Scarbo knows it, I know it....

[AUownsU]

And you should know by now. The Tigers won't be down for long. Copy form AL.com

http://www.al.com/auburnfootball/index.ssf/2012/11/scarbinsky_history_says_auburn.html#incart_river

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama - There are so many things we don’t know about Auburn football at the moment.

We don’t know when Jay Gogue will pull the trigger on Gene Chizik.

We don’t know if Gogue will open the trap door on Jay Jacobs.

We don’t know which coach will be asked to come in and clean up the biggest Auburn football mess in decades.

There’s no guarantee that Gogue will make the right move on any of those fronts because the school president isn’t exactly well-versed in this department.

Despite all that misery and uncertainty, though, one thing seems as certain as the eagle landing at midfield in Jordan-Hare Stadium before kickoff Saturday against Alabama A&M.

Auburn will come back, and it’ll come back strong. The only variable is time.

You’d have an easier time killing Freddy, Jason and Michael Myers than you would burying Auburn football. The history of the last three decades and change is proof.

Auburn has changed head coaches four times since 1980, and not once because the man on his way out the door was leaving for another job.

It looked bleak in 1980. Doug Barfield went 5-6 overall, 0-6 in the SEC, and lost 42-0 to Tennessee. Auburn’s Iron Bowl losing streak was at eight and counting.

The Tigers, after watching Vince Dooley get cold feet, after interviewing Bobby Bowden, Dan Reaves and Jackie Sherrill, hired Pat Dye from Wyoming. Three years later, they went 11-1, won the SEC and were named national champions by the New York Times.

Things looked dim again in 1992. Dye was forced to resign in the middle of an NCAA investigation that would cost the program a two-year postseason and TV ban. His last team went 2-5-1 in the SEC and lost his last game 17-0 to an Alabama team en route to a national title.

Auburn hired Terry Bowden from Samford. The next year, the Tigers went 11-0 and finished No. 4 in the nation.

The dark cloud returned in 1998. Bowden quit at midseason before he could be fired. The team went 3-8 overall and 1-7 in the SEC.

Auburn hired Tommy Tuberville from Ole Miss. Two years later, the Tigers went 9-2 in the regular season, capping it off with a 9-0 win in Tuscaloosa and an SEC West title.

The next eclipse arrived in 2008. Tuberville’s farewell produced a 5-7 overall mark and a 2-6 SEC record. The bitter end was a 36-0 defeat at Alabama.

Auburn hired Gene Chizik from Iowa State. Two years later, the Tigers went 14-0 and won the BCS national championship.

Conventional wisdom says that anyone can win 10 games at Alabama because every head coach there since Bear Bryant has, at least once, but what about Auburn? Each of the last four head coaches there has won at least 11 games in a season at least once. Each of the last three head coaches there has had an undefeated season, and two of those perfect records came with a national championship coach on the Alabama sideline.

So Auburn has managed to win a few games when Alabama wasn’t coached by Bill Curry or Mike Shula.

History tells us that, not unlike Alabama, Auburn has a deep-seated need to be good in football and the well-heeled means to make it happen. At least in the short term. No matter who the school hires to get it done.

[Godfather]

meh...still had to bring up bama in a fucking Auburn article.

[dallaswareagle]

Keep the same staff and admin which will result in the same program.   

[AUownsU]

meh...still had to bring up bama in a fudgeing Auburn article.

Well of course man. Its the only way AL.com would allow it.

[Pell City Tiger]

Fuck Kevin Scarbinsky. He'll follow this one up with a scathing hit piece on whomever we hire to replace Eugene.

Mark my words.

[JR4AU]

Scarbo is right assuming there's someone that will make the hard decisions like were made in 80, 92, 98, and 08.  The guy that made those is gone now.

[jmar]

Fuck Kevin Scarbinsky. He'll follow this one up with a scathing hit piece on whomever we hire to replace Eugene.

Mark my words.

I want Scarbinsky to continue calling it as he sees it because he's the only hope we have.
 

[AUChizad]

Scarbinsky: Auburn fans call for change but fear they won't get it Kevin Scarbinsky | kscarbinsky@al.com 11/15/2012 6:58 PM

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama - You may listen to their opinions, but you don’t let recruits or players decide whether to keep a coach.

You should listen to their opinions, but you don’t let fans tell you whether to keep an athletics director.

You don’t take a poll before you make a critical personnel decision that will affect the most public part of a major public university for years to come.

That said, one question has to be asked as Jay Gogue gets closer to making or revealing what will be the most-scrutinized personnel decisions of his tenure as the Auburn president.

Is he ready to weather the storm he’s going to set off if he retains AD Jay Jacobs and/or head football coach Gene Chizik?

Gogue was on the job when Jacobs hired Chizik, although it was noted at the time and should be remembered that the president was away on business the day the AD introduced the new coach.

The hiring of Chizik may have been the most divisive decision in the modern history of Auburn athletics - but it’ll pale in comparison to the backlash if Jacobs or Chizik is allowed to keep his job after the worst Auburn football season in more than half a century.

Auburn fans have flooded my email in-box in recent weeks, and the overwhelming majority of them have supported sweeping change at the top of the athletics department and the football program.

Those letters have come from a cross-section of Auburn people, like the 1984 Auburn pharmacy graduate. He said his wife and their children also graduated from Auburn. He said he has been a Chizik supporter, but no longer.

He said he now supports both Chizik and Jacobs stepping down and the school starting over.

There was a letter from another Auburn graduate, a lifetime member of the alumni association. He said it’s embarrassing to watch the Tigers play football in Jordan-Hare Stadium or on TV. He said a new coach and AD would give Auburn fans hope.

He added that this is an opportunity for Gogue to show if he’s a leader.

A former Auburn coach - not in the sport of football - took time to write. He questioned the leadership of the athletics department he witnessed under Jacobs.

A former member of the Auburn athletics administration also sent a letter raising similar questions with different examples. He said he believes that, unless the current athletics administration is replaced, personal values will be placed ahead of professional decisions and Auburn won’t be able to reach its true potential.

Another letter came from an Auburn graduate who applied for one of the recent open spots on the board of trustees. He questioned whether the current board has the experience and the guts to make the tough decisions about athletics he believes have to be made but expressed his hope that the board and Gogue will come together to make those decisions.

And on and on it goes. One letter after another. One frustrated Auburn fan, graduate, former employee after another.

They express their frustration at Chizik and his coaching staff. They express their frustration at Jacobs and his administration. They express the hope that Gogue and the board will see the need for change, but they also share the fear that nothing will change.

That Gogue will retain Jacobs. That Jacobs will support retaining Chizik or, if he’s given a voice in hiring a new coach, won’t learn from the mistakes he made during the last search.

The letters keep coming, and the clock continues to tick.

This time, Gogue can’t pass the buck. He can’t leave on other business. He has to make two very important and very public decisions, and he has to face the consequences whichever way he goes.