For the life of me, I just don't get the logic behind reworking this man's contract. He was signed through the 2020 season. 3 more years. What about honoring the contract everyone agreed on? He won 2 big games this year. Write the man a big incentive check for that and tell him if he thinks the grass is greener somewhere else, then so be it. Auburn always gonna' Auburn.
I don't think it was a reward as much as it was a capitulation.
This was market driven. At the current prices you can gamble that the next guy will catch lightning in a bottle or you can pay for stability.
I submit that the secret to Auburn's success has mostly been due to stability in its coaching staffs. That sounds crazy after the 2008-13 stretch, but those years were the outliers in a long history of relatively little head coach turnover.
It was important to extend the contract, as the recruiting pitch against him was essentially "he won't be there when you're a senior." The cost of that extension was, due to market conditions beyond our control, abnormally high this year.
I think it will prove to be a prudent investment. But what the fuck do I know?