Time to face facts. Unless he gets caught up in the worst losing streak in history or some sort of serious NCAA scandal, chances of Gus being axed are very thin. The PTB seem to like him, the AD loves him, and he doesn't push back, ask for stupid thing, and mostly insulates the program from all sorts of criticism. While that last bit may alienate the fans, the PTB still sees the $$$$ rolling in and therefore, they don't care.
Let's also examine exactly where this program resides. Four (4) times in the last 20 years, Auburn finished the season in the top 10 (2013, 2010, 2004, and either 2005 or 2006). Otherwise, 15-25 is more like it and usually 8 to 9 wins is the cap before bowl games. Gus is good enough to maintain that. Maddening as it is, Auburn has hosses on defense and enough up front with the run game to take care of the teams that are dumpster fires consistently and occasionally reach up and grab higher fruit off the tree. Can Auburn attract another coach to do that? Sure. Can they get one to rise above it? No, not from where I sit.
So maybe this is all about tempering expectations, realizing 2010 and 2013 are the anomalies and shouldn't drive our expectations every year. Maybe we should be like Iowa and be happy with what we have, happy with our traditions, our internal love for the program, and stop all this nonsense and covetousness of those who cheat better than we do.
8-4 or 9-3 is fine. It's fine.