Chizik Receives Bobby Bowden Award

[AUChizad]

http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2011/03/gene_chizik_says_hell_keep_aub.html

Gene Chizik says he'll keep Auburn on even keel, even after winning the national title
Published: Monday, March 07, 2011, 8:09 AM
  By Charles Goldberg/Auburn Bureau, The Birmingham News, Press-Register, and The Huntsville Times

Bobby Bowden gave Gene Chizik a national coach of the year award Sunday night, but not before offering the Auburn coach some sage advice.

Don't let last season's national championship go to the heads of all the returning starters, Bowden said.

No problem, Chizik said. He doesn't have that many returning starters.

Auburn will begin spring practice March 16 with the task of replacing 24 seniors and juniors Cam Newton, Nick Fairley and Darvin Adams, who are skipping off to the NFL. The Tigers won't get the big head, Chizik said, because there are so many starting jobs up for grabs.

"Coach made the comment about trying to keep them hungry, and that's certainly going to be our jobs," Chizik said. "We've got so many young players on our team they've got to be hungry. They want to play, and there's going to be some great competition, and there's going to be some great competition from the incoming freshman from the class we just signed.

"It's not like we're returning 19 starters. We've got a lot of evaluation, and it started right when we got back from the bowl game."

Bowden presented the coach of the year award named in his honor at a pro-Auburn banquet in Birmingham. The award, founded by the Over The Mountain Touchdown Club, didn't have to go far for its two first winners. Alabama's Nick Saban, who was coming off a national title of his own, won the award last year.

"I recommended we move the national championship game to Birmingham and save a lot of money," Bowden joked.

Bowden won two national championships at Florida State and came close other times. He knows the difficulty of doing it, and trying to repeat.

"This time a year ago everything was Alabama and everything was Coach Saban, and the thinking was Bama will probably do it again," Bowden said. "Then, all of the sudden, the biggest rivals are national champions. It's so great for the State of Alabama."

Chizik won numerous coach of the year awards, and the BCS title, in his fourth year as a head coach. Bowden chuckled when asked how easy it is to win the championship.

"It's not very hard. I was 60 when I won my first one," he said with a smile. "He's spoiled. There's one thing about winning a national championship. They expect you to win it every year. He's so darn deserving. It's a no-brainer for him to be coach of the year."

But Bowden said Chizik faces the task of keeping his players grounded. He faced that at Florida State.

"The hardest thing was keeping the kids' attention," Bowden said. "It really wasn't the other team. It was being complacent."

Auburn celebrated its national title, but there were bumps along the way, especially surrounding Newton, its star quarterback. That story, and others, has continued.

"I don't chase the bunkers and the boards and call-in shows," Chizik said. "I don't have time for all of that. I know the direction we're going, and I know what we try to do on a daily basis, and I feel very good about that."

Chizik stayed the course with Newton, too, the quarterback who will take the field in Auburn one last time for Pro Day on Tuesday. Chizik said he'll stand by Newton.

"Everybody knows how I feel about Cameron. That hasn't changed one bit," Chizik said. "He's a great football player, whoever the experts are, wherever they take him, they'll get a great person and a great football player. That's all I know. All of that other stuff, there's a lot of rhetoric in between people want to debate about, at the end of the day, I know what they are going to get."