War Eagle!
by Mattco on Dec 29, 2008 11:07 AM CST
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PrintI have to admit with the hiring of Chizik and Malzahn that I am more excited about next year's season than I have been about Auburn football since probably 2003 when we were preseason #3 and loaded with talent. We all know how that ended but I am still excited about next season. Now this and the fact that I have a week off and am extremely bored, I jumped on Photoshop and whipped up a couple wallpapers for you guys, you might like them, you might not.
I do have some comments to make about next season now that visions of 550 yards and lots of points has subsided from my mind. Next year will be another bumpy ride. This year we were breaking two new coordinators and next year we are breaking in a new staff entirely so lets set some realistic goals for ourselves. But what are these realistic goals? Next season we have a brutal road schedule and a tough out-of-conference schedule to boot. Here is a copy of the schedule for anyone not having it:
9/5: West Virginia
9/12: Mississippi State
9/19: Kentucky
9/26: Ball State
10/3: @Tennessee
10/10: @Arkansas
10/17: Southern Miss
10/24: @LSU
10/31: Ole Miss
11/7: Furman
11/14: @Georgia
11/21: OPEN
11/28: Alabama
Looking at the schedule, is 7-5 a realistic goal for the regular season or would making a bowl game be more realistic? Should realistic goals just be set on improvement? How about finishing in the top 60 in offense with improvements of defense placed good fundamentals, something our defense has lacked over the past few years? Most companies set two sets of goals, short term and long term and here is what goals I have in my mind and I believe they are realistic: Short term goal is to improve on offense and showing signs of fundamental improvements on defense while making a bowl game. Long term goals of competing for the West and the SEC in 3 years.
I honestly believe that these goals are realistic for us at this point and the only way to achieve these goals is for fans, boosters and the athletic department to allow time for these to happen. Next year might not be much better than this year in terms of wins/losses but we need to hang in there and let them work everything out and to put in place the tools to achieve long term goals.
While we are saying that this could be a turning point, or game changing point, for the team, we as fans need to also have a turning point in the way we react to things. I am certainly including myself with this statement. The team and university needs support right now to know that they are still loved, something we honestly haven't done in a long time. The bandwagon fans need to take a hike and be quiet for a couple years until they can safely jump back on because it will be bumpy. Our team doesn't need us screaming at every mistake next year and screaming for coaches to be fired because like it not, those screams are heard. I for one think that Tuberville needed to go, but that is history now and we can look forward to the future.
War eagle.
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re: War Eagle
My only question for you Mattco is your wording in the last paragraph. Why i nthe world did you hostly feel like Tuberville should go? You say all those things about bandwagon fans and asking for people not to yell coaches to be fired and say the university hasnt been supported in a long time? I dont get it. Then you say Tubby should have been fired. It just sounds a little like talking out of both sides of the mouth. Tubby should not have been fired – I support Coach Chizik, it is not his fault – I have supported Auburn University this whole time and will continue to no matter what happens on the field, it is my alma matter and I love the University – there are other gripes of what has gone on with the ad and pres that do have me upset, but by no means does that make anybody a bandwagon fan. So, watch the blanket statements about loyalty when you say you think Tubby should be gone. It makes no sense at all.
I say both because
Looking at the past 4 years, Auburn has been going down hill, whether we want to see it our not. I actually thought that Tuberville should have been released after disappearing for 2 or 3 weeks in Arkansas after last year instead of doing a press release saying that he was staying at Auburn and was not interested in Arkansas. The fact was, he has used several job openings as leverage to get more money out of Auburn and he had no interest in making our offense any better. If he honestly wanted to make the offense better, he would have brought in an OC and let him choose his staff and stayed out of it from there. I knew that when Tuberville left after this year it was going to be a disaster in the press, you don’t fire a guy who has a good track record in terms of wins/losses for having one bad year without a lot of backlash.
I see this as a fresh reboot for Auburn, we can be who we want to be now, but we as fans need to give it time. I understand how you saw my comment as contradicting, but they aren’t.
Spot on except for ...
" … you don’t fire a guy who has a good track record in terms of wins/losses for having one bad year …"
For the record:
1. Tubby had more than 1 bad year.
2. Tubby wasn’t fired, he quit. (uhh, I mean he resigned)
His good track record goes way beyond
wins and losses. I respect what you are saying, but have to politely disagree with you. I have to question the going down hill part of the last 4-5 years. And as far as the hunting trip to Arkansas, if that dissapoints you I really have to question your double standards from your origional post. Again ,you ask people not to bitch and complain when people needthe most and you complain because he got raises when other people were interested. That’s part of the business side. But none of that ever hurt the University. I agree on the OC part, but Tubby himself admitted that he made some mistakes in that department. he has won at Auburn (could he have had a little more national prominence – of course) and he did it by keeping a very clean program and keeping us out of trouble. That says a lot. And to keep us at one of the top programs, I believe he was the guy to get us back there before we needed this “fresh start” you referred to. And now I am really going to disagree with Xotus. If you believe he resigned or quit, wow did Jacobs fool you. Face it, he was fired.
How could you question us going downhill
Honestly look at our record over the course of the past 4 years, we have progressively gotten worse on offense, we have progressively had a worse record in the SEC and our overall record has gotten worse each year. And as far as the hunting trip to Arkansas goes, he did it to get more money, plain and simple. If you have a man under contract for another 5 years or whatever it was at that point, you shouldn’t have to worry about him trying to jump ship. He could have had a short press conference and told everyone that the rumors were not true and that he was just on vacation.
Tuberville got lazy and complacent in what he was doing. I know that I am in the minority with this feeling, but it is the truth. The past 4 years he has been outworked by every other program in the SEC and we are paying for it now. He was outworked on the field, in the filmroom and on the recruiting trail. There is no way to argue it. When is the last game that we won off of good coaching and not just superior talent? Florida last year? Hell that was 15 months ago. What about before that? Florida the year before? Face it, the pre-game prep has been terrible for the past 4 years. You know that we didn’t enroll a single offensive lineman from last year’s class? We have been downhill, you just haven’t noticed it because we managed to beat Bama.
Words mean things
Dear gsm95,
You’re not disagreeing with me … you’re disagreeing with the facts.
Again, for the record, Tubby was not fired. Tubby resigned.
Give me your email and I’ll send you a copy (not a transcript – but, an actual copy) of Tubby’s resignation letter, written by Tubby and, signed by the man himself.
Words mean things. I believe it was Merriam Webster who once said, "When people want to deny that words mean what they mean then it’s very hard for an educated man to communicate with that person."
Yeah, you are correct, words mean things.....
but not always the literal take. Tuberville did in fact submit a letter of resignation that we have all read. But you don’t go through 3 days of meetings to submit a two or three sentence letter. Tuberville was forced out and his resignation was bought and paid for. You have shown in the past with your comments what your sentiments were towards Tuberville. No need to beat a dead horse anymore. I also disagree with you and every other doomsday soothesayer talking about Tubervilles downward spiral but that is a moot point now……you got what you wanted I just hope we all don’t pay for it. You dumbasses equate a rising of the SEC as a whole as a downward spiral by Tuberville……but then again thats what a dumbass does.
I would have gone to bammer if my grades hadn't been good enough to go to AU
Agree with Todd92 100%.... and again
As much as I appreciate what Tuberville has done for Auburn, it is not Chizik I dont support. I support him and the players with all I got. But it doesnt take away the fact of what Tubby did for our program and he was still doing for our program when this whole mess happened. That is all I am saying and I still say War Eagle!
Fired? No Resigned...
We do not know what happened for sure.
But let’s just say that Tubb had decided to stay..that he and JJ had come to a resolution to start afresh next year with new key coaching changes. That meetings were happening to discuss the changes and options….Then he gets wind via his AGENT that a certain Yellow Man Auburn Supporter had made a trip to talk to a certain coach about coming to Auburn …now let’s say that there is a clause in Tubb’s contract (placed there after the jet gate scandle) that stipulates that any contact with perspective coaches behind his back by anyone associated with the athletic department would guarantee him a full buyout and release him from his contract…now let’s say that after a certain AGENT tells Tubb this that he goes home and talks to his wife and they decide that it would be nice to quit this whole mess…he is tired…and they can both ride off into the sunset with all that money. Tubb meets with JJ the next day and says “I have confirmed information of the above said meeting and I am released from my contract, please make the check out to "Paybacks are Hell” for 5 million please.
Now this is just one of the many stories floating around out there, who knows what the real story is. However, unless you know something as FACT, stop blaming the university…it is not out of the realm of possibility that they did not fire him.
Maybe they fired him, maybe they did’nt….Water under the bridge now…
Let’s move on…Look forward…Concentrate on what we can control…Supporting the new coaching staff.
Your schedule is a little off...
9/5 LaTech H
9/12 Miss St. H
9/19 WVU H
9/26 Ball St. H
10/3 Tenn A
10/10 Arkansas A
10/17 Kentucky H
10/24 LSU A
10/31 Ole Miss H
11/7 Furman H
11/14 UGA Hedges
11/28 Bama H
The 2009 season is looking up, but I think we can get a little carried away with the building of expectations. In my opinion, improvement over this year and utilization of talent should be marked as a successful season for us.
by Tiger on the mountain on Dec 29, 2008 11:36 AM CST reply actions
Mattco
These are great wallpapers! Thanks and WAR DAMN EAGLE!!
Here is one more that I made
This one is a bit loud for my tastes, but I thought I would try to make an argyle.
my optimistic expectations
We have 4 non conference games, all of which I think we should win. WV ought to be the toughest of those, but I think witthout Pat White, and at home, we have a better shot. SEC teams we should beat are MSU, UT, Ark, UK. Thats 8 wins and bowl eligible, not bad. Not impossible either. I guess we’ll all see though. War Eagle!
Hard to say at this point....
which SEC teams we should beat. If Moreno and Stafford go to the draft you can add UGA to the list……you might have to take Arkansas and UT off the list…….you may be able to add bama also with them losing a veteran QB and the best 2 lineman in Smith and Caldwell…..LSU looks to be the class of the West again unless “Less” Miles coaches em down and all of this is moot if Chizik proves no better than his record…..just way too early to make predictions for me.
I would have gone to bammer if my grades hadn't been good enough to go to AU
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