In Defense Of Jay Jacobs

[Saniflush]

First you are the one who used the word hate.  Not I.  

You are assuming too much.  Every hire Jacobs has made to this point seems to be going the right direction but that is all.  If you are ready king him AD for life that's your business.  I am not.  I hope he turns out to be better than Jeff Beard but he has a long row to hoe before that will the the case.

All I said was that I am no fan of Jacobs being AD.  Doesn't mean that he will be a bad one or that he will not grow into the job.  I was no fan of his predecessor.  I thought he to be a much better writer than AD but that was my opinion.

To answer your question I want long term stability within our athletic department.  We shall see if Jacobs brings that by hiring the right people (which on the surface it seems he has done a reasonable job of) and  keeping them afterward.  

[AUChizad]

First you are the one who used the word hate.  Not I.  

You are assuming too much.  Every hire Jacobs has hired to this point seems to be going the right direction but that is all.  If you are ready king him AD for life that's your business.  I am not.  I hope he turns out to be better than Jeff Beard but he has a long row to hoe before that will the the case.

All I said was that I am no fan of Jacobs being AD.  Doesn't mean that he will be a bad one or that he will not grow into the job.  I was no fan of his predecessor.  I thought he to be a much better writer than AD but that was my opinion.

To answer your question I want long term stability within our athletic department.  We shall see if Jacobs brings that by hiring the right people (which on the surface it seems he has done a reasonable job of) to keeping the right people.  

We're playing semantics I guess. When I read "I'm no fan of _______", it comes across as "I dislike ________". Not ready to crown him greatest AD of all time? Fair enough. Yes, Beard was a fantastic AD. I agree with you on Housel as well, and therefore think Jacobs is, at least, a step up. Whoever hired Dye, Sonny, & Baird in the late 70's/early 80's would be the only AD I'd say was definitely ahead of him. By the way, who was that? I know Dye took over in 81, so I guess he gets credit for Baird. I guess he was hired by the University to replace the previous AD? It wasn't Barfield, was it?

Either way, I guess whoever preceded Dye as AD and Dye would have to split the credit for the 80's being as great as they were. Jacobs has built this all by himself. And whoever hired Dye, probably hired Barfield too, so there's that...

Just saying, every one of his hires have been outstanding. Give the guy the benefit of the doubt as at least a good AD, even if not the best AD.

[AUChizad]

Yet another relevant article to this discussion. This one from Scarbinsky.

http://blog.al.com/kevin-scarbinsky/2010/05/scarbinsky_jacobs_hires_should.html

Scarbinsky: Jacobs answers that infamous airport heckler with results
By Kevin Scarbinsky -- The Birmingham News
May 11, 2010, 5:30AM

Jacobs introduces new Auburn basketball coach Tony Barbee. (The Birmingham News / Mark Almond)Last month, a school-record crowd turned out to watch Gene Chizik’s second Auburn football team at A-Day.

Last week, Tony Barbee signed his second high-profile prospect for the Auburn basketball team, which is almost ready to move into its shiny new home.

Over the weekend, John Pawlowski’s Auburn baseball team completed its first sweep of traditional power Mississippi State since 1987 to all but assure that the Tigers will return to the SEC Baseball Tournament for the first time since 2003.

See a pattern here? It’s called momentum.

When that momentum involves the top three sports on campus, it’s an indication of an athletics department moving in the right direction.

So maybe it’s time to give a little credit to the man who hired those coaches and runs that department.

And let’s be honest. If there’s any individual in intercollegiate athletics in this state who’s been given little credit, it’s Auburn athletics director Jay Jacobs.

Being an AD is a thankless job. It’s juggling a million different tasks in private but getting recognized in public for only one – hiring and firing coaches.

Mal Moore’s done a lot of good things at Alabama, but nothing will make his legacy pop like being the AD that hired Nick Saban.

If an AD hires the right coaches and they win, the coaches get most of the credit. If he hires the wrong coaches and then has to fire them and, as is often the case, keep paying them, boom. It’s his fault.

In extreme cases, the AD might even get heckled on the front end at his own airport.

Jacobs wasn’t the first AD to get booed. He might’ve been the first to have that moment captured on tape and used as an amusing sound effect on an all-sports radio station in the largest city in his home state.

It’s easy to forget that it was one person who booed Jacobs at the Auburn Airport after he returned from nailing down the hire of Chizik, one disgruntled loudmouth who shouted, "We want a leader, not a loser.’’

But at that moment, that angry mantra seemed destined to become the subtitle of Jacobs’ unofficial biography.

To his credit – there’s that word again – it’s more appropriate to define him by what’s happened since.

After one encouraging season, and one big-time recruiting class, Chizik looks like an inspired out-of-the-box choice.

When Jacobs fired Jeff Lebo, even the AD’s critics within the Auburn family questioned whether a man with a football background understood enough about basketball to hire a quality coach in that sport.

Jacobs showed a smart manager’s ability to know what he doesn’t know, and so he asked for advice from basketball people like John Mengelt, Eddie Fogler and Charles Barkley.

It’s still terribly early, but two signees into his tenure, Barbee looks like one of the smarter moves from the just-completed coaching carousel.

And then there’s Pawlowski. In just his second season, he has Auburn one game out of first place in the SEC West with two series left. The team's magic number to get back to Hoover and the SEC Tournament is two.

Jacobs hired these three coaches in short order: Pawlowski in June of 2008, Chizik in December of 2008 and Barbee in March of 2010.

Only one other SEC AD has had to find men to lead his football, basketball and baseball programs in the last two years, and Kentucky’s Mitch Barnhart – a Jacobs friend and confidant – found two of them on his own campus.

Barnhart promoted baseball coach Gary Henderson and football coach Joker Phillips from within. He also hired John Calipari, Barbee’s mentor, and it wasn’t exactly a stretch for one of the best basketball programs in the nation to attract one of the best basketball coaches.

Jacobs went farther afield to land his coaches. He had a relationship with Chizik, from the football coach’s days as the Auburn defensive coordinator, but not with Barbee. He plucked Pawlowski from the College of Charleston.

None of the choices was obvious.

None of them was proven at this level.

All of them still have a lot of work to do and games to win to validate their selections, but they’ve all started to get things done.

If this keeps up, WJOX might have to shut down that sound bite. As petty as it was at the time, it just seems wrong to call Jacobs a loser now.

[DnATL]

Whoever hired Dye, Wimp, & Baird in the late 70's/early 80's

Is Sonny Smith gonna have to smack a bitch?  No, because he's not Wimp.

[Saniflush]

We're playing semantics I guess. When I read "I'm no fan of _______", it comes across as "I dislike ________". Not ready to crown him greatest AD of all time? Fair enough. Yes, Beard was a fantastic AD. I agree with you on Housel as well, and therefore think Jacobs is, at least, a step up. Whoever hired Dye, Wimp, & Baird in the late 70's/early 80's would be the only AD I'd say was definitely ahead of him. By the way, who was that? I know Dye took over in 81, so I guess he gets credit for Baird. I guess he was hired by the University to replace the previous AD? It wasn't Barfield, was it?

Either way, I guess whoever preceded Dye as AD and Dye would have to split the credit for the 80's being as great as they were. Jacobs has built this all by himself. And whoever hired Dye, probably hired Barfield too, so there's that...

Just saying, every one of his hires have been outstanding. Give the guy the benefit of the doubt as at least a good AD, even if not the best AD.

Auburn athletics and the athletic department was deep in the red when Dye took it over.  We had lost money for a number of years before him taking charge of it.  I do not remember who was AD before Dye but I would contend that Dye pretty well gets all the credit for righting the ship in the 80's.  I do not believe that Barfield ever served as AD.


I am not sure that every one of his hires have been outstanding.  We have what looks to be a very good nucleus.  We shall see if they become outstanding.

[jmar]

Do not forget that Rich Rodriguez was Mal Moore's first choice.

[AUChizad]

Is Sonny Smith gonna have to smack a bitch?  No, because he's not Wimp.

Blasphemous typo on my part. I deserve a lashing for that. Fixed.

Auburn athletics and the athletic department was deep in the red when Dye took it over.  We had lost money for a number of years before him taking charge of it.  I do not remember who was AD before Dye but I would contend that Dye pretty well gets all the credit for righting the ship in the 80's.

90% for sure. However, Sonny (not Wimp) was hired in 78, three years before Dye.

[Saniflush]

Blasphemous typo on my part. I deserve a lashing for that. Fixed.
90% for sure. However, Sonny (not Wimp) was hired in 78, three years before Dye.

Since Sonny never served as AD then I am not sure he could be credited for helping turn the AD around?

[AUChizad]

Since Sonny never served as AD then I am not sure he could be credited for helping turn the AD around?

I'm saying, the 80's were awesome. We agree. I'm saying Dye can only be credited for most, but not all of that.

Sonny was a big part of that big-three-sport awesomeness, but he was hired before Dye was hired as AD. He was hired by whoever Dye's predecessor at AD was. That guy deserves a share of the credit, is what I'm saying.

Jacobs has hired all of the coaches that have done well, and fired all of the coaches before them that were stinking it up.

[GH2001]

I'm saying, the 80's were awesome. We agree. I'm saying Dye can only be credited for most, but not all of that.

You should have lived it young one. It was great! 

Growing up in the Dye Era does tend to spoil one.

[djsimp]

You should have lived it young one. It was great! 

Growing up in the Dye Era does tend to spoil one.

Dye and Bo was one of the reasons why I am an Auburn man.

[Snaggletiger]

I was at AU in the 80's.  It was definitely a good time. I was there at Dye's hiring and like many, thought we should have landed the big name. However, one big difference that I distinctly recall was that Dye had taken two doormat programs and turned them around.  I was actually pumped about what he might do because the state of Auburn football was pretty damn bad when he came in.

I'll give Jacobs a big thumbs up for the direction it appears things are headed overall in the athletic program.  Not being a negative Nancy here but I think it has to be given more time.  Chizik has most certainly escalted the pigskin program, but we'll find out this year and next if it's smoke and mirrors.  (For the record, I don't think it is) Barbee has done all the right things to this point, exciting things...but he hasn't corched a game.  Pawlowski (sp?) has done wonders this year, but admittedly, last year suxed.  It's one year that's not over so far and maintaining will be the key.  Fortner blew it up last year..deflated this year.  

Just sayin Jacobs appears to have it all headed in the right direction. No argument there and kudos to the man.  If we're even more optimistic this time next year then wee can start putting JJ up there with some of the best in the league.