Chizik hiring no upgrade for Auburn

2009-09-08T11:21:03-04:00

2008-12-13T22:32:33-05:00

2008-12-17T16:46:36-05:00

Therodman22

Huntsville 636652

68 As an Auburn, I am really wondering of Chizik got this job because things were not looking too good for him at Iowa State and that he even knew one more year there things were not going to improve. So when he heard about the Auburn job, he got on the phone to Jay Jacobs and convinced him how much he loved Auburn, missed being there and how much he would really like to be the head coach. In other words he may have "begged" for the job. So maybe Jacobs felt sorry for him with the situation he was in at Iowa State. So maybe he was hired so to protect him from a future firing there? What may wind up being sad is Jacobs having to fire him after 3 years and then he lose his job. 3690900

2008-12-15T10:09:24-05:00

http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/181/560/thumb/AL_A.bmp 73 AZ

BamaMan

Goodyear 181860

45 I'm tempted to kick a Tiger when it's down, but I actually feel bad for them. Auburn had a great defense this year, but their offense was so inept that the defense got worn out by the end of the 3rd quarter in most games. Auburn needed an offensive guru to come in to spark their recruiting efforts on BOTH sides of the ball. I'm not saying Chizik won't make it work, but it's going to be really hard for him to pull recruits who aren't hardcore Auburn fans before he ever calls them. 3656723

2008-12-17T12:19:18-05:00

http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/477/781/thumb/blaze_2.jpg 39 AL

UABsuckx

Birmingham 478221

Auburn had a great defense this year, but their offense was so inept that the defense got worn out by the end of the 3rd quarter in most games.

67 Thats a popular misconception. Great defenses manage to stay consistent regardless of what the offense is doing. During the Shula years...Bama had a great defense and they never got blown out in a game because the defense was strong. They lost many games they could have won if they had an offense...but they weren't routinely embarrassed on the field....like Auburn was this year. The only time Auburn had a strong defensive performance against a team with an actual pulse this year, was against Georgia. LSU's Jarrett "pick 6" Lee looked like a heisman candidate against Auburn...and gave the LSU fans a short lived, false sense of hope with his performance against a so-called "great defense." This same "great defense" was lit up by Vanderbilt's "2nd string" QB. A 5'7" RB from Arkansas ran for almost 200 yards against that "great defense." Noel Divine ran for 200 plus yards on limited carries, and could have easily ran for 300 plus yards on that "great defense." Jevan Snead of Ole Miss had the worst game of his career, overthrowing wide open receivers all game...yet Ole Miss STILL rushed for 233 yards against that "great defense" Some guy from a power-house team called "Tennessee-Martin" threw for 285 yards against that "great defense." Georgia's Knowshon Moreno had something like 96 yards on 4 carries against that "great defense." Glenn Coffee "percolated" through that "great defense"...while the Bama O-Line was serving more "pancakes" than IHOP. Sure Auburn's offense sucked....but because the offense sucked so bad......most a willing to give their terrible defense a pass. I watched the games from BOTH sides of the ball. 3686360

2008-12-16T12:35:52-05:00

http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/610/192/thumb/BatmanAccent2.jpg 57 FL

A Train 007

Saint Augustine 610832

Everyone forgets that Saban wasn't considered a great coach until he got to LSU. On a side note, everyone including most sportswriters, forget what jerk Saban was a few years ago. Amazing.

62 Winning has a way of doing that to people... except bitter people from LA that see their dynasty (that he built) start to crumble. 3672736

2008-12-17T02:17:08-05:00

TheProf

Irvine 257143

Winning has a way of doing that to people... except bitter people from LA that see their dynasty (that he built) start to crumble.

66 Looks like Pope Urban still covets Notre Dame. Prepare to be bitter yourself when he bolts for Indiana after ND fires fatso. 3681489

2008-12-16T08:46:17-05:00

jolabastiger

Berwick 635587

59 Everyone forgets Saban wasn't considered a great coach until he got to LSU. On a side note everyone, including all sportswriters, forget what a jerk Saban was a few years ago. 3669065

2008-12-16T19:03:07-05:00

Doctor Larry

Vicksburg 635073

Everyone forgets Saban wasn't considered a great coach until he got to LSU. On a side note everyone, including all sportswriters, forget what a jerk Saban was a few years ago.

65 What do you mean "a few years ago"?.................. 3678937

2008-12-15T22:56:16-05:00

ugafan07

Suwanee 15188

56 man that sucks for you guys. But i think its time for au fans to get with it and stop blaming jay jacobs and start blaming the good ole racist boosters at auburn who have pulled the strings at auburn for mnanby years. Turner Gill was interviewed and discarded without a second look because the boosters who are paying jacobs said flat out "no". I hope gill gets a fair shot soon. 3667685

2008-12-16T19:01:12-05:00

Doctor Larry

Vicksburg 635073

man that sucks for you guys. But i think its time for au fans to get with it and stop blaming jay jacobs and start blaming the good ole racist boosters at auburn who have pulled the strings at auburn for mnanby years. Turner Gill was interviewed and discarded without a second look because the boosters who are paying jacobs said flat out "no". I hope gill gets a fair shot soon.

64 It's not racism. It's Bobby Lowderism. He has been after Tubs for years. While he has plenty of money (Colonial Bank), he has s**t for brains when it comes to athletics. 3678920

2008-12-15T15:46:31-05:00

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Andy Staples

246219

53 Joekidd1992, I haven't met a sportswriter -- or a coach -- yet who likes this hire. Chizik didn't seem to do himself any favors in his press conference, either. There really is no good way to answer the basic question: "You've lost 10 games in a row and you just threw up a goose egg in conference play, so why do you think you deserved to get a better job at almost double your previous salary?" Part of me hopes we're all wrong, because I hate to see a guy just get slammed like this. The guy didn't commit a crime -- even if some AU fans consider his salary grand larceny. But the hire is just so baffling that it's very hard to find anything positive to say about it. 3662782

2008-12-16T17:34:09-05:00

http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/568/807/thumb/rid-41401-37.jpg 1833 AL

Joekidd1992

569287

Joekidd1992,I haven't met a sportswriter -- or a coach -- yet who likes this hire. Chizik didn't seem to do himself any favors in his press conference, either. There really is no good way to answer the basic question: "You've lost 10 games in a row and you just threw up a goose egg in conference play, so why do you think you deserved to get a better job at almost double your previous salary?"Part of me hopes we're all wrong, because I hate to see a guy just get slammed like this. The guy didn't commit a crime -- even if some AU fans consider his salary grand larceny. But the hire is just so baffling that it's very hard to find anything positive to say about it.

63 My question seemed to be phrased poorly after I posted it. It would be silly not to think you weren't around a lot of sportswriters. What I was going for was are they actually talking about this? Or is it just a few guys into college football who think it was really bad? Also, Kirk Herbstreit seems to be the only major spoirtswriter who thinks it was a decent hire and he said today on a local interview that Lane Kiffen was more of a head scratcher than Chizik to him. Is this because he is friends with Chizik or does he truly believe that? Have you heard through back channels about Herbstreit? Also, I'm not a Tennesee fan, but Monte Kiffin is indeed going to Tennessee. That seems to make the Kiffen hire pretty good indeed. 3677993

2008-12-16T08:48:01-05:00

jolabastiger

Berwick 635587

60 Everyone forgets that Saban wasn't considered a great coach until he got to LSU. On a side note, everyone including most sportswriters, forget what jerk Saban was a few years ago. Amazing. 3669067

2008-12-16T12:35:52-05:00

http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/610/192/thumb/BatmanAccent2.jpg 57 FL

A Train 007

Saint Augustine 610832

Everyone forgets that Saban wasn't considered a great coach until he got to LSU. On a side note, everyone including most sportswriters, forget what jerk Saban was a few years ago. Amazing.

62 Winning has a way of doing that to people... except bitter people from LA that see their dynasty (that he built) start to crumble. 3672736

2008-12-16T10:25:19-05:00

138

Maestroh

Lewisville 194669

61 As an Alabama fan, this is great!!! For years we have watched as Auburn mocked our hiring processes (and at least we had the excuse of a crippling probation - what excuse do they have?) and we wound up hiring several disasters all named Mike (DuBose, Price, Shula) and one named Dennis. But not only did this not make par, it's a triple bogey. You send out Tubs, nobody in his right mind wants the job, and you're stuck with a 5-19 legend in waiting. Some Auburn fans are comparing this to the hiring of Gene Stallings by Alabama. Yeah, right. Stallings had actually taken his losing record at A/M to the Cotton Bowl and beaten Bear Bryant. The only down side is how badly this hurts Bama's strength of schedule. And don't think it's going to get easier. Unlike 2004 when Tubs loaded up on fodder, Auburn's OOC schedule includes Southern Miss, Ball State, and West Virginia next year, and they also get a rejuvenated Tennessee. 3670392

2008-12-16T08:48:01-05:00

jolabastiger

Berwick 635587

60 Everyone forgets that Saban wasn't considered a great coach until he got to LSU. On a side note, everyone including most sportswriters, forget what jerk Saban was a few years ago. Amazing. 3669067

2008-12-16T08:46:17-05:00

jolabastiger

Berwick 635587

59 Everyone forgets Saban wasn't considered a great coach until he got to LSU. On a side note everyone, including all sportswriters, forget what a jerk Saban was a few years ago. 3669065

<div class="photo_container image_right"> <div class="photo"><img src="http://img.fannation.com/upload/si_blog_post_images/gene-chizik.jpg" alt="Gene-chizik" width="298" height="220" /></div> <div class="photo_attributes" style="text-align: left;">Auburn hired Gene Chizik away from Iowa State. AP</div> </div> Maybe Tommy Tuberville really did resign as Auburn's football coach. It sure looked fishy that Auburn gave Tuberville $5.1 million last week after he resigned of his own free will, but maybe there wasn't something sinister afoot. Before all you recently resigned Alabama state employees start calling Montgomery and asking when you'll receive your two years of salary, consider this. Maybe athletic director Jay Jacobs and the booster puppetmasters pulling his strings simply don't know how to read a contract. They certainly can't read a won-lost record. Let's review. After a 5-7 season, they forced out Tuberville (85-40 and beat Alabama seven times in 10 seasons at Auburn) so they could hire Iowa State coach Gene Chizik, who went 5-19 in two seasons in Ames. But hey, there's good news. Chizik was undefeated against Big 12 heavyweights Texas, Texas Tech and Oklahoma in 2008. Of course, Iowa State didn't play any of those teams; it went 0-8 in the Big 12 despite having the league's weakest schedule. When Tuberville was fired -- I mean, when he made an autonomous, unprovoked decision to resign -- conventional wisdom suggested Auburn would hire a coach who would strike fear into the hearts of Alabama fans and Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban, or at least one who might make Saban break a sweat. Instead, the Tigers hired a defense-first guy whose team managed victories this season against South Dakota State, Kent State and no one else. Isn't a program supposed to upgrade after it runs off a coach? No matter how good Chizik is, the response to his hiring will be so universally negative that it will cripple Auburn's recruiting efforts this year. Before hiring Chizik -- who, it must be noted, was an outstanding defensive coordinator at Auburn from 2002-04 and at Texas from 2005-06 -- Jacobs interviewed Buffalo coach Turner Gill, TCU coach Gary Patterson, Georgia Tech coach Paul Johnson, Louisiana Tech coach Derek Dooley, Ball State coach Brady Hoke and others. The difference between Chizik and those names in the previous sentence? With the exception of Patterson, all the other guys found success at programs that either were awful or mediocre when they arrived. It's certainly difficult to win in Ames, so Chizik doesn't deserve to be buried. Jacobs and the men giving him his marching orders are another story. Gill's Bulls were underdogs for seven consecutive years, and he took them to a MAC title this season. Johnson won at Navy before heading to Atlanta. Patterson's only losses this year came at Oklahoma, which is playing for the national title, and at undefeated Utah. Hopefully, for Jacobs' sake, all the other coaches turned down the job. Or maybe, just maybe, returning to the South and coaching Auburn-level players will turn Chizik into the second coming of Shug Jordan. Either Jacobs has a preternatural gift for finding great coaches who merely need a change of scenery, or he just guaranteed himself his own Tuberville-style severance package. Jacobs wasn't too embarrassed to admit he'd hired Chizik when he was met by <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7TxIMAwc1k">reporters at the Auburn </a>airport after <a href="http://blog.al.com/auburnbeat/2008/12/auburn_ad_jay_jacobs_declines.html">returning from hiring Chizik</a>; the deception was a miscommunication. Jacobs couldn't have known Iowa State athletic director Jamie Pollard was about to announce the news and <a href="http://www.cyclones.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=10700&ATCLID=3632937">rip his former coach in the process</a>. No matter the reason for the subterfuge, the entire affair makes Jacobs look even more incompetent. If you're counting, Auburn officials finally admitted to hiring Chizik after 9 p.m. Saturday. Auburn fans probably hope Jacobs or some flunky will swallow Chizik's contract, pretend it never existed and call Gill immediately. A few hours before Chizik's hire leaked, Birmingham News Auburn beat writer Charles Goldberg asked his Online readers to chime in with their thoughts about a potential Chizik reign. Heed this warning before you <a href="http://blog.al.com/goldmine/2008/12/so_what_do_you_think_of_gene_c.html#comments">click this link</a>. Unless you're an Alabama fan or an SEC West coach, it's more uncomfortable than the answering machine scene in Swingers. Jacobs can take solace in this. Central Florida must have bought the domain name <a href="http://www.firegenechizik.com">firegenechizik.com </a>when Chizik worked at that school from 1998-2001, because that URL takes Web surfers to a page touting former UCF tailback Kevin Smith. Of course, <a href="http://www.firejayjacobs.com">firejayjacobs.com</a> was available, but the site's creator certainly won't get his wish. Silly Tigers fan. Jacobs won't get fired. The puppetmasters will cut his strings, he'll collect a fat check and he'll announce to the world that he resigned.   32221 http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/245/899/thumb/staples_andy2.jpg 34

Andy Staples

246219