I wasn't able to watch the SEC Championship live. (My fault) I was fortunate enough to find a repeat performance last night and I watched every single glorious second of the game. As I watch the Tigers completely dismantle a perceived blue blood (a status I believe to be fraudulent) I couldn't help but ponder the work of Bruce Pearl in comparison to that of our football coach.
I don't think it's flattering for Malzahn.
Bruce Pearl is building a program. I firmly believe that. Malzahn has cobbled together a couple of teams. There's a vast difference.
Some of that is expectations.
Pearl inherited a dumpster that was completely engulfed in flames. There was no historical frame of reference other than one Chris Porter season that was somewhat tainted and a mid 80s run that featured a future NBA Hall of Famer and another who'd win NBA Rookie of the Year and carve out a 14-year pro career. His first task was to make Auburn respectable and he didn't really have to worry about the social media mob coming after him if he lost a game or two.
Malzahn came back to a team that was fairly stocked with talent. Only two years removed from a national title and a program that has been a perennial contender. Auburn doesn't do long stretches of horrific football like Auburn did basketball. He had significant built in advantages, but he also suffered from expectations; expectations which, in the era of Tuscaloosa cheating, are a tall order. His first season was so far above what was expected of him and of the team that he set an unrealistic bar.
Pearl has extensive experience coaching. Auburn is his sixth stop, his fourth as head coach. He's coached with and against a variety of good coaches. He's put in the work. 37 years ago, he was an assistant coach at Stanford. He's won division and national titles in D2. He's seen it all.
Fourteen years ago, Gus Malzahn was a high school coach. Nine of the years since his prep days, he's been at Auburn either as OC or HC. One dysfunctional year at Arkansas, two years as co-OC at Tulsa, one season at Arky State. That's his resume. He doesn't have the network or associations to make quality assistant hires. Seriously, now far are we away from Kodi Burns as OC, Keihl Frazier as WR coach and Jeremy Johnson as RB coach? This is the biggest sticking point for me with Gus. He simply doesn't have the experience to do this job. He's learning as he goes.
Bruce is clearly in charge of the program. From the very first day he was hired he started selling himself, selling the program. He brings unprecedented energy, boundless enthusiasm and an infectious sense of joy. Even before his teams started winning he elevated the program's profile just with his relentless positivity. Even when there was no rational reason to be positive and the program was a sinking tanker or oil, he still radiated confidence.
Malzahn? Well we had that first, fun 'boom' season. But from that point on, he's really struggled from a personality standpoint. He's not a good public speaker. He doesn't exude confidence or enthusiasm. He often looks tentative, confused and bewildered on the sidelines. His press conferences are exercises in awkwardness. He doesn't appear comfortable in his own skin. That probably wouldn't matter if his teams were consistent or showed improvement. But the sad fact is that they don't. They're up and down. Momentum is squandered. Goodwill is wasted. Over the last several years, we've gotten unwarranted pre-season bumps because there is talent and people know it. Give Gus a high pre-season rating? He will wipe his butt with it and toss the paper in the commode.
I think it's fair to say that every player on this basketball team is better for having worked under Pearl. Name a single football player who has truly improved because of Malzahn.
Pearl is creating a culture of success. His players love playing for him. What culture does Malzahn develop? Paranioa? Mismanagement? Confusion? I'm calling the plays, no I'm not, yes I am, no I'm not. That's classic management bumbling by someone who has no management experience. When you have a receiver coming out prior to the draft stating as a fact that he didn't get much coaching, that the routes were simplistic, that he didn't get a true chance to display his talents? And even worse, he said it with no malice or regret, that it just was what it was? That's sad.
Pearl has steadily built this program in to a national contender. Even though the NCAA took a giant dump on us with the bracket seeding, AU is back in the tournament for the second straight year. We're quibbling because we think we deserved better than a five seed (and we did). Maybe not having to labor under the pressure of rabid fan expectations made his path easier. But is there one among us who truly believes that AU will take a major step back as long as Pearl remains focused? I don't.
Is Malzahn building the Auburn program and enhancing the brand? I don't know that he is. I don't have a real feel for the direction we're headed.
Bruce Pearl took a moribund program and made it relevant. As long as he's here, I have confidence it will remain relevant. If he sticks with us long enough, he has a chance to build a program that will persist even after he's gone.
Is Malzahn giving us that? I don't think so. And then at the very end I step back to consider that he is toiling in the shadow of Saban and battling what is, in my opinion, the most corrupt organization since the mafia heyday in the 50s. He's still managing to recruit quality players in the face of blatant pay-for-play from the west and the budding cash spigot now flowing in the east. And although he's not exactly holding his own -- one out of three is about what we get -- he has, at least, delivered some of the most satisfying wins in recent memory. Paradoxically, he's also delivered some of the most puzzling losses I can ever remember. It will be a long, long time before I forgive that turd smear that was the Tennessee game in 18. Inexcusable, unexplainable.
tl;dr version:
Pearl is a program builder, Malzahn builds teams but the program has no identity. I hope we keep Pearl for as long as he's still breathing. And I hope Malzahn eventually figures out how to turn the flashes into a sustained flame but I just don't think he's got the background to do it. He might at some other time and at some other place down the road. Unfortunately we've banked on him learning from his own voice.
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