Interesting Article...

[The Prowler]

($1 to whomever wrote it)

The Numbers Game



September 5, 2012 — When Gene Chizik was hired at Auburn he carried with him a number that hung like a concrete albatross around his neck. 5-19. Chizik’s record as head coach of the Iowa State Cyclones. The dubious numerical distinction was repeated relentlessly. It became almost a part of his name. He wasn’t Coach Gene Chizik; he was 5-19 Coach Gene Chizik.

Three seasons an SEC and a national championship later, 5-19 has all but faded from memory. It’s a footnote to his coaching career, not the definition of the same.

This week, however, Chizik’s naysayers of many stripes have applied a new number to his resume. He’s no longer 5-19, he’s 16-10. As in “without Cam Newton, Gene Chizik is just 16-10 at Auburn.”

That equation was promoted by web hacker Clay Travis. It was hurled like an accusation by callers to the Finebaum radio show (albeit mostly by rival fans). And late yesterday afternoon a national sports call-in show opened with an Alabama fan who wanted to discuss, yes, 16-10.

The contention is that there is an undercurrent of discontent among the Auburn family, that we as a whole are uneasy about Chizik because “if you take away Cam Newton…” well, you know the drill.

That logic is flawed and flawed not only because those drawing the conclusions are outside the Auburn family. The standards they use to judge us are not ours and do not fit.

Do you measure Urban Meyer by differentiating between his Tebow and non-Tebow years? Meyer was just 18-8 without Tim, by the way.

Take away Bear Bryant and Alabama is a mediocre football program. Take away Bryan Cranston and Breaking Bad doesn’t win Emmys. Take away cheese and you just have macaroni.

You can’t pretend that Cam Newton didn’t happen. By the same token you have to give credit where credit is due. Many coaches have spectacular talent and can’t put the pieces together to win it all. Peyton Manning says so, as does Bo Jackson. Chizik deserves credit for the job he did in 2010. You can’t take it away.

When Chizik arrived in Auburn he found a program that was demoralized after a rancorous coaching change and a team that was depleted of talent. Most observers predicted his Tigers would lose the opener to a mid-level opponent and be fortunate to make a bowl.

Auburn won the opener, was competitive in nearly every game and earned a bid to a New Year’s Day bowl game. Under Chizik, the team defied expectations.

In 2010 the addition of Newton was expected to bring variety to the offense and give the Tigers a chance to improve to possibly eight or nine wins. We all know what happened in 2010. The job Chizik and his staff did of guiding the program through a minefield of distraction to the ultimate goal was nothing short of masterful.

So many stars were lost prior to 2011 that a down year was forecast. State and national media had Auburn winning as few as four games. Chizik’s Tigers won eight.

For three consecutive years Chizik performed better than anyone outside the program expected.

Beyond that, Chizik and his staff have recruited better than anyone could have imagined. Even as the program across the state built what many in the media have fawningly called a recruiting machine, Chizik did not back down. He’s recruited as well as any Auburn coach in history and is in the process of stockpiling a wealth of talent to rival any program in the nation.

Chizik is calm, cool confident and measured. He doesn’t rant and rave, throw temper tantrums at media events, isn’t prone to berating players on the sidelines and has yet to trash his headset. His demeanor is a perfect fit for Auburn. He was the right person to handle the first year pressures, the right man to steer Auburn through the much-ado-about-nothing controversy of 2010 and the definitely the right man when tragedy struck the Auburn campus this offseason.

Are there areas of concern? Sure.

Over the last three seasons the Auburn defense set records for futility. No Auburn defense has been statistically worse than the three fielded under Chizik. And still the team won the 2010 national title. Chizik addressed the defensive deficiencies by parting ways with coordinator Ted Roof and bringing in highly respected Brian Van Gorder to direct the Tiger stopping unit.

When offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn took a head coaching job, Chizik had an opportunity to address the most glaring offensive weakness, quarterback, and he did so. New offensive coordinator Scott Loeffler has a reputation for grooming some of the best at the position.

He’s made the right moves.

The upgrade in talent is not without its own drawbacks. Chizik handles team discipline with a swift, fair and steady hand. Players are expected to conform to team expectations. Transgressions aren’t handled with ice cream suppers and half-game “are we behind” suspensions. Chizik understands that while he was hired to win football games, his first priority is to help his players become men who represent themselves and their families well.

Chizik is also aware that his record against Auburn’s three primary opponents (as it typically pertains to the SEC West race) Arkansas, LSU and Alabama stands at 3-6 overall. He didn’t fall off the turnip wagon yesterday and knows those scales have to tip.

They will.

Don’t let the cadre of dogs barking on the airwaves, the legion of blogger hacks lurking on the Internet or the agenda-driven wail of the press influence you or sway your thinking.

Gene Chizik on the hotseat? Don’t be ridiculous. We aren’t a nation of knee-jerk reactionaries. That’s not what we are about. That’s not who we are. It’s not who we should become.

No matter what happens against Mississippi State on Saturday.

Three straight years of overachieving and doing what nobody thought he could do has earned Chizik the right to have a year where he figures things out. Frankly, milking eight wins out of the 2011 team given the double decline at quarterback and on defense was a miracle and maybe his best coaching job.

Make no mistake, we want Auburn to be successful on the field, but athletic achievement is not the alpha and omega.

We don’t carry with us a sense of entitlement so strong that every season that ends without a championship is a failure. We hope we have the perspective to understand that this marvelous game that we love is at the end of the day just that — a game.

We are not defined by Saturday wins and losses. Our entire self-worth isn’t determined by the vagaries of a game over which we have no control. Our sense of being isn’t measured by the number of flags, stickers and banners we can apply to our car.

We are Auburn, we do what we do and we’re just fine with that.

We’re also just fine with Gene Chizik, or we should be. He’s spent three years doing his job better than anyone had a legitimate right to hope. He’s done so against tremendous odds. And he’s done it the right way.

As Auburn fans and family, what else should we expect?

Over the last 31 years Auburn is tenth in total wins nationally and ninth in winning percentage. You’d never know it from what you read, see and hear in the state media, but those are the facts. The only SEC team ranked higher in either wins or percentage over that span is Florida.

Think about that for a second. Repeat it to yourself. The second most successful football program in the SEC over the last 31 years is Auburn.

Would you have guessed?

That is who we are. Consistent success. Don’t let the rest of the meaningless numbers paraded by those who wish to demean us affect you.

We have no desire nor need to be defined by your standards of success, whoever you may be.

We are who we are, not who you think we should be.

^Read and realize that change takes time...and we have a proven QB Coach trying to mold Kiehl Frazier/Kodi Burns into a proven QB.

[RWS]

The comparison of Meyer post-Tebow and Chizik post-Cam are good comparisons to make at this point. I normally wouldn't think that, but you can't really ignore it anymore. It is apparent. Well, to everybody but Prowler. Yes, people do differentiate Urban Meyer pre and post-Tebow, because the gap between became very obvious when Tebow left. How many years did Meyer last after Tebow? Yeah, and they didn't even change systems. They went from perennial NC contenders to 8-5 in one year. Meyer knew what was up, and that's why he got out. He recruited lots of stars over the years, but knew that alot of those stars weren't much on their own. He knew there wasn't any unfucking that. Even after changing an entire coaching staff, changing from a spread to pro-style, and completely changing the defense Muschamp matched Meyer's last (and worst) year. In year two, they have shown steady improvement each game. With a true sophomore QB who had only completed 16 passes in his college career prior to this season.

Chizik has recruited very well on paper. Unfortunately, it doesn't matter unless it translates to the field. Also, I'm pretty sure the team is demoralized and depleted of talent now as well. So, I'm not sure what point that line was trying to make. As far as the bolded and underlined stuff. Wow. That sounds like some shit straight from the other site. You're telling me that AU fired Tuberville and hired Chizik to have a mediocre program that doesn't give a shit about winning championships, as long as everybody has a great time at their tailgating party? That's waving the white flag and being a bunch of pussies.

[Kaos]

That article was written before there was an abortion in Starkville. It was probably written when most rational people expected a competitive game against the weak sister bulldogs. 

Don't think anybody expected "no matter what happens" to include getting fucked up the ass with a pool cue while Frazier looked like the son of Addie from American Horror Story.

[JR4AU]

The comparison of Meyer post-Tebow and Chizik post-Cam are good comparisons to make at this point. I normally wouldn't think that, but you can't really ignore it anymore. It is apparent. Well, to everybody but Prowler. Yes, people do differentiate Urban Meyer pre and post-Tebow, because the gap between became very obvious when Tebow left. How many years did Meyer last after Tebow? Yeah, and they didn't even change systems. They went from perennial NC contenders to 8-5 in one year. Meyer knew what was up, and that's why he got out. He recruited lots of stars over the years, but knew that alot of those stars weren't much on their own. He knew there wasn't any unfucking that. Even after changing an entire coaching staff, changing from a spread to pro-style, and completely changing the defense Muschamp matched Meyer's last (and worst) year. In year two, they have shown steady improvement each game. With a true sophomore QB who had only completed 16 passes in his college career prior to this season.

Chizik has recruited very well on paper. Unfortunately, it doesn't matter unless it translates to the field. Also, I'm pretty sure the team is demoralized and depleted of talent now as well. So, I'm not sure what point that line was trying to make. As far as the bolded and underlined stuff. Wow. That sounds like some shit straight from the other site. You're telling me that AU fired Tuberville and hired Chizik to have a mediocre program that doesn't give a shit about winning championships, as long as everybody has a great time at their tailgating party? That's waving the white flag and being a bunch of pussies.

We all squawk about recruiting, and how important it is, until a coach lands a Tebow, or Cam, then the coach is no longer given credit for the achievements involving that player, but still given full blame for players/teams that don't live up to expectations.  Problems at AU not withstanding, how does that work?  It's not like Saban is winning with scrubs.  Yet he's given full credit for the success.  Never heard the first hint of "he only wins because of great players".   

[RWS]

Another issue that is manifesting itself quietly are the backup QBs. One of the defenses for Frazier is that he's inexperienced. He hardly saw any action his freshman year. As you guys are having to fight tooth and nail to win so far, the backups aren't getting any snaps. This was the same reason Frazier hardly saw action last year. If he goes down right now, Moseley, who hasn't seen action in a year, goes in.

If history repeats itself and Moseley sees very little to no action this year, that also means Wallace isn't seeing action either. What if Moseley pulls a Trotter and says fuck it for his senior year and doesn't return? The cycle repeats itself. It leaves you with Frazier, a sophomore who has never seen the field, and a true freshman that has never seen the field. And when Frazier graduates and exhausts eligibility, it leaves you with an inexperienced junior, sophomore, and freshman. Even if Moseley returns, he will have been on the shelf for nearly two years.

[Kaos]

Another issue that is manifesting itself quietly are the backup QBs. One of the defenses for Frazier is that he's inexperienced. He hardly saw any action his freshman year. As you guys are having to fight tooth and nail to win so far, the backups aren't getting any snaps. This was the same reason Frazier hardly saw action last year. If he goes down right now, Moseley, who hasn't seen action in a year, goes in.

If history repeats itself and Moseley sees very little to no action this year, that also means Wallace isn't seeing action either. What if Moseley pulls a Trotter and says fuck it for his senior year and doesn't return? The cycle repeats itself. It leaves you with Frazier, a sophomore who has never seen the field, and a true freshman that has never seen the field. And when Frazier graduates and exhausts eligibility, it leaves you with an inexperienced junior, sophomore, and freshman. Even if Moseley returns, he will have been on the shelf for nearly two years.

Right.  Because Ginger McFuckelstick got so much playing time behind Peter Paul and Mary. 

 

[RWS]

We all squawk about recruiting, and how important it is, until a coach lands a Tebow, or Cam, then the coach is no longer given credit for the achievements involving that player, but still given full blame for players/teams that don't live up to expectations.  Problems at AU not withstanding, how does that work?  It's not like Saban is winning with scrubs.  Yet he's given full credit for the success.  Never heard the first hint of "he only wins because of great players".   

I think that it is mutually exclusive to an extent. Saban couldn't go to Kentucky right now and turn that into a championship team in 2 or 3 years. He just couldn't. They are that devoid of talent. He can evaluate talent well, and does a good job surrounding himself with good coaches that fit his philosophy, and fit his way of doing things. Think of it as a sliding scale, maybe, if that makes any sense. When you're able to identify guys who are truly talented, or truly fit your system regardless of star ranking, it makes the coaching end easier when they get on campus. The guy buys in, you don't have to reinvent the wheel for him, and it gives you time to focus on teaching the system, etc. You're not having to re-teach the guy how to play football to an extent I guess.

Saban isn't going to churn out the teams he has been the past few years if he recruits like Shula, or has Kentucky-esqe type guys. You may not hear it all the time, but you and I know it's the truth.

[RWS]

Right.  Because Ginger McFuckelstick got so much playing time behind Peter Paul and Mary. 

 

Scary thought: McElroy was probably more talented than any QB that AU has on roster right now. A Heisman candidate, he was not.

[JR4AU]

I think that it is mutually exclusive to an extent. Saban couldn't go to Kentucky right now and turn that into a championship team in 2 or 3 years. He just couldn't. They are that devoid of talent. He can evaluate talent well, and does a good job surrounding himself with good coaches that fit his philosophy, and fit his way of doing things. Think of it as a sliding scale, maybe, if that makes any sense. When you're able to identify guys who are truly talented, or truly fit your system regardless of star ranking, it makes the coaching end easier when they get on campus. The guy buys in, you don't have to reinvent the wheel for him, and it gives you time to focus on teaching the system, etc. You're not having to re-teach the guy how to play football to an extent I guess.

Saban isn't going to churn out the teams he has been the past few years if he recruits like Shula, or has Kentucky-esqe type guys. You may not hear it all the time, but you and I know it's the truth.

I know it.  Yet and still, nobody ever says "he wins because he's got great talent."  But he does.  Yes, he can coach too, but he'd be a 6 win coach at Vandy or Kentucky because he could not, under any circumstances, get the players he needs to win. 

Just a curiosity...bad as it is now, I still give Chiz and Gus full credit for maximizing Cam and Fairley, even though it could have been even better.  There are coaches out there  that could fuck up Cam and Fairley.   Barfield and Dubose come to mind.