PMarsh: Jay Jacobs Should NOT Be Considered Failure

[The Six]

As Auburn's football team staggers and stumbles toward the end of its worst season since Harry Truman was in the White House, the search for blame goes on. Head coach Gene Chizik and athletics director Jay Jacobs are the prime targets.

By all accounts, it appears Jacobs will remain in his job.

The complaints about Jacobs have gone beyond anything to do with football. The four sports most people care about - football, baseball, men's basketball and women's basketball - are all struggling. But is it fair to hang those things on Jacobs, athletics director since January 2005? Has he really done a poor job?

To understand, you have to go back to 2004.

Jetgate was still fresh. The university had been placed on SACS probation. Though David Housel was still technically athletics director, Hal Baird was doing the job on a day-to-day basis. Ed Richardson, affectionately nicknamed "Chainsaw" because of his penchant for firing people, was the president.

Baird wanted to give baseball coach Steve Renfroe, who had missed going to a regional in his fourth season after going to three straight, another season. Richardson refused. Mike Anderson, then at UAB, wanted to be Auburn's basketball coach. Richardson wanted him to come to campus for an interview. Anderson didn't feel like he could, there was a standoff and he remained at UAB.

Against that backdrop, new head coaches were hired in baseball and men's and women's basketball. Few top candidates were interested. Jeff Lebo took over the men's basketball program and Nell Fortner the women's basketball program. Tom Slater took over the baseball program after Vanderbilt coach Tim Corbin turned the job down at the last minute after giving every indication he would take it.

When Jacobs took over as athletics director, Lebo and Fortner were barely into their first seasons. Slater had yet to coach a game. Jacobs, clearly, had no choice but to give them their opportunities to build their programs. Along the way, Lebo had a 25-win season. Fortner won an SEC championship. Slater went to an NCAA regional in his first season. But all their tenures came to unhappy ends. Jacobs fired Lebo and Slater. Fortner resigned.

This year, for the first time, all those sports are coached by people Jacobs hired. Their stories are yet to be told.

And that bring us to football.

Jacobs made a bold move when he hired Chizik as head coach in December 2008. Though Chizik's tenure appears likely to end badly, Jacobs' decision resulted in a national championship. The pilgrimage of Auburn fans to Glendale, Ariz., in January 2010 for the BCS Championship Game will long live in Auburn lore. The disaster of 2012 also will be long remembered.

You can make the case that the buyout, starting at $10 million, Jacobs gave Chizik, who was going nowhere and had nowhere to go, in 2011 was ill-advised. If you don't think the national championship was worth it, you can make the case that hiring a coach with a 5-19 record was an ill-advised move. But does that mean the AD should be fired?

Florida's Jeremy Foley hired Ron Zook before he hired Urban Meyer. Alabama's Mal Moore hired Dennis Franchione, Mike Price and Mike Shula and tried to hire Rich Rodriguez before he hired Nick Saban. Georgia's Vince Dooley hired Ray Goff and Jim Donnan before he hired Mark Richt.

Jacobs has kept the athletic department in the black for all of his tenure. He's overseen an unprecedented boom in building and upgrading facilities. He's guided the department through some difficult times, not the least of which was the Cam Newton saga.

As I've said repeatedly, who stays and who, if anybody, is replaced is up to those charged with making those decisions. They don't want or need my input. But to say Jacobs is the cause for the lack of success by coaches he didn't hire, to portray his tenure as athletics director as some kind of colossal failure, is just wrong.

[Tiger Wench]

NOw THAT, ladies and gentlemen, is a FUCKING HOMER.  He makes Prowler sound rational.

The captain goes down with the ship.  Period.  Especially when he is the gladhanding back slapping motherfucker who ran it into the iceberg in the first place.

[GH2001]

Phillip also probably thinks he's in great shape and isn't a homer.

[Snaggletiger]

I stopped reading half way into it.   

[The Six]

This is not dissuading my fears that no change will be made. 

[AUJarhead]

Chizik has a $10M buyout that drops to 7.5M on Dec 1.  This was put in place last year by Jacobs.

For no other reason than this buyout, Jacobs should lose his job.

[Snaggletiger]

"As I've said repeatedly, who stays and who, if anybody, is replaced is up to those charged with making those decisions. They don't want or need my input. But to say Jacobs is the cause for the lack of success by coaches he didn't hire, to portray his tenure as athletics director as some kind of colossal failure, is just wrong."

Went back and finished it.  Phil...let me tell you something.  You stupid, fat, homer fuck.  The people who are charged out the ass for the privilege of having season tickets, who are begged every year to donate millions to the athletic department, who provide the scholarships for the players, who pay all the salaries of Jay, Gene, Brian, Tony etc.....have EVERY right to give their input.  They don't want it or need it?  I really don't have words to describe how ass-in-9 that statement is.

[Jumbo]

That was a big shit sandwhich.

[RWS]

Go home Phillip Marshall, you're drunk!

[Townhallsavoy]

Since PM is obviously a hired hand by Jacobs and company, just send the message through him. 

Write, "That's fine, Mr. Marshall.  I will just refrain from donating any more money or time to Auburn athletics until Jay Jacobs is removed.  Thanks." 

[GH2001]

"As I've said repeatedly, who stays and who, if anybody, is replaced is up to those charged with making those decisions. They don't want or need my input. But to say Jacobs is the cause for the lack of success by coaches he didn't hire, to portray his tenure as athletics director as some kind of colossal failure, is just wrong."

Went back and finished it.  Phil...let me tell you something.  You stupid, fat, homer fuck.  The people who are charged out the ass for the privilege of having season tickets, who are begged every year to donate millions to the athletic department, who provide the scholarships for the players, who pay all the salaries of Jay, Gene, Brian, Tony etc.....have EVERY right to give their input.  They don't want it or need it?  I really don't have words to describe how ass-in-9 that statement is.

He speaks for all of us......



Seriously? Venturing into the Internet and message board world ruined PM. Much better as a newspaper writer. He's just pathetic now.

[GH2001]

Since PM is obviously a hired hand by Jacobs and company, just send the message through him. 

Write, "That's fine, Mr. Marshall.  I will just refrain from donating any more money or time to Auburn athletics until Jay Jacobs is removed.  Thanks."

And he will say this:

You're just asking for a warning or a temporary 1 week ban pal!

Fear the Phillip.

[chinook]

Jacobs suxs PM's cock.

[bottomfeeder]

I didn't know PM swallows too.

[Godfather]

[AWK]

First off, the gif is fucking gold.  Second, if you are too dumb to see the fucking writing on the wall...then you should be fired too. 

[Buzz Killington]

And he will say this:

You're just asking for a warning or a temporary 1 week ban pal!

Fear the Phillip.

Consider his warn meter spiked!

[Snaggletiger]

GF is on teh rolls lately

[AUChizad]

Party line.

http://www.thecornernews.com/index.php/news/comments/auburns-other-big-decision/

Auburn’s other big decision
By Justin Lee
The Corner News
Published: November 13, 2012 10:36:37 am

Last Saturday, Auburn suffered one of its worst defeats to Georgia in 120 years of football between the schools.

The Tigers were blown out 38-0 in their first shutout loss since Alabama in 2008, and their first shutout loss in Jordan-Hare Stadium since Southern Cal in 2003.

Georgia rolled up 497 yards on the Tiger defense, scoring on six of their first seven drives, while the Auburn offense never threatened to score or even took a snap from inside the Georgia red zone.

The worst part for Auburn fans, of course, was that a new low for futility in the Deep South's Oldest Rivalry was not unexpected. Two weeks prior, the Tigers were embarrassed by Johnny Manziel and the Texas A&M Aggies, 63-21 at home.

In two SEC games, the Tigers lost by a combined margin of 80 points. And in each game, few Auburn fans stuck around to see their team, which has lost nine straight conference games dating back to last season, play the final whistle.

Twice this season, fleets of Auburn faithful have emptied out of Jordan-Hare Stadium by the start of the fourth quarter. Twice this season, Auburn fans have voted with their feet -- and their silence in the gaps of bleachers in Jordan-Hare has spoken volumes.

The winds of change have been blowing on the Plains for weeks, and after that shutout drubbing at the hands of one of the Tigers' biggest rivals, few can doubt that major changes will be made within the football program at season's end.

The Tigers' futility this season has lended to an even greater question beyond the future of Auburn's head football coach, however, as many have started to ask questions about the entire administration behind a program that went from perfect to so imperfect in just two short years.

Beyond Gene Chizik, the fate of Auburn athletic director Jay Jacobs has become the next great question facing university administrators.

It was Jacobs that hired Chizik in December of 2008, after escorting former head coach Tommy Tuberville to the door weeks earlier. It was Jacobs, too, that gave Chizik a healthy contract extension after the Tigers' 2010 national championship, at a time when very few schools were beating down the doors to steal Chizik away among a storm of NCAA investigation allegations, and many wondered if the extension was necessary.

However, it was also Jacobs that hired men's basketball coach Tony Barbee, who has largely been considered an improvement from former head coach Jeff Lebo, a holdover from David Housel's time as athletic director.

Jacobs' other major hire during his tenure, John Pawlowski, won the SEC West as head baseball coach and brought an NCAA Regional to the Plains in 2009. His most recent addition to the department, new women's basketball head coach Terri Williams-Flournoy, is just beginning her first season leading the Tigers.

Off of the field, Jacobs and his fundraising helped bring the basketball teams their new, first-class Auburn Arena, and brought the football program its new indoor practice facility.

Jacobs, who has been Auburn's athletic director since December of 2004, has seen his department grow and reach new heights during his time in position, all while staying a relatively unpopular figure among fans throughout it.

But Jacobs has made tough calls for the better of the department time and again, letting Tuberville loose when it was an unwelcomed move by fans, and bringing Chizik in despite airport hecklers during his upswing to a national title.

Jacobs' decisions have not always been welcomed, but more often than not, they have ended up being what's best for the Auburn program.

Now, with fans restless with Jacobs, it may be time for Auburn President Jay Gogue, and the rest of the university's administration, to make the unpopular decision to keep Jay Jacobs around.

[Snaggletiger]

To be fair, the new basketball arena and indoor foosballz facility have to go as a feather in his cap since we're pointing out the things that have happened under his tenure.  Probably would have happened anyway but they are in fact, a couple of very positive things. 

However, using Palowaloalski and Barbee to prop up Jacobs is laughable at best.  So, Polaski had one decent season.  That was 09'.  And since then....?  Do I think Barbee is an upgrade from Lebo?  Yes.  I also think the stray tabby cat that took up at our house would be an upgrade.  IMO, Barbee will do some good things at Auburn but so far....?  Um, not so much.