It’s Time for Auburn to Go on the Offensive

And you’re absolutely right, in that AU’s department appears — to us fans, at least — to be overlooking the PR issue.

Boilerplate denial/“we’re taking this very seriously” statements serve as acknowledgments that there are accusations, and do little (if anything) to actually refute them.

You’re right about there not being much left to drag through the mud. One thing I do get a kick out of, is logging in each day, and seeing the confidence poll in the upper left, dipping.

Obviously we’ve got some fans of other teams torpedoing it (as I doubt AU fans’ confidence is really at 45%), but it underscores the fact that we’re an easy target right now.

I just wish there were more of a response; but it’s not my area of expertise, and I shouldn’t criticize the people who manage our athletics for a living.

Good read. Thanks.

I have a new respect for Eric Ramsey. Of course, I don’t like what he did to the program, but at least he didn’t levy empty accusations. These clowns won’t name names, which to me means that they made it all up. And for what? Personal gain. Maybe if Stan had stayed in school, he would have a better comprehension of the Auburn Creed.

There was a time when the current PR strategy would work. Not in the day of 24-hour sports news, during a ‘slow’ part of the football year. I agree $$ needs to be spent on PR. And God help any boosters that are found with their hand in the cookie jar…..

Real Sports last night and do believe that boosters probably paid at least some of these guys. That’s not to say that I believe all of their stories, but we all know what goes on behind the scenes. Proving it is another matter however. I can’t believe that coaches were complicit in it, but if they were, we would deserve everything we’d get if it could be substantiated.

The segment about the ‘street agents’, who attempt to pimp out kids, is pretty disgusting. It seems more prevalent in basketball, but with the whole Cecil/Kenny Rogers fiasco, there’s little doubt that it’s arrived in football, too.

Good column, Jay. Time to bring the program out of the shadows and into the light—even in just this tiny way.

I do so, not just because some of it has been proven, but that it’s a fact that there was a time that most schools did. That does not excuse those facts, nor does lessen the sting.
That being said, I truly believe Auburn is running a clean program now. Since Jacobs took over as AD, efforts have been made to truly educate the boosters about the effects of cheating, none of them are good for the school. Financially it’s suicide to cheat, especially with the past history that Auburn has. You could throw a ton of names in there as well, that would be in the same boat as Auburn.
The big questions are, how do we effort to stop the boosters from having contact with these players? Can you isolate future players from the street agents?

At this point, isn’t the best way to stop all of the media aggression towards Auburn is to have a terrible season? No no, I’m not saying do that on purpose. But, if this turns out to be another 2008, wouldn’t that stop the constant mud flinging at us? Or, would ESPN do a few specials on the fall of Auburn? That’s not including most of the local media let alone mentioning Thayer Evans.

I agree with you Jay. The idea of secret scrimmages during Spring is ridiculous. I think it comes back to the depth chart causing us to have closed off practices. Then again, maybe it’s not about the media that Gene closes off practice. I mean think about it, agents do have an easy time posing as some small time journalist. I did it myself to get in to E3 in Los Angeles.

Still, it is time Auburn starts reshaping its image. You would think that eventually the attacks would stop, but from what we’ve seen, I am not so sure. It is time we influence things on our end. If we just remain quiet, this will continue and people will slowly start leaving the program. Hell, ask John Callipari’s people for help. That guy is still really popular and look at all the cheating he’s done. I don’t have any perfect remedies, but I don’t think silence is the answer anymore. It makes us look guilty.

Chizik holds closed practices…that’s been his policy since day one and the press can either get used to it or walk around with a chapped ass all the time. I don’t think Chizik should change what’s working and I don’t think he needs to cow-tow to the media….what may have or may not have happened prior to his arrival shouldn’t dictate what he is about. Would I love to see and hear the intimate details of every practice and scrimmage? Well hell yeah…but then again that won’t help AU in any way and I don’t think it will do all that much in the way of positive PR….the people writing the bad press (with the exception of Evan Woodberry who is conspicuosly missing with his daily reports the past couple of weeks) are not the people showing up for practice anyway. I do agree about the AD department needing to do some PR work to counter the negative reporting but I fail to see opening practices as any sort of answer.

i remember learning about it in Logic class … freshman year at Auburn. “extinction” is one of the most effective ways to shed behavior that you want to discontinue.

=don’t give media bullshit any reaction whatsoever… if so, you are just feeding the frenzy. the more you put yourself in front of a microphone, the higher probability of a mistake. i completely disagree with this strategy equalling guilt.

if Auburn learned anything this 2010 season… it was that defending the program should be done in a clear, concise, direct way… and nothing more. speculation can’t be battled with additional speculation.

PR is an art… feeling out a situation, timing of reaction, and then the maturity to be bigger than the other guy and connect with your priorities, and move on. that is the way you can use the challenge to move forward. i think it is a HUGE mistake to climb out on a limb that you haven’t the confidence/proof to climb out on. it is important for Auburn to look itself in the mirror, and brand itself exactly that… the bigger guy. look the media dead in the eye and yell STOP!… and then be done with it.

there are all kinds of ways to protect yourself… ways that you can lose yourself in the process. Auburn needs to continue to refine itself and get better through this…

now that sad, silly man is using Auburn blogs for content. actually put a smile on my face. whine some more there finebaum… you’re a brilliant sad baby.

If you truly believe that you are telling the truth. If you are truly convinced that those whom you work for, are doing things the right way, and if you have nothing to be ashamed of, TO HELL WITH THE MEDIA!
Keep doing things as you have always done them. The recipe works, so why let someone else ruin the finished product?
After all, the media is where most of this problem is stemming from. Not all of it mind you, but most of it.

While everyone says we’re in denial, what they forget is that despite being the subject of the biggest media bashing in the history of collegiate athletics (I’m fairly certain, 6 months of non stop negativity makes us the kings)…..and being more closely examined than a proctology patient…they have found nothing. It took them all of two days to get the goods on Oregon and Ohio State but they still don’t have anything tangible on us…..after 6 friggin months.

If anyone is in denial its the bashers, who keep praying and hoping that something will surface to crucify us with. What they forget is that we have been getting attacked by Alabama for over 40 years so we’re kind of used to having a bullseye on us. I think we have learned from our mistakes of the ’70’s and are, at the very least, buttoned up at the institutional level. Engaging the media and trying to do a PR campaign will just be spun as a sign of our “guilt” and that we trying to re-hab our image. We can’t escape the fact that the media has no interest at all in being fair to us, or telling the truth or even our side of the story. 99% of the country has no vested interest in Auburn and sees us as a villain and that is who the media intend to feed with their viscous bile….regardless of the facts.

The truth is the media and the public at large WANT to hate us. People want to hate on something, and when you can serve up the medias favorite food…..“backwards redneck southern insitutions”…boy howdy its feeding time at the hog trough. Nothing plays as well and generates as much animosity as good-ole boy southern corruption…..and I’ll be damned if that isn’t EXACTLY how we are being portrayed. So there is no use in trying to engage the media in this….they have their agenda and nothing we say or do is going to change that. We can’t prove something didn’t happen….all you can do is impune the integrity of the person making the accusation or sue them for libel….both of which are not attractive options for a univerisity. I’m afraid all we can do is ride it out and continue to point out the facts and that their is no evidence to support our detractors claims. They can cry all they want about “drawing conlculsions” based on what people say, but the fact is there is no proof of anything, and ultimately that is what the NCAA needs. And all the negative media coverage in the world doesn’t change that.

I’ve been an Auburn fan all of my life, but went to Penn State, so it’s the main team I root for and follow. I have been defending Auburn since the first allegations came out about Cam Newton(and of course get ridiculed for it). But I was wondering if y’all could answer at least one question for me.

Is Auburn being investigated by the FBI in relation to Cecil Newton? I haven’t read or heard anything about it, but fans on other blogs keep referring to an ongoing FBI investigation.

I’m sorry if you’ve dealt with this rumor before and I missed the post.

War Eagle!