Leath on Malzahn

[keesler 5,924]

6 minutes ago, triangletiger said:

I don’t think Gus is in it for the money, but his agent certainly is in the business of getting the best deal for his clients.

He likes the $$, the ego, and the prestige associated with coaching a P5 SEC program in the hardest division of the strongest conference in college football. 

He wants to swing a big Johnson with the rest of 'em, only he appears impotent only one year removed from an SECCG appearance and a lucrative contract/extension/buyout.

[DAG 33,997]

Gus is not in it for the money ? Yeah right. That is about as believable as Kim  Kardashian choosing you because of your great personality.

[AU64 10,122]

9 minutes ago, triangletiger said:

I don’t think Gus is in it for the money, but his agent certainly is in the business of getting the best deal for his clients.

This…^^^^^^

Bet Gus never discussed the money or anything else much with Leath or the BOT....likely he just signed where Jimmy S told him to sign when the contract was drafted.   

The reason these guys have agents...most HCs would have no idea of their "value" or how to leverage it.   Like it or not, the coaches have much greater leverage than do the schools.

[triangletiger 1,599]

2 minutes ago, DAG said:

Gus is not in it for the money ? Yeah right. That is about as believable as Kim  Kardashian choosing you because of your great personality.

Of course the money matters, but I don’t believe that’s his primary motivation.  I do think that he does have a big ego but having a lot of money is not what strokes his ego.  He wants to be viewed as the smartest football coach who came up with this brilliant offensive system.  I think he’s going to live or die by that system.  If money were his primary motivator, he’d make the changes necessary to perpetuate keeping the money coming.   Instead, he’s like Captain Ahab in Moby Dick and is going to go down chasing his ‘great white whale’.

[DAG 33,997]

2 minutes ago, triangletiger said:

Of course the money matters, but I don’t believe that’s his primary motivation.  I do think that he does have a big ego but having a lot of money is not what strokes his ego.  He wants to be viewed as the smartest football coach who came up with this brilliant offensive system.  I think he’s going to live or die by that system.  If money were his primary motivator, he’d make the changes necessary to perpetuate keeping the money coming.   Instead, he’s like Captain Ahab in Moby Dick and is going to go down chasing his ‘great white whale’.

Not necessarily. He didn’t have to make a single change and has one of the highest contracts in college football. 

[casatiger 514]

2 hours ago, AU-24 said:

A lot of timing and circumstances. As everyone should know by now Gus had just beat, the two best teams in the country in Alabama and Georgia. Arkansas was making a play for Gus, so the administration did what they felt they had to do to keep him. The buy out is large, because Arkansas was willing to pay a lesser amount to get Gus.

Obviously, I’m sure admin is probably regretting that decision, but it is what it is. Still trying to figure out how on earth we beat the turds and thuga, then lose to Central Florida but I guess that is ancient history at this point. 

If Auburn had offered 5 years and 6 mil a year, I am not sure anyone would have had an issue.   It was the fact that it was 7 years at 7 mil with a big buyout which put this guy in the same stratosphere with Saban and Meyer.  Atmosphere in which he does not belong.  

[triangletiger 1,599]

Just now, DAG said:

Not necessarily. He didn’t have to make a single change and has one of the highest contracts in college football. 

He does, but it will not last long if he’s not successful.  I just don’t think he’s focused on the money.

[Mike4AU 1,739]

I don’t freaking care what motivates Gus.  All I want from him is to represent AU well off the field and to win games!

Any discussion beyond that is just mental gymnastics. Let Gus’s shrink talk to him about motivation. 

[DAG 33,997]

Just now, Mike4AU said:

I don’t freaking care what motivates Gus.  All I want from him is to represent AU well off the field and to win games!

Any discussion beyond that is just mental gymnastics. Let Gus’s shrink talk to him about motivation. 

I think we all want that , no?

[keesler 5,924]

21 minutes ago, triangletiger said:

Of course the money matters, but I don’t believe that’s his primary motivation.  I do think that he does have a big ego but having a lot of money is not what strokes his ego.  He wants to be viewed as the smartest football coach who came up with this brilliant offensive system.  I think he’s going to live or die by that system.  If money were his primary motivator, he’d make the changes necessary to perpetuate keeping the money coming.   Instead, he’s like Captain Ahab in Moby Dick and is going to go down chasing his ‘great white whale’.

He can sit his ass back and do nothing but watch this ship sink to the bottom of the ocean, the man is financially set for generations down the road with that contract. 

The notion that he still wants to be viewed as the smartest football coach who came up with this brilliant offensive system would hold water IF he were still running the same damn offensive system that got him where he is today.  Not only is he not viewed as smart ~ he's built a program that can't even stand on its own two legs, man up and go head to head with a middling MSU team and the worst team UT in the east division.

He's a rich man twisting in the wind, trying to coax his way to another year making comments about turning around the program next year and we'll fix the issues, and no matter who the QB is next year the offense will be better.................He is the problem here.  If he's not in it for the money then he's in it for the ego and prestige of being a P5 head coach in the mighty SEC.  What's the old saying?   Pride goes before the fall

 

[DAG 33,997]

32 minutes ago, AU64 said:

This…^^^^^^

Bet Gus never discussed the money or anything else much with Leath or the BOT....likely he just signed where Jimmy S told him to sign when the contract was drafted.   

The reason these guys have agents...most HCs would have no idea of their "value" or how to leverage it.   Like it or not, the coaches have much greater leverage than do the schools.

He just signed whatever Jimmy Sexton told him to sign? You actually believe this. Like you really believe a grown ass man is just going to sign whatever piece of paper given to him buy someone who works for him without reading over the fine print and discussing the details? 

[AU64 10,122]

15 minutes ago, DAG said:

He just signed whatever Jimmy Sexton told him to sign? You actually believe this. Like you really believe a grown ass man is just going to sign whatever piece of paper given to him buy someone who works for him without reading over the fine print and discussing the details? 

Contracts......yep...betting that Gus reads the big stuff......numbers and durations ....and then signs.   That's why you hire agents and lawyers.. If you can't trust them then hire someone else.   An agent is much more than someone that "works for you".  

Do you really closely read all the contracts you are responsible for ...mortgage, credit cards, health insurance, car loan ?     If so you are about one in a million. 

[DAG 33,997]

12 minutes ago, AU64 said:

Contracts......yep...betting that Gus reads the big stuff......numbers and durations ....and then signs.   That's why you hire agents and lawyers.. If you can't trust them then hire someone else.   An agent is much more than someone that "works for you".  

Do you really closely read all the contracts you are responsible for ...mortgage, credit cards, health insurance, car loan ?     If so you are about one in a million. 

Umm yes you should wtf? You mean the things I am freaking pay bills on? Also, I read my travel nursing contracts including the fine print. You know to make sure my employer is paying me what we agreed upon, on the basis of what I am asked to do in my profession. Are you serious right now?

You really don't read closely what type of freaking health insurance you have? If not, you should really start doing that. This is coming from a healthcare provider with prescriptive authority.

An agent is much more than someone that works for you?! No crap. That's my point. You are living under a rock if you are naive enough to think Gus didn't express his value to Sexton and sent him to make sure he finished the deal. I imagine him and Jimmy Sexton has a much more deeper relationship than just a work one. 

[AURealist 2,185]

1 hour ago, triangletiger said:

I don’t think Gus is in it for the money, but his agent certainly is in the business of getting the best deal for his clients.

Hmmmm.....  

Guster's team sucks for all reasons non-Gus and now Gus' contract is his agent's doing.  Well, the argument is at least consistent with the Gus Bus Love philosophy.  

Gus must have signed on the dotted line without reading this POS contract that is extraordinarily punitive if the PTB decide firing Gus is best for Auburn.  

Poor misunderstood Gus...

 

[AU64 10,122]

28 minutes ago, DAG said:

Umm yes you should wtf? You mean the things I am freaking pay bills on? Also, I read my travel nursing contracts including the fine print. You know to make sure my employer is paying me what we agreed upon, on the basis of what I am asked to do in my profession. Are you serious right now?

You really don't read closely what type of freaking health insurance you have? If not, you should really start doing that. This is coming from a healthcare provider with prescriptive authority.

An agent is much more than someone that works for you?! No crap. That's my point. You are living under a rock if you are naive enough to think Gus didn't express his value to Sexton and sent him to make sure he finished the deal. I imagine him and Jimmy Sexton has a much more deeper relationship than just a work one. 

Glad you read your contracts and next time you find something you don't like take it back to Blue Cross or your bank....and tell them you don't like it.....

As for Sexton....he's on commission and it's much in his interest to negotiate these kinds of contracts where he has the upper hand...which is good for him and his share of the deal and also pushes up the value of all other coaches in his stable.   It would be nice if the coaches were still negotiating their own contracts...salaries would still be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars per year and not millions.  

Because of pressure from fans to win, schools are under pressure to pay pretty much whatever their preferred coach demands...but don't let him get away.   Mostly it is up to guys like Sexton to show some restraint in the process.....considering that he could wring twice Saban's salary out of bama if he tried...or same at many other schools. 

Frankly I was OK if Gus went to arky.....just to put a halt to the griping about him on AU sites.....but we would probably still be paying a similar salary with a big buyout , and having the same record ….considering we did not have a replacement in mind anyway.....likely would have stepped back to another "Gus-type" coach with little in the way of "proven success" as a head coach and still be paying something exorbitant.   

Just saying....IMO this isn't about Gus, it is the system that AU has decided to play in .

[Tiger 8,829]

Just conjecture:

I wouldn't be surprised if Gus was over AU with all of it's pressure and halfway ready to go to Arky and $7M/year was the only thing that kept him around. I think it's clear he really values doing things his way. And all the pressure for him to get out of the way etc probably made him miserable. I could see him being ready to goto a much less stressful situation in Arkansas but AU actually agreed to his number and here we are. I really think that was his Hail Mary pricetag, as his resume does not warrant him being paid a top 5 salary, and Leath signed off on it keeping him here.

[AURandy56 148]

Do we know for an absolute fact that Arkansas was making a big push for Gus, or was this Jimmy Sexton blowing smoke up Leath's backside? Wasn't Sexton Tuberville's agent? When Tubs was Auburn's coach, it seemed like his name was always in the mix for nearly every major college football coach job that came available. I think Sexton put the old Johnson up leath and made him like it. 

[DAG 33,997]

11 minutes ago, AU64 said:

Glad you read your contracts and next time you find something you don't like take it back to Blue Cross or your bank....and tell them you don't like it.....

As for Sexton....he's on commission and it's much in his interest to negotiate these kinds of contracts where he has the upper hand...which is good for him and his share of the deal and also pushes up the value of all other coaches in his stable.   It would be nice if the coaches were still negotiating their own contracts...salaries would still be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars per year and not millions.  

Because of pressure from fans to win, schools are under pressure to pay pretty much whatever their preferred coach demands...but don't let him get away.   Mostly it is up to guys like Sexton to show some restraint in the process.....considering that he could wring twice Saban's salary out of bama if he tried...or same at many other schools. 

Frankly I was OK if Gus went to arky.....just to put a halt to the griping about him on AU sites.....but we would probably still be paying a similar salary with a big buyout , and having the same record ….considering we did not have a replacement in mind anyway.....likely would have stepped back to another "Gus-type" coach with little in the way of "proven success" as a head coach and still be paying something exorbitant.   

Just saying....IMO this isn't about Gus, it is the system that AU has decided to play in .

You first statement makes absolutely no sense.

Secondly, it isn’t up to Sexton to do anything other than get the best deal for the guying he works for. That is what he did. The issue is, you want to absolve Gus from any responsibility and put it all on Sexton. I don’t agree with that. Gus knew exactly what he wanted and what he was doing. He wanted more money and more security. I don’t blame him one bit for that.

However, I do blame him for not living up to that contract . You want that prestige contract, you need to live up to it. If you get fired after not living up to it, that is on you. It also up to Auburn to pony up and pay him since they felt he was worth that much money. We are all adults here. Let’s stop acting like these guys don’t know how to play the game behind the scenes.

[Tiger 8,829]

4 minutes ago, AURandy56 said:

Do we know for an absolute fact that Arkansas was making a big push for Gus, or was this Jimmy Sexton blowing smoke up Leath's backside? Wasn't Sexton Tuberville's agent? When Tubs was Auburn's coach, it seemed like his name was always in the mix for nearly every major college football coach job that came available. I think Sexton put the old Johnson up leath and made him like it. 

Me reading your last sentence:

 

[DAG 33,997]

13 minutes ago, AURandy56 said:

Do we know for an absolute fact that Arkansas was making a big push for Gus, or was this Jimmy Sexton blowing smoke up Leath's backside? Wasn't Sexton Tuberville's agent? When Tubs was Auburn's coach, it seemed like his name was always in the mix for nearly every major college football coach job that came available. I think Sexton put the old Johnson up leath and made him like it. 

You can’t know anything for an absolute fact when it comes from behind the scenes. There is no absolute fact that Rhett Lashlee got pushed out of Auburn. All that was reported is that he left for another opportunity. But we have insiders and we have common sense. Put two and two together.

If you frequent the Arkansas board during this time , their insiders definitely said an substantial offer was put out to Gus. One of their most trusted insiders , Mike Erwin, was reporting it himself and he normally doesn’t put things out in public without some serious movement. So take it for what is worth. I tend to believe it had to have some movement, otherwise, I find it hard to believe that Gus and his team could leverage something like that on such short notice.

[im4aual 488]

I'm amused at all the people who "know" what happened in all the hiring, firing, scandals, and contract negotiations in the athletic department.  On a very few occasions, I have been asked to attend meetings in the athletic department where issues discussed on this forum were the topic.  I later read here what "happened" at a couple of those meetings, and those accounts were not accurate in any way.  I am not a big insider, and I have no idea about the details of these contract negotiations, but it has been my observation that in most cases "those who know don't talk and those who talk don't know".  

[triangletiger 1,599]

57 minutes ago, AURealist said:

Hmmmm.....  

Guster's team sucks for all reasons non-Gus and now Gus' contract is his agent's doing.  Well, the argument is at least consistent with the Gus Bus Love philosophy.  

Gus must have signed on the dotted line without reading this POS contract that is extraordinarily punitive if the PTB decide firing Gus is best for Auburn.  

Poor misunderstood Gus...

 

I’m no Gus apologist, and I’m certainly not blaming Sexton for doing what Gus pays him to do.  If anyone is to blame in this, it’s the Auburn folks who signed off on this deal considering Gus’ inconsistent tenure st Auburn.  I still don’t think that making money is Gus’ primary motivation.  I think the contract was more important to him in his position as head coach because his perceived lack of job security was being used against him in recruiting than the dollar amounts involved.

[AU64 10,122]

3 minutes ago, DAG said:

You can’t know anything for an absolute fact when it comes from behind the scenes. There is no absolute fact that Rhett Lashlee got pushed out of Auburn. All that was reported is that he left for another opportunity. But we have insiders and we have common sense. Put two and two together.

If you frequent the Arkansas board during this time , their insiders definitely said an substantial offer was put out to Gus. One of their most trusted insiders , Mike Erwin, was reporting it himself and he normally doesn’t put things out in public without some serious movement. So take it for what is worth. I tend to believe it had to have some movement, otherwise, I find it hard to believe that Gus and his team could leverage something like that on such short notice.

agree....Sexton was likely out shopping Gus around after those wins over #1 teams...which upped the ante.....strike while the iron is hot.

As for fulfilling his contract, expect the big issues of the contract were the money, the term and the "don't get into trouble with NCAA" ….so what part of contract has he not lived up to?     AU is the one that appears not willing to live up to the contract ...or at least some AU fans who seem eager to shaft him to save the buyout. 

As you noted...AU willingly made the deal...and never heard of a deal with a coach that came with a "performance guarantee". AU not the first school with a buyout that is making it choke...Louisville and UNC both struggling with that issue right now. ...happens all the time and some of those schools got far less for their money than AU has thus far. As for Gus....if he's turned loose....I'm fine with that..... I never get attached to an athletic coach so that stuff does not bother me..as long as we are fair about it though I do object to an emotionally based change when it does not seem to have a plan or direction. ...and "winning more ball games" is not my idea of plan.JMO  

[AURealist 2,185]

2 hours ago, triangletiger said:

Of course the money matters, but I don’t believe that’s his primary motivation.  I do think that he does have a big ego but having a lot of money is not what strokes his ego.  He wants to be viewed as the smartest football coach who came up with this brilliant offensive system.  I think he’s going to live or die by that system.  If money were his primary motivator, he’d make the changes necessary to perpetuate keeping the money coming.   Instead, he’s like Captain Ahab in Moby Dick and is going to go down chasing his ‘great white whale’.

Were Gus laser-focused on keeping his reputation as a genius, money would have been practically irrelevant and he'd have stayed on at Auburn for a lot less.  

[Eagle Eye 7 2,535]

19 hours ago, ChltteTiger said:

So when questioned by B. Marcello about Malzahn's status Leath basically deferred to the comments Greene had made a week or so ago in support of another year. Also said he wants Gus back next year.

Sounds to me like he just does not want to take any more blame for the bad contract. The blame would get much louder if Gus were fired

Also I think Marcello should have asked Leath about the ridiculous contract but nothing I read suggests he did. 

No it sounded like me he was saying he hired AG to make decisions like that and he is backing what AG said. Sounds to me he is trying to divert the blame away from him making the contract last year to blaming AG if things go south. Anyone else pick that up ?