Au/Malzahn Relationship

[CleCoTiger 1,957]

In 2003 Nebraska fired Frank Solich for going 9-3.  How have things been for Nebraska in the 16 years since?

Malzahn has the misfortune of sharing the state with Nick Saban, Alabama and the REC.

Be careful what you ask for. You just might get it.

[Win4AU 4,055]

Wouldn’t surprise me to see Arkansas make another run at him if they fire Morris.  

[AUsome Jete 12]

1 hour ago, AUDevil said:

Sweet.  I live in midtown near Betton Place.  Lived here In TLH since I was born, except for my 5 years at AU in the late 90’s.  Do you get involve in the TLH Auburn club?

I'm in Tallahassee too!  Live in Bradfordville area and have done a few events with the TLH Auburn Club.  I also agree that the culture here and Gus would not mix very well.

[Brad_ATX 13,654]

37 minutes ago, CleCoTiger said:

In 2003 Nebraska fired Frank Solich for going 9-3.  How have things been for Nebraska in the 16 years since?

Malzahn has the misfortune of sharing the state with Nick Saban, Alabama and the REC.

Be careful what you ask for. You just might get it.

Nebraska doesn't have the built in recruiting advantages we have either when it relates to talent near the campus.  Big, big difference.

[Tiger 8,833]

The goal is to be a consistent 10 win/season program and have something to play for come November each year.

We know we aren't getting that with Gus moving forward. We've seen who he is and who he plans to be.

We can't sit idle because we may become UT. We are an exponentially better job than UT or Nebraska. You can be a bad HC (Bowden, Chizik) and still have incredible success here. We won't just become the Vols.

And guess what? If we make another ho-hum hire and he doesn't produce, just like our current HC is already doing, he will be shown the door too and we will have another chance to get somebody great. But people acting scared of making a change because we might make a bad hire and not reach our goals seems off to me because we already aren't reaching our goals.

Plus, Allen Greene has done a bang up job of everything so far. Him making the hire won't be the same as Jay Jacobs making the same "in the family" type of hire

[Beaker 2,457]

43 minutes ago, Win4AU said:

Wouldn’t surprise me to see Arkansas make another run at him if they fire Morris.  

Good gosh almighty,  him going to Arky or UK would be tremendous.

Give Steele the option as HC or hire Venables.  I trust either can pick an OC and keep our current D staff together.  

 

[BJCrawford 1,568]

1 hour ago, Timbeaux38 said:

Please elaborate on this. I must be out of the loop on this one.

Yeah I’d like to hear the answer here too. First time I’ve heard this.

[fredst 9,064]

2 hours ago, CleCoTiger said:

In 2003 Nebraska fired Frank Solich for going 9-3.  How have things been for Nebraska in the 16 years since?

Malzahn has the misfortune of sharing the state with Nick Saban, Alabama and the REC.

Be careful what you ask for. You just might get it.

You are so right. In 2012 I wished for mediocrity. Now that we’ve had that for 5 years or so I’m kinda ready to try something else.

[Tigerpro2a 5,650]

I don't think Auburn has any inclination of "being Alabama". What most Auburn fans want is to put a product on the field each year that we can be proud of. Every team loses a game here and there they shouldn't for the most part. These analysts stating that Auburn fans are crazy for wanting Gus gone do not seem to comprehend the bigger picture. I am not naive to us being 7-2 and ranked in the top 15 in Nov. I also vividly remember most of us saying we expected to have a worse record at this point than we do and that what matters is how we win/lose. Then they bring up the fact that we have lost on the road to UF and LSU and it was close in both games. Well that may be true, but I honestly expected LSU to put up 30+ points on us. I expected the Defense to not be able to keep them out of the endzone. I thought the Offense would keep us in it. I mean Vandy put 38 up right...I honestly expected that. When our D held them to 23 points....I would have bet with that performance on D...no way we don't win. 

The other thing is I don't think these analysts and writers seem to grasp is the recruiting part. Yes GM has been a good recruiter in terms of rankings, but when it comes to QB and moreso the OLine....that's the difference in us being 7-2 and 9-0 right now. Had we been recruiting decent OLs the past 4 years we would have a half way decent OL. Same with QB's . 

Final thought, it has taken him 7 years to finally show some improvement in his coaching ability. I will give him credit for that, but 7 years....come on. The part that I hate though and why I honestly feel it's tme to go, is as long as he is our coach.....when we lose to anybody on the road....or we lose to the big 3 (which we will do often as history shows with HCGM) that will be the excuse. We played a good team on the road. Never ......Never on him and his offensive woes. Just we played good down to the final minute.....along with we didn;t execute. I do not hear the accountability in his voice that we should be hearing therefor that tells me he thinks this is acceptable......which means NOTHING CHANGES! 

I will continue to support this team and I hope we win out...I just cannot put my faith, hope, and trust into Gus Malzahn any longer. Too many scars. I hope he proves me wrong and wins out and wins every game moving forward next year and becomes a legend....I still don't think I would trust him.

WAR DAMN EAGLE

[nixtosanders94 2,180]

5 minutes ago, Tiger said:

The goal is to be a consistent 10 win/season program and have something to play for come November each year.

We know we aren't getting that with Gus moving forward. We've seen who he is and who he plans to be.

We can't sit idle because we may become UT. We are an exponentially better job than UT or Nebraska. You can be a bad HC (Bowden, Chizik) and still have incredible success here. We won't just become the Vols.

And guess what? If we make another ho-hum hire and he doesn't produce, just like our current HC is already doing, he will be shown the door too and we will have another chance to get somebody great. But people acting scared of making a change because we make a bad hire and not reach our goals seems off to me because we already aren't reaching our goals.

Devil’s advocate...

Gus does recruit well. 

Gus does keep us winning more than losing and in a bowl game. 

He has shown flashes of being able to compete with the big boys...’13 and ‘17 and close losses elsewhere including two this year.

Odds are that Gus will catch lightning in a bottle in the next 3-4 seasons and win another SECC or more. 

As long as Gus keeps the faith of the players, he will probably avoid the kind of bottom out season Chiz, Tubs and Bowden had. 

........If Auburn makes a move on a coach with a winning record, do they finally go all in on a smash hire? Or are they forced to hire another iffy up and comer?  Because as much as I don’t like the “well the grass ain’t always greener” argument, you do have to admit that if what Gus is doing isn’t enough then the new coach would basically have a win 10 more often than not type mandate.  And if thats so, then he would have to break a pretty long tradition of Auburn being an 8-9 win team more often than not.  

All that said, I haven’t changed my mind on Gus.  I think the relationship has indeed become toxic and both Auburn and Gus need a breath of fresh air.  Auburn needs an infusion of excitement and enthusiasm while Gus needs a step back from the hot seat.  In the spirit of trying to be more understanding of the other side, this was me playing devil’s advocate for why a change might not necessarily accomplish what we want to.  

[AuburnEagle79 2,171]

Don't underestimate the fact that Gus would leave on his own. There is a lot going on behind the scenes, and if he has any pride, he may get ahead of this thing. Pending wins over UGA and UAT, he's fired. 

[nixtosanders94 2,180]

4 minutes ago, Tigerpro2a said:

I don't think Auburn has any inclination of "being Alabama". What most Auburn fans want is to put a product on the field each year that we can be proud of. Every team loses a game here and there they shouldn't for the most part. These analysts stating that Auburn fans are crazy for wanting Gus gone do not seem to comprehend the bigger picture. I am not naive to us being 7-2 and ranked in the top 15 in Nov. I also vividly remember most of us saying we expected to have a worse record at this point than we do and that what matters is how we win/lose. Then they bring up the fact that we have lost on the road to UF and LSU and it was close in both games. Well that may be true, but I honestly expected LSU to put up 30+ points on us. I expected the Defense to not be able to keep them out of the endzone. I thought the Offense would keep us in it. I mean Vandy put 38 up right...I honestly expected that. When our D held them to 23 points....I would have bet with that performance on D...no way we don't win. 

The other thing is I don't think these analysts and writers seem to grasp is the recruiting part. Yes GM has been a good recruiter in terms of rankings, but when it comes to QB and moreso the OLine....that's the difference in us being 7-2 and 9-0 right now. Had we been recruiting decent OLs the past 4 years we would have a half way decent OL. Same with QB's . 

Final thought, it has taken him 7 years to finally show some improvement in his coaching ability. I will give him credit for that, but 7 years....come on. The part that I hate though and why I honestly feel it's tme to go, is as long as he is our coach.....when we lose to anybody on the road....or we lose to the big 3 (which we will do often as history shows with HCGM) that will be the excuse. We played a good team on the road. Never ......Never on him and his offensive woes. Just we played good down to the final minute.....along with we didn;t execute. I do not hear the accountability in his voice that we should be hearing therefor that tells me he thinks this is acceptable......which means NOTHING CHANGES! 

I will continue to support this team and I hope we win out...I just cannot put my faith, hope, and trust into Gus Malzahn any longer. Too many scars. I hope he proves me wrong and wins out and wins every game moving forward next year and becomes a legend....I still don't think I would trust him.

WAR DAMN EAGLE

You know, at the start of the year I thought we would either win 10-11 and that would shut a lot of us doubters up, or we would bottom out at 6-6 and Gus would be gone.  Worst case scenario to me is exactly what seems to be happening...another 8 win season. Right in the middle. It keeps the fan base split, it keeps Gus on the hot seat, and no one is happy.  Now, if he wins the next two then a lot of this goes away even though I don’t think it should.  If he wins one of the next two or loses both then I think we will be having this same debate all off season. It really is the most maddening thing I have ever seen as a fan.  A coach who isn’t good enough to be great, but isn’t bad enough for the entire fan base to have had enough....strange stuff. 

[Tiger 8,833]

3 minutes ago, nixtosanders94 said:

Devil’s advocate...

Gus does recruit well. 

Gus does keep us winning more than losing and in a bowl game. 

He has shown flashes of being able to compete with the big boys...’13 and ‘17 and close losses elsewhere including two this year.

Odds are that Gus will catch lightning in a bottle in the next 3-4 seasons and win another SECC or more. 

As long as Gus keeps the faith of the players, he will probably avoid the kind of bottom out season Chiz, Tubs and Bowden had. 

........If Auburn makes a move on a coach with a winning record, do they finally go all in on a smash hire? Or are they forced to hire another iffy up and comer?  Because as much as I don’t like the “well the grass ain’t always greener” argument, you do have to admit that if what Gus is doing isn’t enough then the new coach would basically have a win 10 more often than not type mandate.  And if thats so, then he would have to break a pretty long tradition of Auburn being an 8-9 win team more often than not.  

All that said, I haven’t changed my mind on Gus.  I think the relationship has indeed become toxic and both Auburn and Gus need a breath of fresh air.  Auburn needs an infusion of excitement and enthusiasm while Gus needs a step back from the hot seat.  In the spirit of trying to be more understanding of the other side, this was me playing devil’s advocate for why a change might not necessarily accomplish what we want to.  

All good points. I don't think it's about the 10 win benchmark as much as it is "don't look like an absolute joke for 2+ times a year". We can accept losses if we look competent in the losses (on offense because that's what we're paying him for). If we can make that clear to our new hypothetical coach I think that would be fine.

Agree fully Gus won't have a bottoming out season. He's average. Chiz and Bowden were bad which led to ugly seasons/firings. I want to try for better than average though. 

Agree on the toxicity of the relationship. If we are drained by the Gus tenure imagine how the Malzahn family feels about it. Fans bailing early last week. Ranked highly. 7-2 team. It's a bad situation and, as you know, I'm ready for a change as it just seems it's time for both parties to get a fresh start. I am extremely confident Gus is not our guy to lead us to where we want to go -- or to even eliminate looking like a novice on offense multiple times a year. It's been going on far too long, over multiple OCs, to pin it on a freshman QB exclusively. I want to give someone else a crack at this thing.

[TigerFanAU 586]

1 hour ago, CleCoTiger said:

In 2003 Nebraska fired Frank Solich for going 9-3.  How have things been for Nebraska in the 16 years since?

Bad example, and this is a worn out excuse.

Like Tennessee after Fulmer, Nebraska lost its nation-wide recruiting ability. Auburn isn't going to be like that. We could put together a Top 15 class with the network of highschool coaches we have, all about 200 miles from campus.

[Tigerpro2a 5,650]

5 minutes ago, nixtosanders94 said:

You know, at the start of the year I thought we would either win 10-11 and that would shut a lot of us doubters up, or we would bottom out at 6-6 and Gus would be gone.  Worst case scenario to me is exactly what seems to be happening...another 8 win season. Right in the middle. It keeps the fan base split, it keeps Gus on the hot seat, and no one is happy.  Now, if he wins the next two then a lot of this goes away even though I don’t think it should.  If he wins one of the next two or loses both then I think we will be having this same debate all off season. It really is the most maddening thing I have ever seen as a fan.  A coach who isn’t good enough to be great, but isn’t bad enough for the entire fan base to have had enough....strange stuff. 

At the beginning, I made a couple of predictions on records. They were as follows from best case to worse- 12-0, 11-1, 10-2, 9-3, 8-4, 7-5, 6-6 and Gus is Fired. LOL. In other words there were so many ways this season could go with this schedule. I don't under-appreciate our schedule. You are right on with your post of how this is really the worst outcome. The more maddening part of this, if we win out...I will be happy we beat 2 -3 rivals, had a 10 win season, and all tht, but I will always feel like this season was wasted by an Offensive Guru who couldn;t muster up 24 points in a couple games with all the talent we have. I will feel like it was just a waste because we should be competing for a Natty with this Defense. No ifs, ands, or buts about it.

[nixtosanders94 2,180]

3 minutes ago, Tigerpro2a said:

At the beginning, I made a couple of predictions on records. They were as follows from best case to worse- 12-0, 11-1, 10-2, 9-3, 8-4, 7-5, 6-6 and Gus is Fired. LOL. In other words there were so many ways this season could go with this schedule. I don't under-appreciate our schedule. You are right on with your post of how this is really the worst outcome. The more maddening part of this, if we win out...I will be happy we beat 2 -3 rivals, had a 10 win season, and all tht, but I will always feel like this season was wasted by an Offensive Guru who couldn;t muster up 24 points in a couple games with all the talent we have. I will feel like it was just a waste because we should be competing for a Natty with this Defense. No ifs, ands, or buts about it.

Agree.  And I want to make this very clear before I get attacked...I ALWAYS want to beat uga and bama...and I will ALWAYS enjoy wins over those teams...but in all reality, other than bragging rights, what would it mean this year? It won’t bring us a championship because of the two losses earlier.  Uga is probably still going to the SECCG and if bama beats lsu so will they.  I guess maybe beating them could cost them a playoff berth but at some point I don’t wanna be the spoiler anymore. I wanna be in the playoff. 

[Mike4AU 1,739]

1 hour ago, Timbeaux38 said:

Please elaborate on this. I must be out of the loop on this one.

Last week multiple sources reported that SoCal was going to announce that Greene was their new AD.  At the midnight hour, SC hired the Cincy AD instead. 

[Brad_ATX 13,654]

18 minutes ago, AuburnEagle79 said:

Don't underestimate the fact that Gus would leave on his own. There is a lot going on behind the scenes, and if he has any pride, he may get ahead of this thing. Pending wins over UGA and UAT, he's fired. 

You just guessing here?

[gr82b4au 5,568]

No team in their right mind would come after Gus because of his contract. Even if he was 9-0 right now and #1 in the country,  nobody would touch him. That contract is just crazy stupid expensive. 

[AuburnEagle79 2,171]

It really is a strange situation that we are in. As others have said, he wins enough to keep a job, but loses enough to keep people mad. Given our talent level, we should win 9 games a year at the minimum. If he would win 10 a year and not always get beat by UGA and Bama, I think we could live with that.

The problem is how stubborn he is, and how horrible our offense has become under a so called offensive genius. 

Imagine if I was a fry cook at a burger chain, and my specialty is flipping burgers. I do really great on occasion, but really I'm better at dropping chicken fingers and fries into the deep fryers and for the most part suck at flipping burgers. This is Gus. He's a great recruiter and runs a clean program, but he is an offensive genius that cannot coach offense anymore. 

The split is inevitable pending a miracle on his end. 

 

[AuburnEagle79 2,171]

1 minute ago, Brad_ATX said:

You just guessing here?

Nope.

[Tigerpro2a 5,650]

14 minutes ago, nixtosanders94 said:

Agree.  And I want to make this very clear before I get attacked...I ALWAYS want to beat uga and bama...and I will ALWAYS enjoy wins over those teams...but in all reality, other than bragging rights, what would it mean this year? It won’t bring us a championship because of the two losses earlier.  Uga is probably still going to the SECCG and if bama beats lsu so will they.  I guess maybe beating them could cost them a playoff berth but at some point I don’t wanna be the spoiler anymore. I wanna be in the playoff. 

Exaclty.....it's like 2017....Yes that was a fun season, but the letdown at the end was embarassing. I am sick of having years that we beat our 2 main rivals who everyone seems to think should be a magical feat, just to have lost games along the way or afterwards to counterbalance and take away from it all.

[gr82be 14,519]

12 minutes ago, Mike4AU said:

Last week multiple sources reported that SoCal was going to announce that Greene was their new AD.  At the midnight hour, SC hired the Cincy AD instead. 

So does that mean USC changed their mind or Greene changed his mind? With our behind the scenes history of calling the shots it wouldn't surprise me if Greene did want out. I hope he doesn't want to because he's young, smart, savvy, articulate and is a great representative of Auburn...

Yeah, your probably right, he might want out. 

[WalkingCarpet 1,379]

2 hours ago, AUDevil said:

Sweet.  I live in midtown near Betton Place.  Lived here In TLH since I was born, except for my 5 years at AU in the late 90’s.  Do you get involve in the TLH Auburn club?

I know of the Auburn club but I've never been to a meeting. We're on the mailing list at least. 

[AUsince72 11,084]

18 minutes ago, Tigerpro2a said:

Exaclty.....it's like 2017....Yes that was a fun season, but the letdown at the end was embarassing. I am sick of having years that we beat our 2 main rivals who everyone seems to think should be a magical feat, just to have lost games along the way or afterwards to counterbalance and take away from it all.

2017 was the straw that broke the camel's back for me.  I was even in the "happily eating crow" crowd after the IB thinking "now, THIS is a Gus I can get behind".  But then the week leading up to 2.0 happened.  I know, plenty disagree with me but my tin foil hat is squarely on for that situation.  Instead of focusing on game-planning and (apparently) giving RB2 the reps he needed to succeed, Gus decided to play chicken with the Arky/Aubie administration, leaving his players and assistant coaches in a lurch.  ...would they have a HC going into the game?  Would they have jobs after the game? Then, out comes 1-armed KJ as a "decoy?", I guess.  Yes, let's use decoys instead of running it down their throats.  Then UCF...'nuff said.  

Anyway, 2018 did nothing to make me feel better about him and I swore I'd just hold Auburn Football at a slight distance this year and wait until after the season to make up my mind for sure.  Welp, Gus can't even let a guy be neutral towards his administration.  One has to pick a side.  Yes, we've become toxic.  But there is somebody making $7M per year who's stirring the crap out of that witches' pot.