confrontation with reality

[tbone4jc 2,252]

2 minutes ago, NoALtiger said:

The thing that gets many people ticked is the sheer $$ we are paying. It’s one thing to say he’s not bad and we could do worse, it’s another thing to pay that same person top 10 (or better) money. 

I don't think that is 100% correct. When CGM got us to the NC game in his second year I think the expectations went through the roof! I think many fans thought that would be the norm every year but with the conference we play in, the injures we've had at inopportune times and the coaching mistakes it hasn't panned out and people think CGM is a failure. I have high expectations for Auburn football (10 or more wins per season is what I would expect) but, for me, as long as these kids he coaches would got through a brick wall for him he has my support. War Eagle

[AU64 10,122]

1 minute ago, NoALtiger said:

The thing that gets many people ticked is the sheer $$ we are paying. It’s one thing to say he’s not bad and we could do worse, it’s another thing to pay that same person top 10 (or better) money. 

Like it or not he is probably a top 10 coach and is paid in the range of other guys like him.   JMO but our next coach will cost as much as Gus and come in with a good resume at some lower level school and no record of success against the top 10 opponents that AU faces just about every week.  

If you are watching the money or worried about his salary, you are not worried about the right things. JMO  Michigan should  be worried about how much Harbaugh is getting paid to beat Ohio State ...which he is yet to do.    ..and I think Gus is the only current SEC coach out of 12 who has beaten bama and Georgia. Not beating teams we should beat ….now that's worth griping about ….but expecting to dominate Uga or bama  is unrealistic IMO. 

[PoetTiger 1,901]

24 minutes ago, NoALtiger said:

The thing that gets many people ticked is the sheer $$ we are paying. It’s one thing to say he’s not bad and we could do worse, it’s another thing to pay that same person top 10 (or better) money. 

Market is driving some insane salaries...just crazy to be honest.

[DAG 34,216]

34 minutes ago, AU64 said:

That's just the point....some have wanted Petrino, Chip Kelly, Fuente,  the guy at Minnesota, Morris at Arky and the list of "hot" coaches goes on...and most landed at jobs where no matter how well they did at their previous job, they could not make the impact that the PTBs were expecting.. Picking coaches is worse than picking HS quarterbacks...JMO

 Brohm...purdue just loss to who last weekend?

[dyehardfanAU 2,117]

1 hour ago, AuCivilEng1 said:

If this is what our purgAUtory is, we are gonna be ok. Tennessee’s purgatory seems wayyyy worse.

They've reached college football hell.

[DAG 34,216]

The funny thing is I went on Volnation the other day and they were bragging about how much balls Gus has as a head coach and how he has what it takes to win lol. Perspectives is in the eye of the beholder. 

[auskip07 930]

4 minutes ago, DAG said:

The funny thing is I went on Volnation the other day and they were bragging about how much balls Gus has as a head coach and how he has what it takes to win lol. Perspectives is in the eye of the beholder. 

Compared to their last 3 coaches its true.     Not alot of Saban caliber coaches to pick from. 

[wde21 344]

2 hours ago, doverstutts said:

I just realized that AU does not have it so bad with our present HC.   We could do much better, but damn, we could do much worse.  I did not want this guy to be hired, I did not want him retained when him and Sexton took advantage of a ********* president, with no insight from an AD at the time, but after listening to UT and USCe fans today, I guess I might as well face reality and leave well enough alone.   What I have listened to today is scary, and I did not realize that every Saban assistant  but one (K. Smart) has been a disappointment as a HC.   I did a lot of message board reading today, also.   Any chance of winning a championship is slim with Malzahn, but the reality is that there are just not many quality hires that ANY school could make right now.  I guess I will just have to live with Malzahn and his goofy-assed playcalling and decision making.   It could be Pruitt,Muschamp, Strong,Taggart, etc.  Its hard to believe how Vol fans have lost all hope, and I mean every single one.  Real eye-opening day for me.  I won't ever trust Malzahn, but I will learn to live with it

This has been my argument for some time. I also get frustrated with Gus but we could have it so much worse. Tennessee being  the best example. They have not even been competitive since Fulmer left. I do like that Gus runs a clean program and wants to have players with character. And no one can deny that our players never gave up on Saturday! For all of the good things Gus has done for the program I am hoping he will somehow continue to progress as a head coach. And lastly, I love our assistant coaches! War Eagle!

[PoetTiger 1,901]

33 minutes ago, tbone4jc said:

I don't think that is 100% correct. When CGM got us to the NC game in his second year I think the expectations went through the roof! I think many fans thought that would be the norm every year but with the conference we play in, the injures we've had at inopportune times and the coaching mistakes it hasn't panned out and people think CGM is a failure. I have high expectations for Auburn football (10 or more wins per season is what I would expect) but, for me, as long as these kids he coaches would got through a brick wall for him he has my support. War Eagle

Exactly...I saw how UT players faded for Pruitt...could have been the elements or something else, anyway they seemed to to rollover when adversity hit. I know many here can’t wait til Gus leaves but one thing for sure the kids have always played there asses off for Gus, so Gus owes it to them to make sure he gives them the best chance to succeed and compete consistently for championships. 

[Tiger Refuge 6,692]

One of the CFB shows I was watching last weekend mentioned that during their last coaching search, UTk was  about to ink Mike Leach to a deal when the prez of the university  killed it because she didn’t like him. So they ended up with Pruitt. Would Leach have worked there? Who knows, but the dude seems to have done reasonably well at WSU. 

I have been off and on the “be careful what you wish for” bandwagon a bunch. It’s definitely a scary thought. 

[kennypowers 1,431]

Gus will get us a Natty before Bo leaves.  Bank on it.

[Tigerbelle 5,299]

1 hour ago, Gowebb11 said:

If Dabo and Riley played our schedule every year, what would their record be?  I’m sure they would have success, but not 12 win a year success. 

bammer doesn't play a schedule like Auburn's either.....so add the nickster to that list.

 

[IronMan70 3,315]

I agree with the sentiment about other coaches, you don't know what you're going to get. Gus runs a clean program and there are a lot of positive things going on there. After you review the results of each game over the last 6 years it's obvious that Gus needs to win those games he should win.. One lousy extra win each year that he should have never lost in the first place and he becomes a solid 9 win (minimum) coach. Gus has won some remarkable games over those years against some of the tougher opponents but he has to consistently take care of those other teams. I still think he can do that, he needs to get that done. 

[abw0004 10,153]

I’m not even that infatuated with Kirby Smart yet.  I still don’t think he has done much.  All of this players are transferring out or getting kicked out at embarrassing rates.  Worse than Richt.  I wonder if that catches up to him in recruiting.  

[Auburn2Eugene 2,317]

2 hours ago, Brannigan's Law said:

I have to agree with you. We could be in a lot worse situation. It did look like Gus reviewed his offense and added some elements from 2009 again. He also got rid of some of his bbq bunch in an attempt to upgrade his coaching staff. If he could get a decent OL coach we could be Ina good spot. 

Wut? He got rid of one position coach. Not sure how one = some. I mean sure Lindsey left as well but he had only been here 2 seasons. And it's not like he replaced either of them with well known established coaches. I love the caddy hire but it's not like he was a hot commodity within coaching circles. 

1 hour ago, BJCrawford said:

If I remember correctly, some on here wanted him(that’s not a knock on anyone. You just never know)

I did. And I would still take him in a heart beat. 

The people complaining about Chip apparently have no clue what it takes to rebuild a program. 

Chip took over a UCLA team that had been recruited for the pro style offensive set for DECADES. 

It takes a totally different skill set of player to excel in spread formations than pro style. Maybe you forget 2012 when Chizik took a team recruited for the spread for just over 5 years and tried to force them into a pro style set. We just had one of/if not the worst season in our history. What happened when we went back to the spread with 85% of the same players? We were 13 seconds short of becoming national champions again. Look at Nebraska last year... Recruited for pro style pretty much since Osborn left. They swapped to a spread coach/system and had the worst season in their history. And while Nebraska won vs USA, they didn't win by much. They may not be much better this year either. UCLA lost their week 1 game... It may be a rough year in LA this year as well. But let Frost and Kelly get their own players in their systems and they are both going to be completely different from what you see on the field these past couple of seasons. 

 

That said I am 100% behind Gus and fully support him. I'm not calling for any coaching change. Gus showed things that went against his tendencies against Oregon. If he can continue to grow as a coach and actually not be so predictable, I'd be happy to have a statue outside JHS of Ole Gus one day.

[Auburn2Eugene 2,317]

41 minutes ago, Tiger Refuge said:

Who knows, but the dude seems to have done reasonably well at WSU. 

If you describe what the mad pirate has done in Pullman Washington as "reasonably well" you are completely clueless to what was Washington State football. 

Leach took Wazzu from being what Tennessee is viewed as today to a top10ish program. 

Also though, they could of had Greg Schiano. Bet those Twitter warriors feel STUPID right now. 

[AUFriction 1,179]

I admittedly skipped most of the comments here, and am replying to the general premise of the original post. I kind of disagree. While I agree that it could be worse and personally think Gus is not as bad of a coach as some feel that he is, I think that our program should be held to the highest standard. It is insane to think that you can win a championship every year, and even Bama (at the height of their program's success) hasn't been able to to do that. However, when you are recruiting as well as we are and when you are as prestigious of a program as we are, your average wins per year should be substantially higher than 8-5. I do think you have to take situations that happen within seasons into account (e.g., Jeremy Johnson being a surprise bust to the world, the awful officiating against LSU last year that seemed to affect the team mentally, etc.). However, Gus has consistently lost a game or two every year that he shouldn't have lost. 

With Gus, I think he started out stubborn. He found a formula that worked in one or two seasons, and refused to go away from it. When he did move away from it somewhat, he took bad advice from those around him. I think those are strikes 1 and 2. While I don't completely fault him for last year, a poor record this year would be strike 3 to me. He has tried several approaches. If this one doesn't work, he will never be anything more than mediocre. With this talent, 8 or 9 games in the regular season should be a minimum (given our schedule), and he must win the bowl game.

That said, I don't completely fault him for last year (okay, the UT loss was pretty terrible, and the second half of the iron bowl was unacceptable), and I think he may have finally made the right adjustments. He should be successful this year.

If he isn't though, we need to make the right adjustment. We can't replace him with whomever we can find out of desperation for something better. We would have to have a couple of good options out there that we legitimately have a chance at hiring. If there aren't at least 3-4 probably slam dunks available (that we have a chance at), we should keep Gus. 

[Eagle-1 3,821]

20 minutes ago, Tiger Refuge said:

One of the CFB shows I was watching last weekend mentioned that during their last coaching search, UTk was  about to ink Mike Leach to a deal when the prez of the university  killed it because she didn’t like him. So they ended up with Pruitt. Would Leach have worked there? Who knows, but the dude seems to have done reasonably well at WSU. 

I have been off and on the “be careful what you wish for” bandwagon a bunch. It’s definitely a scary thought. 

Leach would have probably done well there. Tennessee is a little different animal than Auburn. Tennessee is in a state without a lot of top talent. When they have had their best success it's because they have recruited nationally, or at least regionally. They have been down so long now they are having trouble poaching talent from surrounding states. Leach would certainly attract some top skill position talent, and put them in the conversation for some good QB talent. 

 I am certainly one of those that have my issues with Gus, but actually like the man, and like the way he runs a clean program. He has recruited quite well, save for O line of late. I just wish he would admit his deficiencies, and hire someone to aid in his passing game concepts. It's long overdue, and would probably put him over the hump towards becoming more of the elite program we all desire.

[AuburnEagle79 2,171]

We are Mark Richt UGA.  8-win seasons with a few 6-win and 10-win seasons sprinkled in. We could definitely do worse though.

[Gowebb11 9,607]

5 minutes ago, AUFriction said:

If there aren't at least 3-4 probably slam dunks available (that we have a chance at), we should keep Gus. 

Unfortunately there are no slam dunks, just half court shots. 

[Gowebb11 9,607]

5 minutes ago, Eagle-1 said:

I just wish he would admit his deficiencies, and hire someone to aid in his passing game concepts. It's long overdue, and would probably put him over the hump towards becoming more of the elite program we all desire.

I’m pretty sure Dilly is capable of doing that. Gus needs to let him. 

[CR 2,448]

2 hours ago, AuCivilEng1 said:

If this is what our purgAUtory is, we are gonna be ok. Tennessee’s purgatory seems wayyyy worse.

The frustrating thing is Gus lost to the coach that has Tennessee in purgatory. It just seems like Gus always makes AU fans think he has turned the corner and then it never happens. It is amazing with salaries what they are how few sure thing HC's are out there. Demand definitely exceeds supply.

[Eagle-1 3,821]

1 minute ago, Gowebb11 said:

I’m pretty sure Dilly is capable of doing that. Gus needs to let him. 

That's the rub isn't it? Don't know if Dilly is that guy, or not, but it's much needed

[Gowebb11 9,607]

6 minutes ago, AuburnEagle79 said:

We are Mark Richt UGA.  8-win seasons with a few 6-win and 10-win seasons sprinkled in. We could definitely do worse though.

Right won 10 or more games 9 of 15 years at UGA. I would love for us to have that kind of consistency. 

[toddc 13,196]

I’m all Gus, all the time and proud of it! I’ll drive this Gus Bus any time any where. I truly believe in him as our coach and the players do too. He’s kept his teams together through some tough times and the ones who returned this year didn’t do without loving their coaches.