Sigh...

[AUChizad]

All the talk about what Carlos Rogers and Carnell had to say about him. Not hearing much about these comments...

THE WINNING GENE?

Auburn's search for a football coach has apparently ended with the hiring of Iowa State's Gene Chizik, and the reaction Saturday evening was underwhelming to say the least.

"People have been calling and e-mailing me all evening, asking me what I think," said Ralph Jordan Jr., son of legendary Auburn coach Ralph "Shug" Jordan.

"I tell them the same thing: Everybody deserves a chance."

And so the reaction went, from former Auburn head coach Pat Dye to former players like Joe Cribbs and Cole Cubelic to prominent alumni.

Auburn Athletics Director Jay Jacobs' very public search for Tommy Tuberville's replacement ended in Ames, Iowa, with the 47-year old native of Clearwater, Fla.

Chizik is not unknown to Auburn fans. He was Tuberville's defensive coordinator in 2004 when the Tigers finished 13-0.

But he was something of a surprise.

"It's an interesting hire," said Cribbs, a former Auburn running back standout.

"I have a lot of respect for the guy (Chizik). But you look at his record as a head coach and you have to scratch your head and wonder what Auburn was doing and why they think it's a good move," said former lineman Cubelic.

"No comment," said former Auburn kicker Al Del Greco, now a sports radio talk show host on WJOX-FM.

A mass e-mail from the Auburn "A" Club members, made of up former lettermen, urged its membership to e-mail their opinions to Auburn President Jay Gogue and Jacobs.

Dye bristled when asked if he had played any role in the hiring of Chizik. Someone familiar with the search said Dye's endorsement played a key role in Chizik's hiring.

"That's wrong," the former Auburn coach said. "I told Jay when he got started that I would stay out of this, that I didn't want any part of this. I told him nobody out there was better qualified than him to make this decision because it's his job. I told him he has more to gain and more to lose, and whoever he hires, he's got to make it right.

"I admire Dr. Gogue and the board for giving Jay (Jacobs) the freedom to go and hire the coach he thinks is best for Auburn. He had no interference and no input from anybody, including me."

However, Dye did say he thinks Chizik is "a heck of a football coach, a solid guy. There's not a finer individual, character-wise. ... But when his name came up, it shocked me. Totally. I really didn't know he was under consideration."

Beau Byrd, president of the Greater Birmingham Auburn Club, was cautious in his comments as well.

"He (Chizik) did a wonderful job as defensive coordinator at Auburn, when we went undefeated in 2004," Byrd said. "He was defensive coordinator at Texas when they won the national championship. Hopefully he can replicate that kind of success here at Auburn."

At question seems to be Chizik's 5-19 record as head coach at Iowa State, including a 2-10 mark in 2008. The Cyclones' defense dropped this season as well, from 65th to 111th nationally in total defense, 93rd to 110th in scoring defense, 44th to 95th in rushing defense, and 91st to 115th in passing defense.

"To be honest, I don't have a problem with Gene Chizik," Cubelic said. "I think so many people wanted to answer Alabama's hire in Nick Saban, and people got caught up in the idea that we had to counter what Alabama has done. But there were just not a lot of great candidates out there. Some Auburn fans were hopeful they'd get someone that would be a big-name guy."

Jordan said he started getting phone calls and e-mails from unhappy Auburn fans almost as soon as word got out.

"Mostly people asked me if I knew what the criteria was for this hire," Jordan said. "I understood they were looking for someone with prior head coaching experience, somebody who had been part of a winning program, and someone who had coached in the SEC.

"I guess they didn't have a lot of people that met that criteria. I assume Gene meets the criteria they set up, and Auburn people need to acknowledge that and move on and support the team."