Part of me understands the reasoning if you're the casual fan looking at at it from the outside. If you're a fan of say...Texas..whoever...that's the assumption you make about Chizik's coaching performance to this point. Two 8-5 seasons on either side of being lucky enough to strike gold with Newton. I get it. It's fair for Joe Schmoe in Bumfuck, Nebraska to see it that way. But not Matt Hayes. It's his job to actually look at the situation as a whole and understand what Chizik and staff have dealt with since he's been here.
It's his job to know that 2010 was as much about senior leadership and experience across the board as it was Cam Newton. It's his job to know that team was absolutely gutted because of Tommy Tuberville's poor recruiting efforts his last two years. Not saying Chizik should be in the top 3. He's still got a lot to prove with his own players. But Hayes' reasoning shows he did nothing more than act like the fan in Bumfuck.
Matt Hayes doesn't live in Alabama. He doesn't live 15 mins from campus like me. He doesn't go onto our campus often. He doesn't live amongst our hated rivals who think its funny to rub their nuts on another dude's mouth or kill 150 year old trees over a football game. He is not a donor, a booster or a ticket holder.
Because of the lack of all these things, he cannot see how a Mr. Gene Chizik has totally changed the culture of our entire program. There is unity, he has good kids (if you are not, you won't be in Auburn long), the fans are content with him, there is a different atmosphere on campus. Does he win every game? No, but he wins the games we should win for the most part with a couple of upsets that go our way. He recruits lights out and nationally. He is willing to make the moves and changes that his predecessor was not willing to do. This is a business to a certain degree and he understands that. But he also knows who drives the program - the fans and donors. I've said it before - Chizik (like Dye) treads a perfect line of winning ball games, having fun in the process and appealing to the fans. Although I'm sure some of Dye's former players would disagree on the fun part.
THIS, is what Matt Hayes doesn't understand because from his view it is impossible to see these things. He is not one of us. I bet you though that an objective journalist that resides in our backyard and sees these things understands - hint: Tony Barnhart.
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