Hugh Malzahn

[TitanTiger 20,510]

7 minutes ago, AUwent said:

I think we may need to accept that Gus had us at about our ceiling as anyone could as long as Alabama and Georgia are what they are. And honestly, I just can't see them ever coming back down at this point if Lanning swoops in once Saban leaves.

Lanning isn't coming cheap for anyone.  He's got a $50M buyout.  $20M of that is cash, but he also has $30M in Nike stock options that have to be bought out as well.  And then you have to pay him and a staff.  I'm not saying Bama can't pay it, but so can A&M and they don't appear to be doing so.

[e808 3,028]

28 minutes ago, AUwent said:

I think we may need to accept that Gus had us at about our ceiling as anyone could as long as Alabama and Georgia are what they are. And honestly, I just can't see them ever coming back down at this point if Lanning swoops in once Saban leaves.

He didn’t adapt after the rule change and didn’t recruit oline well but to say his time at Auburn was luck is crazy. Auburn is the only school that plays the big three year in and year out and still had something to say in that 8 year stretch.  No other school can say that

[I_M4_AU 7,961]

36 minutes ago, AUwent said:

I think we may need to accept that Gus had us at about our ceiling as anyone could as long as Alabama and Georgia are what they are. And honestly, I just can't see them ever coming back down at this point if Lanning swoops in once Saban leaves.

The subject was Gus being lucky, which he was at times.  The 2015 and 2016 seasons were Gus being Gus.  Gus was good for Auburn for awhile, but he is gone.

Believe it or not Auburn can thrive in spite of what Alabama or Georgia does.

[keesler 5,928]

31 minutes ago, I_M4_AU said:

The subject was Gus being lucky, which he was at times.  The 2015 and 2016 seasons were Gus being Gus.  Gus was good for Auburn for awhile, but he is gone.

Believe it or not Auburn can thrive in spite of what Alabama or Georgia does.

Auburn can damn sure be more competitive in the SEC than they have been in spite of what UGA and UAT are doing.  Auburn has sat back and watched other teams improve and get better with a multitude of coaches, and this season is considered a down year for the conference as a whole.  What does Auburn do when the league is down?  We’re pissing around wallowing in the basement with the other down teams rather than taking a seat at the head of the table.

Its passed time Auburn stepped up.

[bishoptf 697]

2 hours ago, aubaseball said:

Just going by what you type out, I would venture to say that you weren’t on board with the Freeze hire and probably despise the man.   Everything you write is negative or a backhanded compliment.    I can’t speak for everyone, but time after time , it’s post like yours and a few others that show the dislike of Freeze and what I perceive to be a desire for him to fail.    
Your comparison to Gus puts you in the category of the uninformed.    Gus was literally the luckiest coach to ever step foot on Jordan Hare.    If you step back and look at his seasons with an unbiased eye, you will see that he was the luckiest coach in Auburn history.   I’m not going to list everyone because I don’t have enough time. 

I support whoever the university chooses because in the end I want Auburn to win some football games and be competitive. I ran a poll when they let Harsin go to vote for who folks wanted to come in, I voted for Deion since I thought he would have brought some excitement back to the plains and I think the kids like playing for him. So CHF wasn't my first choice but I'm also for giving folks second chances and I know there are folks that do not like him personally but I don't care about his off the field extracurricular activities as long as they are not NCAA violations, I could care less what he does. What I do care about is winning football games, since I think that is the idea, and like I have said multiple times maybe he gets this turned around and maybe he doesn't. I hope that he does since I would like to watch some football games agianst thuga, lswho, bama etc and actually feel like we have a chance. That hasn't happend for quite some time.

My problem stems from the fact that I was hoping to see some improvement on the offensive side of the ball and this season hasn't worked out and loosing to NMS was about as bad as you can get. Again he looks like he is going to recruit better which we need desperately but until I see some improvement in how we come out and look at game time it's still a toss up if he is going to be able to get things done.

So sorry I am not an antifreezer or hater or whatever you like to label folks, I'm just an old au alum that has been around for a little while that would like us to get back into the conversation vs being a whipping boy to g5 football teams. I have no desire to see him fail since that doesn't get us anywhere but I will be honest and say this year has been a bust so far. Maybe he can pull a rabbit out of his hat and beat bama, or just look competitive but that showing at home against NMSU was an embarrassment. I'm not saying they should fire him now etc but what I am saying is that so far he hasn't shown really anything that helps me feel like he knows WTH he is doing, and no one knows if he really will be able to turn things around or not, so its another wait for next year and how many of those have we had recently, sigh.

[bishoptf 697]

1 hour ago, TitanTiger said:

Lanning isn't coming cheap for anyone.  He's got a $50M buyout.  $20M of that is cash, but he also has $30M in Nike stock options that have to be bought out as well.  And then you have to pay him and a staff.  I'm not saying Bama can't pay it, but so can A&M and they don't appear to be doing so.

Yeah and again everyone is goo goo over lanning but I'm not sure how well he does in the SEC, maybe he is the next best thing but really who knows...

[AUwent 3,767]

I will say, while I don't know if Freeze works out, it's ridiculous to say that Liberty's season this year is an indictment of him. Generally speaking having that kind of season with a new coach means that the previous guy left a good situation.

[TitanTiger 20,510]

38 minutes ago, AUwent said:

I will say, while I don't know if Freeze works out, it's ridiculous to say that Liberty's season this year is an indictment of him. Generally speaking having that kind of season with a new coach means that the previous guy left a good situation.

Not to mention, Liberty played multiple Power 5 teams every year Freeze was there. They played none this year. 

[Gowebb11 9,362]

I haven’t judged coaches in year 1 since Bowden started 20-0. At that time a lot of us thought we were in the beginning of a 30 year dynasty. Far from it. Hugh has proved he’s a good cultural fit and recruiter so far. I can better judge his coaching in a couple of years when he builds his roster. 

[AU120289 380]

1 hour ago, Gowebb11 said:

I haven’t judged coaches in year 1 since Bowden started 20-0. At that time a lot of us thought we were in the beginning of a 30 year dynasty. Far from it. Hugh has proved he’s a good cultural fit and recruiter so far. I can better judge his coaching in a couple of years when he builds his roster. 

I think you will have better insight as this season wraps up, portal opens, bowl game happens, early signing day, portal closes, and NSD.

Right now overall to me, it has been a disappointing year b/c the offense is so stinking abysmal. Not a lot of visible development. Continually took shots at and questioned his roster. I get it but still bad form, especially when coaching has been as questionable. 

The bright spot was the defense. I was pleasantly surprised except for LSU and NMS. But the offense really hasn’t helped them out a ton this year, either. 

I am not sure what folks saw in him that got everyone so excited, but that is a moot point. He knows he has way underwhelmed. You see it in his face. He set the tone at his introductory press conference about his skill set and time table.

Expectations are a b/tch. 

[Gowebb11 9,362]

15 minutes ago, AU120289 said:

I think you will have better insight as this season wraps up, portal opens, bowl game happens, early signing day, portal closes, and NSD.

That’s still just one year in. Recent coaches who are putting things together in a big way who had similar first years: Sarkisian at Texas 5-7 with bad loss to 2-10 Kansas team, Venables at OU 6-7 with 0-49 beatdown by Texas, Norvell at FSU two losing seasons including a loss to FCS JSU and Kiffin 5-5 his first year at OM. Just 2-3 years later those teams are all ranked with the potential for NY6 Bowls or playoffs. On field performance usually accelerates a lot in years 2 and 3 and I believe Hugh is laying the foundation for that. Last week was a big step back but can be overcome. 

15 minutes ago, AU120289 said:

Continually took shots at and questioned his roster. I get it but still bad form, especially when coaching has been as questionable. 

CHF has been openly critical of his roster and himself on many occasions. SEC football is big boy ball. Players and coaches need to be held accountable for their performance. I know a lot of people think he has been overly critical but I’m not one of them. I believe it has been part of his recruiting pitch. FWIW, I remember Pat Dye being very critical of his initial roster at Auburn and constantly challenging the players to get better in those early years.