Marshall Column: A Matter of Leadership

[aubiefifty 16,791]

POSTED ON NOVEMBER 22, 2018 BY ADMIN

Marshall Column: A Matter of Leadership at Auburn


It was interesting to see Steven Leath sitting by the Auburn bench at the Maui Invitational. Who could blame Leath for being 4,000 miles away from Auburn so he could be in Hawaii and get away from the turbulence that surrounds the football program? A nice escape for the Auburn president, indeed.

In case he needed it, Leath received an up-close view of the impact that a coach can make on his program. As much as anything, the force of Bruce Pearl’s personality and will – his energy and public-relations skills – have put Auburn basketball in a place it has rarely been, if ever.

Auburn playing Duke in Hawaii, in a matchup of Top Ten teams, is almost as unfathomable as Thanksgiving without turkey. And yet, it happened. And Auburn was competitive, showing that it belonged among the nation’s elite.

When Leath returns to Auburn, he will have to deal again with the Auburn football situation. It will not be a pleasant decision. There appear to be no good choices in the continuing saga of head football coach Gus Malzahn.

In recent weeks, Leath and Athletic Director Allen Greene have said Malzahn will remain Auburn’s head football coach, indicating that the long season of uncertainty is over. It’s not, according to those who are close to the program.

Powerful Auburn people are still seeking a change. Their desire to fire Malzahn will likely increase after Saturday’s game at Alabama. The Auburn offense, led by Malzahn, looks overmatched against Alabama’s defense, almost hopelessly so.

I’m sure Malzahn is selling his vision to his superiors. His plan likely includes a future with former Ole Miss head coach Hugh Freeze as his new offensive coordinator and perhaps former Clemson quarterback Kelly Bryant as his new quarterback. It is a good plan, to be sure, one that could lead Auburn out of its current offensive malaise.

The problem is, Malzahn can present all the plans he wants to, but there is little reason to believe that he’ll remove himself from Auburn’s offensive strategies. There is, in fact, every reason to believe that he’ll continue to meddle, even with Freeze supposedly in charge of the offense. That is who Malzahn has shown himself to be.

Leath and Greene were not around to witness Rhett Lashlee, then the offensive coordinator, take over the play-calling duties early in the 2016 season, a move that led to six straight victories and an increase in offensive production. Then, suddenly, everything appeared to change.

Last season, there was a similar story, with offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey taking command after the loss at LSU. The result was another rise in productivity, including victories over Georgia and Alabama. Then, suddenly, another inexplicable downturn.

This season has been more of the same. Word is, the Alabama game will be Lindsey’s final game as offensive coordinator. Perhaps the most poorly kept secret in Auburn is that Lindsey has had enough of Malzahn’s vacillations and micromanagement. Who can blame him?

So now, with Malzahn obviously in full command again, he will lead Auburn’s offense into Tuscaloosa, ready to show that he is still the offensive genius that everyone said he was five years ago. Meanwhile, the future of Auburn football looms over Leath: Does he continue to show confidence in Malzahn or admit he made a colossal mistake when he gave Malzahn a new contract last year?

Leath received an up-close view of what true leadership looked like in Hawaii. In Pearl, he saw a coach who led his team with unbridled enthusiasm, with an energy that his players feed off of and spreads to every aspect of his program. It’s hard to ignore that model, an example that has brought Auburn basketball to a point almost no one imagined.

Auburn football has resources and a commitment that Auburn basketball has never had, yet the basketball program is ascending to almost unprecedented levels while the football program is beset by more frustrations.

The reasons for both outcomes appear obvious. No one should need an explanation, especially Leath.

He, of all people, saw it only few feet away in Hawaii.

 

sad days at Auburn.
 

[DAG 33,982]

PM been going all out lately

[aubiefifty 16,791]

does it bother anyone else that chips will be made to look like the bad guy here? how did we get to the place where those at fault get to blame others for their own screw ups?i hate that someones career could be damaged or ruined because they have to fall on their sword for someone else's mistakes. i just hope that chip is judged fairly by others when this thing is said and done...............

[DAG 33,982]

Just now, aubiefifty said:

does it bother anyone else that chips will be made to look like the bad guy here? how did we get to the place where those at fault get to blame others for their own screw ups?i hate that someones career could be damaged or ruined because they have to fall on their sword for someone else's mistakes. i just hope that chip is judged fairly by others when this thing is said and done...............

It should bother everyone . CCL was set up to fail from the beginning.

[aubiefifty 16,791]

3 minutes ago, DAG said:

PM been going all out lately

to be fair someone on the site i copied this from said it was a mike marshall and not pam. i have no idea i just report the news and i try to be fair.........

[aubiefifty 16,791]

Just now, DAG said:

It should bother everyone . CCL was set up to fail from the beginning.

i will always love chip because i have read he engineered the wins against the two number ones last year before we tanked.........

[AUsince72 11,084]

9 minutes ago, aubiefifty said:

does it bother anyone else that chips will be made to look like the bad guy here? how did we get to the place where those at fault get to blame others for their own screw ups?i hate that someones career could be damaged or ruined because they have to fall on their sword for someone else's mistakes. i just hope that chip is judged fairly by others when this thing is said and done...............

I believe intelligent fans & observers know the score.

CCL will re-emerge somewhere else & rebuild his rep.  He will kick Gus' dust off his shoes and be fine.

I fear instead of letting go of Gus, he will hire Freeze & there will be in fighting next year and it'll only be even more embarrassing.  Bottom line is they need to scrap the 75% pass plays 5 yds or less (I HATE THE WR BUBBLE SCREEN!!!!!), they need to realize that the ball can be run outside the tackle box and they need to realize that passes can be thrown 10-20 yds down field (between the hashmarks).  

Until Gus allows that, it'll be more of the same.

[oracle79 3,569]

35 minutes ago, AUsince72 said:

I believe intelligent fans & observers know the score.

 

There's a joke coaches tell about this very thing, so of course it's obvious to the fans.  Here's the short version.

Old coach leaving the school tells the new coach coming in that he left him 3 envelopes in his desk, and anytime he has a bad season open the first envelope. Things go well but after a few years he has a bad season, so he opens the first envelope and the note inside says, fire and replace your defensive coordinator. He does and things are good for a few years until the next bad season, so he opens the second envelope and the note inside says, fire and replace your offensive coordinator.  He does and again it's good for a few years and then another bad season.  So, he opens the third envelope and the note inside says, "Prepare three envelopes..."

[auburnphan 6,050]

We can all hope in 48 hours the right decision is made, but this is Auburn and those decisions tend to get lost by those who can make it happen.

[Win4AU 4,052]

I don’t agree with saying Gus took over the offense after the Georgia and Bama game last year.  The same offense we ran in those games was the same offense Auburn ran against UGA and UCF to end the season.  The obvious difference was Kerryon’s health.  You can blame Gus for not having an adequate backup but not the play calling.

[AUsince72 11,084]

12 minutes ago, Win4AU said:

I don’t agree with saying Gus took over the offense after the Georgia and Bama game last year.  The same offense we ran in those games was the same offense Auburn ran against UGA and UCF to end the season.  The obvious difference was Kerryon’s health.  You can blame Gus for not having an adequate backup but not the play calling.

Here was the issue, IMO.  It's not that Gus, all of a sudden, called plays in those games.  It's that the Offensive staff is not allowed to game plan without Gus' signature all over it.

However, he and his agent were more concerned with playing Contract Chicken with the administration than preparing for THE SEC CHAMPIONSHIP so not only did they run out a one-armed KJ instead of preparing the back-up to be ready but they ran out a VERY familiar, and tired, game plan.... basically the same thing we've seen most of THIS season.

Gus failed.  ...and he's continued to fail in 2018.  And if he insists on being the primary voice in their game plans next year, regardless of if the OC is Freeze or Kodi, it'll be mostly more of the same next year.  Gus does not evolve or adapt....he merely tweaks.  Tweaks are not enough.  Defenses adjust to tweaks.  2nd half of games are case in point.

[lost 452]

I just don't believe it all lies on Gus.  Don't get me wrong, i wanted him gone when he got the extension and pay raise, although i could not provide you with who we could get really.   Not with him winning the west and beating two #1's and then getting fired.  Who would want to follow that, regardless .  We know the mess in between and the questions and frustrations but everyone else just sees the end result.    My problem lies in how do you align Gus in your sights without bringing down the program also?  So many now are so incensed with Gus they are forgetting about the 85 we call AUBURN

[Gowebb11 9,321]

2 hours ago, DAG said:

It should bother everyone . CCL was set up to fail from the beginning.

The irony of the situation to me, is that Gus reportedly left Arky after his first year because Nutt kept tinkering with his offense. What goes around comes around I guess. I do believe CCL is a sharp young coach and will make some noise in the coaching ranks in the future. 

[AU-24 3,092]

2 hours ago, aubiefifty said:

does it bother anyone else that chips will be made to look like the bad guy here? how did we get to the place where those at fault get to blame others for their own screw ups?i hate that someones career could be damaged or ruined because they have to fall on their sword for someone else's mistakes. i just hope that chip is judged fairly by others when this thing is said and done...............

I can’t say for sure, but I just find it very hard to believe that all the good play calls, and the good games on offense are because of Lashley and Chip. All of the poor games on O, are all the fault of Gus. I mean, does that sound just a little hard to believe?

I’m not defending Gus on what we’ve seen on the field this year, and I will also say some changes have to be made. This all just doesn’t make sense to me. So Chip is responsible for the wins over Georgia and Alabama last year, then in the SEC championship game Gus takes over the playcalling, so the loss is his fault?

So you are Gus an offensive guy, and head coach. Your O coordinators are calling great plays, and running a great show on offense, then you decide to step in, to make everything go to crap, then step out and everything is fine again, then again step back in and it goes to crap again?  Now in all honesty, does that make sense?

[DAG 33,982]

12 minutes ago, Gowebb11 said:

The irony of the situation to me, is that Gus reportedly left Arky after his first year because Nutt kept tinkering with his offense. What goes around comes around I guess. I do believe CCL is a sharp young coach and will make some noise in the coaching ranks in the future. 

Just shows you the type of person he truly is tbh. Him and Lashlee had less than an amicable split. I imagine there will be no love loss between him and chip as well.

[cctiger 571]

1 hour ago, lost said:

My problem lies in how do you align Gus in your sights without bringing down the program also? 

Bringing down the program! You do see where it is at now. Lack of recruiting OL, RB, lack of developing a QB, play-calling from the BOOK OF GUS! Chip cannot make Gus run his O! Dadgum, how much lower must the program fall outside of 8-4, 7-5, bowl game losses, poor play calling, the list could go on. Plus Gus is still the HC, Head-honcho, talking head in charge. Next year Freeze+Bryant is not going pull the program from the depths that it is in now, not as long as Gus is still the man with the title of HC! IMHO.

[ToraGirl 5,498]

Love the article. We've spent part of Thanksgiving week in the Bluegrass, enjoying memories of our seminary years. I tell you, it was SURREAL in our Big Blue/KY- themed AirBnB, watching AU basket-battle Duke in Maui, passionately and respectably! They gave them a run! Bruce Pearls don't grow on trees, but the kind of passion he exudes and inspires in both players, fans, and casual-but-curiously-convertable-wannabe net fans like me...THAT diehard enthusiastic energy...is a lot of what's missing in AU football...top-down, once again. Bruce evidently loves his people; Gus seems to love his plan. HUGE, huge difference. 

[Squidward2016 51]

I'm not saying gus doesn't have problems. But we need to start being correct on what they actually are.

Remember we beat a top 15 team for the season opener- this shows he has gotten better at preparing his team before the season rather than in October. Not perfect yet, but a clear improvement in this facet.

LSU was a stolen fluke. We all know that without literally a single one of those phantom PI calls (or Jarrett's pick) we win the game and go into MSST undefeated and probably #5 or 6 in the country. 

MSST was a poor showing, but while a lot of things could be improved, the absolute biggest was this: 3 WIDE open deep receivers (sounds like good play calling and design to me) that our QB missed. A fumbled punt return. A fumbled touchdown by boobie. That on top of nick tearing through our defense. And had we beaten LSU, I bet our execution/fire would have been higher, but that's besides the point. Absolutely not on playcalling. 

Tennessee: Jarrett stidham throws 2 completely ridiculous interceptions that are on no one but him (yes the OL hurt him, but he had time to throw away and tried to force throws instead). Then he fumbles for a scoop and score- that fumble was understandable, but the picks were not. Our game plan that game was great and we had consistent throws downfield and utilization of our freshman talent. Our OL and QB lost us this game. 

So far, I challenge an intellectual argument for why any of these losses are on play calling, "meddling with chip", or any of the other recycled arguments we use against gus after every loss. No doubt he is at fault for the overall performance of the team as HC. But we are not here simply to assign blame, we're here to decide whether he is the man to fix it. 

Throughout gus's tenure he's had a lot of different mistakes. 2014 his defense collapsed so he hired the best DC in the game. Good on him. 

2015 his star QB was a bust, he put in the freshman backup, and we actually improved significantly throughout the season before Sean got injured before UGA and it all went to crap again. 

2016 same story. Started rolling and looked nearly elite before Sean, pettway, and Chandler all got injured before UGA and we had to play guess who, JJ andJF3 again. Without the injuries these two years we bead uga both times for sure and have a shot to beat Bama in 2016. 

This year's problems have a very clear underlying trend :  Inexperienced OL play and underwhelming QB play. 

I get this sounds like constant excuses for gus. But these are legitimate reasons mostly outside his control that screwed us. His depth at certain offensive positions has been his most consistent problem, and that really seems like something that's fixable for a young coach.

[ToraGirl 5,498]

Fixable for a young, TEACHABLE coach. No amount of anything added nor subtracted will work if the "T" word is missing. The "fruit salad" inspection for six years does not seem to indicate that the T is on the ingredient list.

[DAG 33,982]

26 minutes ago, Squidward2016 said:

I'm not saying gus doesn't have problems. But we need to start being correct on what they actually are.

Remember we beat a top 15 team for the season opener- this shows he has gotten better at preparing his team before the season rather than in October. Not perfect yet, but a clear improvement in this facet.

LSU was a stolen fluke. We all know that without literally a single one of those phantom PI calls (or Jarrett's pick) we win the game and go into MSST undefeated and probably #5 or 6 in the country. 

MSST was a poor showing, but while a lot of things could be improved, the absolute biggest was this: 3 WIDE open deep receivers (sounds like good play calling and design to me) that our QB missed. A fumbled punt return. A fumbled touchdown by boobie. That on top of nick tearing through our defense. And had we beaten LSU, I bet our execution/fire would have been higher, but that's besides the point. Absolutely not on playcalling. 

Tennessee: Jarrett stidham throws 2 completely ridiculous interceptions that are on no one but him (yes the OL hurt him, but he had time to throw away and tried to force throws instead). Then he fumbles for a scoop and score- that fumble was understandable, but the picks were not. Our game plan that game was great and we had consistent throws downfield and utilization of our freshman talent. Our OL and QB lost us this game. 

So far, I challenge an intellectual argument for why any of these losses are on play calling, "meddling with chip", or any of the other recycled arguments we use against gus after every loss. No doubt he is at fault for the overall performance of the team as HC. But we are not here simply to assign blame, we're here to decide whether he is the man to fix it. 

Throughout gus's tenure he's had a lot of different mistakes. 2014 his defense collapsed so he hired the best DC in the game. Good on him. 

2015 his star QB was a bust, he put in the freshman backup, and we actually improved significantly throughout the season before Sean got injured before UGA and it all went to crap again. 

2016 same story. Started rolling and looked nearly elite before Sean, pettway, and Chandler all got injured before UGA and we had to play guess who, JJ andJF3 again. Without the injuries these two years we bead uga both times for sure and have a shot to beat Bama in 2016. 

This year's problems have a very clear underlying trend :  Inexperienced OL play and underwhelming QB play. 

I get this sounds like constant excuses for gus. But these are legitimate reasons mostly outside his control that screwed us. His depth at certain offensive positions has been his most consistent problem, and that really seems like something that's fixable for a young coach.

We aren’t here to assign blame? Well he is ultimate the HC, so the blame falls all on him. I mean how are any of the things you say out of the HC control? It is his job to make sure we have necessary depth. It is his job to make sure both sides of the ball are prepared to play , whether it is by employing the right person to lead such causes or taking over his expertise side himself. It is his job to make sure that he gets the right type of guys for his team and to get them to play up to there potential.

 

It is year six and we are asking if he is the right guy to fix this? In year six? I think you have your answer. No reason this team should’ve ever loss to Tennessee at home. If the players you have out there aren’t performing to their abilities then you need to make the appropriate adjustment.

[aubaseball 2,609]

44 minutes ago, Squidward2016 said:

I'm not saying gus doesn't have problems. But we need to start being correct on what they actually are.

Remember we beat a top 15 team for the season opener- this shows he has gotten better at preparing his team before the season rather than in October. Not perfect yet, but a clear improvement in this facet.

LSU was a stolen fluke. We all know that without literally a single one of those phantom PI calls (or Jarrett's pick) we win the game and go into MSST undefeated and probably #5 or 6 in the country. 

MSST was a poor showing, but while a lot of things could be improved, the absolute biggest was this: 3 WIDE open deep receivers (sounds like good play calling and design to me) that our QB missed. A fumbled punt return. A fumbled touchdown by boobie. That on top of nick tearing through our defense. And had we beaten LSU, I bet our execution/fire would have been higher, but that's besides the point. Absolutely not on playcalling. 

Tennessee: Jarrett stidham throws 2 completely ridiculous interceptions that are on no one but him (yes the OL hurt him, but he had time to throw away and tried to force throws instead). Then he fumbles for a scoop and score- that fumble was understandable, but the picks were not. Our game plan that game was great and we had consistent throws downfield and utilization of our freshman talent. Our OL and QB lost us this game. 

So far, I challenge an intellectual argument for why any of these losses are on play calling, "meddling with chip", or any of the other recycled arguments we use against gus after every loss. No doubt he is at fault for the overall performance of the team as HC. But we are not here simply to assign blame, we're here to decide whether he is the man to fix it. 

Throughout gus's tenure he's had a lot of different mistakes. 2014 his defense collapsed so he hired the best DC in the game. Good on him. 

2015 his star QB was a bust, he put in the freshman backup, and we actually improved significantly throughout the season before Sean got injured before UGA and it all went to crap again. 

2016 same story. Started rolling and looked nearly elite before Sean, pettway, and Chandler all got injured before UGA and we had to play guess who, JJ andJF3 again. Without the injuries these two years we bead uga both times for sure and have a shot to beat Bama in 2016. 

This year's problems have a very clear underlying trend :  Inexperienced OL play and underwhelming QB play. 

I get this sounds like constant excuses for gus. But these are legitimate reasons mostly outside his control that screwed us. His depth at certain offensive positions has been his most consistent problem, and that really seems like something that's fixable for a young coach.

Finally someone that’s actually watched the games and has no axe to grind

[Squidward2016 51]

16 minutes ago, DAG said:

We aren’t here to assign blame? Well he is ultimate the HC, so the blame falls all on him. I mean how are any of the things you say out of the HC control? It is his job to make sure we have necessary depth. It is his job to make sure both sides of the ball are prepared to play , whether it is by employing the right person to lead such causes or taking over his expertise side himself. It is his job to make sure that he gets the right type of guys for his team and to get them to play up to there potential.

 

It is year six and we are asking if he is the right guy to fix this? In year six? I think you have your answer. No reason this team should’ve ever loss to Tennessee at home. If the players you have out there aren’t performing to their abilities then you need to make the appropriate adjustment.

"We're not here to SIMPLY assign blame."

We have to assign blame to find a solution. I'm trying to actually understand the causes of our problems and the potential solutions instead of the easy way of looking at the end record and saying it's not good enough. I very clearly said all of the problems I mentioned were his fault, such as depth and development. Your response comes across as either disingenuous or as not having read my whole point. If you'd like to respond to any of the actual points I made or point out something I missed I'd be happy to discuss 

[auburnphan 6,050]

how many more years do you make excuses, instead of coming to the conclusion that the majority of  the base have come to?

How has the program evolved over the last 5 years?

Is it heading in the right direction?

Can it?

Are we getting passed up or being the innovator?

Again most of us can evaluate 5 years and come to a decision, a small part disagrees and that is fine.  Apparently a few need more time.

 

[lost 452]

2 hours ago, cctiger said:

Bringing down the program! You do see where it is at now. Lack of recruiting OL, RB, lack of developing a QB, play-calling from the BOOK OF GUS! Chip cannot make Gus run his O! Dadgum, how much lower must the program fall outside of 8-4, 7-5, bowl game losses, poor play calling, the list could go on. Plus Gus is still the HC, Head-honcho, talking head in charge. Next year Freeze+Bryant is not going pull the program from the depths that it is in now, not as long as Gus is still the man with the title of HC! IMHO.

You still do not get it.  I am talking about the players.  I did not say Gus did not need replacing.  I said how do you do this and keep a level head and not be so negative it reflects on the players.  I see guys hoping AUBURN LOSES...So Gus will be gone...  I frown on that...  I see GUYS HOPING GUS FAILS ( AUBURN FAILS) so he will be gone...  That is what i am referring to---  Shoot Gus all you want, but while taking aim don't forget the program (the kids) I hope we stomp Bama, win the bowl game and Gus succeeds ...  WHY?  Because HE IS THE COACH AT AUBURN

[Swamp Eagle 5,137]

My thing is this; Gus should either

1) Not have an OC and run his offense, or

2) Hire a good OC and get the hell out of his way. 

Either choice I believe would be successful, but not this meshed arrangement we have now.