I’m glad he spent the two years at ISU. He definitely learned some things the hard way, and it will make him a more polished head coach. We can only hope he turns out as well for us as Richt has for UGA.

I never held his record at Iowa against him. Anybody who knows a little about where Iowa is at in their conference and the level of recruiting possible there has to accept that it is a very difficult place in which to succeed.

I was initially upset that we were going with another defensively minded head coach without attending to our greatest need at that time, i.e., offensive production. But once Malzahn was hired I was happy as a little clam. Chizik then hired very good, well-respected talent all around. Recruiting has been exciting and effective. Unit cohesion and morale are a complete turn around from the divisiveness of last year.

Chizik gets credit for these developments. He put the team together and created an atmosphere which is focused, intense, positive. The players are excited and motivated. Chizik has done as much as can be expected so far. Now, everybody has to step up and make it happen.

and for good reason. The BOT/Jacobs runs of a coach that won 85 games in ten years won 7 of 10 against our biggest rival with 6 consecutive, gave us an undefeated season that we are all proud of (not his fault the BCS and pollsters screwed us). They proceed to tell us that they are going to hire a proven head coach and money is not object……and then through one of the most bizarre and embarrassingly inept coaching searches I have ever witnessed, and yes I am including Bama’s last one in that statement, they go out and hire the least proven head coach on the list. Why wouldn’t I be pissed?

Now having said that…..I think that Chizik with the exception of two things has handled his time at AU perfectly. Those two things are as everyone knows: he fired the whole staff on arrival without the courtesy of an interview which caused hurt feelings and was at the very least a black eye for AU (I believe that was part of Jacobs directive) and secondly the mishandling of James Wil….er Benedict Arnold (also the inept bumbling of Jacobs). So I am optimistic that Chizik can be a good head coach for AU and will at the very least keep AU competing in the SEC at a level that we can live with for the short term and if he matures into the coach we want him to be then we will compete for championships on a regular basis for years to come. I am behind him 100% until he proves he doesn’t deserve my loyalty and I hope that day never comes.

I like CGC. I do. And I am cautiously optimistic about this season but after the unmitigated disaster that was the 2008 season AND the craziness surrounding the firing of CTT, and coaching search, I still believe we made a monumental error in not hiring Turner Gill. Lets be honest, despite being one of the most well funded programs in the country (top 6, I believe), we only have a slightly above average football program. Why is that? We are only 5 years removed from an undefeated season and out program is in shambles. How? The reason is that Auburn is perceived as a rural, backwards, good ol’boy school. After CGC was hired, it took exactly 2 minutes for the media to paint Auburn with the tar of racism. We have a tremendous image problem and it impedes our ability to go out and get the talent we should have been raking in with our recent success against Bama, not to mention their own coaching follies prior to the hiring of Coach Satan.
CTT was a great recruiter and was always able to land some superlative talent, but he couldn’t put together the recruiting classes year in and year out like the other top programs around the country. As a result, it was always an uphill battle to maintain a top tier program, CTT’s classes were always missing a key ingredient or much needed depth that puts you in the top 5 year in and year out. Its the kind of job I believe wears you out and clearly, at the end, CTT was worn out. He had done his best for Auburn but just couldn’t plug all the wholes in the dyke that just kept developing with time. He couldn’t reload every year like Florida, LSU, UGA, TEXAS, Oklahoma and USC do.
What I’m getting at, is that Auburn needs to do something to set itself apart from the rest of the SEC and to change its image. Turner Gill would have done that. He may not have been the best coach available but he was the best choice for Auburn at the time. Hiring Turner would have changed the tide for us in the recruiting wars and would have given us a leg up on our competition. How many top recruits have us on their list, love the campus but come decision day go somewhere else. It happens all the time!! It may sound racist but I really thing having an African American coach would sway a lot of that talent to come to Auburn. Especially a young, charismatic guy like Turner Gill. Sylvester Crooms, he is not. Nor is Auburn anything like Starkville.
CGC is a very impressive guy and I’m very impressed with how quickly he righted a severely damaged program, but in the long run I think he will run into the same problem that CTT did, and that is he will get some good players but not enough of the top talent that LSU, Florida, UGA and BAMA get. CGC will have to instead recruit the best coaches and continue to coach up the cast offs that eventually make up the bulk of the Tiger roster. I like him and think he will do a fine job, I just think Turner Gill was the better guy for Auburn right now.
WAR EAGLE and I am looking forward to a fun season.

to turning on ESPN this fall and hearing “One of the biggest surprises of the season thus far, Auburn…”

David Cutcliffe: The best of this group. Had some great years at Ole Miss and appears to be turning Duke around as quickly as possible.

Ralph Friedgen: First 3 seasons at Maryland were great (with Vanderlinden’s recruits), but is just over .500 in his last 5 seasons. Great coach to great players, sub par coach to sub par players (e.g. his own recruits).

Mark Mangino: Had an amazing 2007 campaign, but the other 6 seasons at Kansas were mediocre or worse.

Randy Shannon: 12-13 in two seasons at the form powerhouse.

Gene Chizik: yep…

All this to say that, assuming we are ignoring the ISU years, even the elite of assistant coaches typically don’t make great HCs, or at least not recently. Chizik may end up being great, and I’m not trying to put water on the fire, but speaking from experience, the last time the Bama nation got excited about a great assistant becoming our head coach, we won an SECC, followed by close to a decade of nightmares. Some assistants can only excel while working under great head coaches.

Again, not saying he won’t be the next great thing, but I don’t think you can legitimately 1) ignore what’s happened thus far as a head coach, 2) call him the next great thing simply based on his assistant coaching reputation.

But, you do have a right to be excited. He’s doing more than anyone thought he’d do at this point in the game. Future is looking decent, at worst…

What matters is what happens on the field.
And Ole Miss is overrated, Wonderful quarterback goes down? What do they have?
LSU GA BAMA all have new quarterbacks…that are unproven….AU still is looking for one…if any of these quarterbacks go down…the whole picture could change…that is why it makes me angry for anyone to write off anyone else…or to say that this team or that is a front runner…there are too many variables.

Trojans earned the No. 1 recruiting class in the country in 2004, narrowly edging out LSU and Miami. …Were any of these teams the National Champions last year five years later???
Some statistic guru out there tell us how often it has happened that a national recruiting champian has been the national champion five years later…