This is going to be the last time I comment on this topic (I hope) but there are some misconceptions here. First, I'm about as far from woke as you can get. Opposing this hire during the process and being deeply unhappy with the decision once it's made has nothing to do with being woke, liberal, virtual lynch mob or anything remotely like that. Second, I've loved and still love Auburn for my entire life. I love what Auburn represents (represented). I like (most of) my brothers and sisters who feel the same. Even the dumb ones. There are some I don't like but that's any family. Third, this has been a long time coming. Since about the time Tuberville was shoved out, it seems like Auburn started to change -- in a direction I have grown increasingly uncomfortable with. This hire just seems like a tipping point for me. Fourth, if you've learned anything about me in the decades we've shared this space, you know my spidey sense isn't perfect, but it's pretty good. I'm right more often than I'm wrong. It's buzzing like a fat teenager's vibrator after a Harry Styles concert right now. Fifth, my opposition to his hire has nothing to do with not "forgiving" him for his past transgressions (not my place) or thinking I'm more moral or whatever. I don't. Everybody fucks up. I have. I will again. It's not about fucking up, it's how you deal with it and that is where my opposition to Freeze begins.
I don't want this to be about feelings. I need it to be about facts. So before you brand me as a hysterical Karen, here are the facts that led me to this place.
1. Despite the projection, he's not a "great" coach. Wes posted his record. It speaks for itself. Auburn needed to make a strong statement with this hire. This isn't it. It's my personal opinion that Gus is a better coach than this guy. For that reason, I honestly believe this is a step back and down.
2. I don't care that he hired escorts. Who hasn't? It's problematic if he was procuring them for high school seniors, but that's never been proven. My issue is his arrogance and stupidity. He used his company phone. Only a moron would do that. It's a level of stupidity that can't be redeemed.
3. I don't care that he cheated. Who doesn't? Once again, it was the arrogance and stupidity of how he did it and then how he dealt with the aftermath. Quoting scripture online and pumping his own piousness? Going online and daring people to turn them in? Lying about what he knew to the point that Houston Nutt sued him - a lawsuit which led to his phone records being exposed? That's an even bigger level of stupidity. It can't be fixed. The man is a liar. He is a cheater. It bothers me that he is now being stirred in the same pot with Bruce, which isn't remotely fair. Freeze is what he is, he will do it again. Leopards are always leopards. And he's a stupid leopard.
4. I do care that when he's cornered, his fallback position is to throw himself on the cross and invoke Jesus. I find it disingenuous and phony. He's Jimmy Swaggart in a visor. He's Jim Bakker in a sweater. I don't have a lot of tolerance for those people.
I had other things, and it was written better than this originally but my dog jumped on the keyboard and deleted it. Maybe that was a sign.
I still love Auburn. Always will. I just can't accept Freeze. I won't campaign for his dismissal. I won't wish him harm. I won't hope the team loses. Auburn needed to hire a strong, positive presence to help restore the dignity to the program. Instead it pulled Colonel Harvey and his Magic Elixir off the streets of Mayberry.
It just doesn't work for me. For my own sake (and for yours probably) I need to put it away.
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