. 

Your statements are dead on about how TV and sponsorship money has changed the power dynamic. And no, I don't expect anyone will give up their season tickets and don't blame you either.

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37 minutes ago, im4aual said:

There was a time when a few big donors could get together and tell the AD that it was time for a coach to go, and he would be gone.  Those days are over.  The money brought in by TV contracts and Under Armour dwarf yearly donations given outside of ticket priorities.  Yes, the AD wants their donations to keep coming, but they don't hold the sway that they once did.  As far as ticket sales, do you really think I'm giving up the seats I've had for forty years because of a few bad (but winning) seasons?  I've been through worse patches with Auburn.  Am I disappointed in our record this year? Absolutely.  Do I know all the multitude of things that contributed to it? No.  I believe I know some, but not as much as the AD and his staff.  Most of this board seems to have a favorable opinion of our new AD, so let him do his job.  All the constant complaining probably effects potential recruits more than it does anyone in the athletic department at Auburn.  

Going to disagree. The way the SEC divvies out money from the TV revenue gives almost all teams equal shares. There is an advantage going to better bowl games. Some bowl revenue goes to the SEC pot and some goes to the school. The better the bowl the better the revenue. We are going to crappy bowls mostly. How do you think Under Armours next contract will look based on what the exposure they get from AU; 11am kickoff, low ratings, etc. FNs not buying their AU gear. 

Yes fundraising and donations are important. If donations get held backed or not pledged or season tickets drop off, the revenue stream will easily be more than Gus’s annual buyout. There is also a negative economic impact to the local community with fewer people coming to AU each week. 

As I said in another thread, this is really not Green’s decision. If the board moves on this he will just deliver the news.

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Three of our post season games under Gus have been Rose Bowl for the NCgame, Sugar Bowl, and Peach Bowl.  True, we lost each of them, but not what I would call "crappy" bowl games.

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3 minutes ago, im4aual said:

Three of our post season games under Gus have been Rose Bowl for the NCgame, Sugar Bowl, and Peach Bowl.  True, we lost each of them, but not what I would call "crappy" bowl games.

☝️ Correct

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