It's Back To Work For Gene Chizik

[AUChizad]

http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2011/01/its_back_to_work_for_gene_chiz.html

It's back to work for Gene Chizik and Auburn as Tigers return to campus as national champions
Published: Wednesday, January 12, 2011, 8:17 AM
  By Charles Goldberg/Auburn Bureau, The Birmingham News, Press-Register, and The Huntsville Times

Four national championship trophies were at his side. So was a university grateful for what he did. 

And what was Chizik thinking about? 

Going back to work. 

Chizik talked about savoring the Tigers' 22-19 win over Oregon in the BCS national championship game Monday night, but he was really calculating what needed to be done next. 

Auburn loses 24 seniors from the only team to go 14-0 in school history, and may lose junior linchpins Cam Newton and Nick Fairley to the NFL before the week is done. 

No wonder Chizik said his BCS vacation has already expired. 

"Days off are few and far between," he said. 

Chizik talked of the sea of orange in University of Phoenix Stadium, so much so he said it looked like a home game. 

"Don't know how they got tickets. Don't know where they came from. But they found a way to get there," Chizik said. 

The Tigers -- national champions for the first time since 1957 -- returned to Auburn Tuesday night to an appreciative crowd. A formal celebration will be held in Jordan-Hare Stadium on Jan. 22 at 1 p.m. Newspapers and TV will tell that story, as they have told the team's march to a championship.

Sports Illustrated put the Tigers on its cover. Newton was back on a TV junket, following up last month's appearance on Late Night with David Letterman with a Tuesday night spot on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. 


The Tigers were being talked up everywhere, from freshman Mike Dyer's late stop-and-go run that paved the way for Wes Byrum's game-winning field goal as time expired; to the play of Newton, the Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback who played despite a bad back; to the speculation that Auburn's rebuilding job may be tougher if Newton and defensive tackle Fairley leave early. 

Chizik said he's losing a lot of good players, including most of his offensive line, but finding replacements after winning a national championship is a good place to start. 

"The foundation," said Chizik, "is still continuing to be built."

Chizik, conjuring up one of his favorite slogans, said Auburn can't afford to sit on its championship. 

"I think at the moment where we feel like we have arrived and we feel like we are there, I think we're in trouble. So I don't ever feel like we'll be there," he said. "We'll always keep trying to work in that direction to get there. 

"I think we're all moving in the right direction. We have got a foundation that we have got to continue to build on, and we have got a great group of coaches that are all in. And I got a great group of returning young kids -- very young -- they're all in, too." 

Chizik said he'd talk to Newton and Fairley about the draft. He said he didn't before the game because the focus was on the BCS title. 

"They had a responsibility to Auburn University to help win a national championship," Chizik said. "It wasn't about what the next move is. It was about what they needed to do to finish what they started." 

Chizik, who finished his second year as Auburn's head coach, is off to a good start, too, and said he is not finished. 

"At Auburn University, in terms of football, we have to start all over, starting today," he said. 

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[The Prowler]

ALL IN!!!