None of them apply to me. For about the first 20 minutes I was stunned that they hired him, honestly for the PR purposes I had been rooting for Turner Gill, I thought that Gill would bring us a recruiting advantage.

I settled into the notion that Chizik was the right guy for the job after that initial 20 minutes when I remembered that our team has been on a downward spiral since he left. Our recruiting has gone down and our defense had become less effective and more poorly coached every year since he left. When Chizik hired Curtis Luper and Trooper Taylor I was happy, when he hired Boulware and Thigpin I scratched my head a little, when he hired Malzahn, I rubbed my hands together and gave an evil laugh thinking “This is exactly what Auburn needed”.

In the long run, whether Chizik and Auburn are a good combination, it will be a very good thing in taking Auburn in the right direction for where we want to be.

 I just thought I must not know something about this guy, because he would’nt have been my choice. I have optimistically held on to that thought and the more and more I have come to learn of him, the better I feel about the move. He has the program moving in the right direction very quickly. He’s not afraid of hard work, not afraid to go against anyone in recruiting. He seems to be a warm and genuine person to the players. He’s not full of himself..(always a plus in my book). I have heard him called a “players” coach and the players really like and respect him both as a person and coach. I think that is very important for the millinial generation. …all in all I am happy.

Once he started assembling coaches, he grew on me as head coach, and when he landed Gus Malzahn, I thought, “Well, at least we’ll have an awesome offense.” After a successful recruiting class I knew that the worst case scenario we would face would be similar to the Orgeron era at Ole Miss. Poor record on the field, but stock up the talent for the next coach. I don’t think that’s going to be the case. One game does not a coaching career make, but I feel pretty good that Gene Chizik is our head coach, as long as he lets Malzahn run the offense the way Malzahn wants to run it.

Tommy was more loyal to his assistant coaches than he was toward making necessary changes to improve team play. I understand it because he wanted to get his guys tenure. But, the commander’s first mission is victory. Taking care of the troops comes next.

My initial reaction to the Chizik hire was negative in that the university had hired another defensive minded coach when what we needed was improvement on offense. Quarterback recruitment and performance was substandard for a school of Auburn’s caliber. Hence, I was pulling for Turner Gill based on his offensive production numbers. Nothing against Chizik as I considered him one of the very best defensive coaches in the nation.

Once Malzahn was hired, I was very happy having the best guy on staff to address each side of the equation. The subsequent hires were all top notch as well. I had complete faith in the staff.