Home Run Hire?

Snaggletiger · « **on:** November 26, 2018, 10:46:09 PM »

Yeah, this is long, but the season is over.

The inevitable speculation is already starting concerning Malzahn's future at Auburn. Logical and somewhat rational thinking would indicate that Auburn backed itself into a corner and paying anything close to the epic buyout they negotiated would make them the laughing stock of college football and the business world. However, many AU fans feel it justified based on the laughable, one-sided contract given to a coach who has not lost less than 4 games in 5 years now. Will it happen? I have no clue. Nor does anyone else, and methinks many are getting trolled by the rumors and in-your-end-OH's being offered as comedy relief by rival fans.

But let's play along and go totally hypothetical here.  What if they canned Gus tomorrow? Well, one thing I can say for certain about that is if they did, they already had a plan in motion. But let's take that in another direction. Gus is gone and the coaching search is on. My question, as the title indicates, is does Auburn have the intention, much less the desire or ability, to make the "Home Run Hire"?

First, you have to define home run hire. Probably different in everyone's mind. Let me give you mine. A coach who is a proven winner at the highest level, be it college or pro.  One who is strong willed enough to come in and say, "The hell with the way you've been doing it. You hired me. Now you're going to do it my way." Alabama did that with Saban. He was a winner everywhere he went, sans Miami, and is just the type of egotistical, zero personality bastard to make that happen. Plus, he has a fan base and boosters that live and die according to what the Tahd is doing on the football field and are willing to do whatever it take$ to make $ure he ha$ the re$ource$ needed to get the job done. Doesn't hurt to be suck buddies with the NCAA Prez who turns a blind eye to everything.

Okay, so home run hires. Well, geez Snags, who is out there? First off, take all that bullshit about, "He ain't coming."  "Auburn can't get him". "He has too much baggage". "I don't like him because..."....and throw that crap in the toilet. Nick Saban is an ASSHOLE!!! He acts like a 3rd grader who just had someone cut in line in front of him in the lunch room. He has the people skills of Joy Behar and Woopi Goldberg being keynote speakers at the Republican National Convention. He wins and wins big. The hell with everything else.

Who? Bob Stoops. Dabo Swinney. Urban Meyer. Well there's 3 right there off the top of my head. Am I pushing for any of them? No, just throwing YUGE names against the wall, all of which would fucking kill. Before you go and start poking holes in any of them, first think about the coaches themselves. Meet all the criteria above. What about money? Geez, you assholes are talking about scraping up $32 million plus about $6 million more just to get our current staff to leave. You think money is somehow an issue? Not at Auburn. Go ahead, think of some more BIGLY names out there.

But would Auburn ever do it? Despite the fact that they've thrown this obscene amount of money at a HORRIBLE coach like Malzahn, I truly don't believe they would ever go Bruce Pearl where the football program is concerned. (Pearl sucks BTW) Look at our history:

Shug retires....Doug Barfield.

Barfield fails...Pat Dye. I was around for the Dye hire. He had done a decent job at East Carolina and Wyoming. We lucked out big time and found a diamond in the rough. Home run hire? Not even close.

Dye exits and in comes...Terry Bowden. A collective..."Who". Terry Bowden, the former head coach of Salem and Samford. I won't even address home run hire.

Bowden goes Pffffffft....in comes Tommy Tuberville. I liked the hire. Did a good job at an NCAA sanction strapped Ole Miss. Certainly didn't make any waves around college football.

So Tommy takes his $5 million buyout and Auburn moves on to 5-19 Gene Chizik. Need I say more?

Chiz blows up and we form a search committee that comes up with a former high school coach who has one year of HC experience in the Sun Belt.

Folks, that dates back 40 years. Our history says there's no way in hell we'd ever go for the fences with our next football hire. No way we ever say, "Just this once, let's see if we can take it to the next level and stay there." We have the facilities. We have the fan base. We have the tradition. We're in the best conference in America. And we have the money. The question is not about what you think of any possible HR hires. The question is simply, would Auburn ever go there?

bgreene · « **Reply #1 on:** November 26, 2018, 11:01:50 PM »

I think we are at a time that it being seriously thought about. TPTB are different then the ones of the past. I believe that because of little nicky, and the lack of consistency from our current coach, that a big hire is truly what they are wanting. Also, with a big hire means more money coming in. You bring in a big name that proves they can win and contest for the SECCG every year, more people willing to pay big money for anything Auburn.

Snaggletiger · « **Reply #2 on:** November 26, 2018, 11:14:54 PM »

Bruce Pearl blew me away. (Despite the fact that I know he's obviously the wrong man for the job.

) When they announced Pearl, I was thinking someone is playing a cruel joke on us. That's not Auburn. We're Cliff Ellis, Tommy Joe Eagles, Jeff Lebo, Tony Barbaric. We're Terry Bowden, Gene Chizik and Gus Malzahn. We don't do shit like that...ever. If...and I say IF...Gus were gone, would they really go steroid level, Barry Bonds, Mark McGuire and Sammy Sosa? 40 years of history says no.

GH2001 · « **Reply #3 on:** November 26, 2018, 11:24:22 PM »

Quote from: bgreene on November 26, 2018, 11:01:50 PM

I think we are at a time that it being seriously thought about. TPTB are different then the ones of the past. I believe that because of little nicky, and the lack of consistency from our current coach, that a big hire is truly what they are wanting. Also, with a big hire means more money coming in. You bring in a big name that proves they can win and contest for the SECCG every year, more people willing to pay big money for anything Auburn.

I think, this ^^^

saban has changed a lot.

Saban was in the middle of his current run in 2013. We hired the guy who ate his lunch in 2010. Was it the right move, hell no. But Bama didnâ€™t look nearly as invinceable and the juggernaut as they do in 2018. I honestly thought with 2010 and 2013 that we had put a nice sized dent in their armor. Itâ€™s a different time. Like them or not theyâ€™ve changed the whole game. And peopleâ€™s perception. I think auburn has no choice but to go big here. And I THINK that some PTB finally have awakened and realize this.

This was Gaâ€™s thinking with Kirby. Take a saban protege. A Ga guy. Give him the keys to the kingdom and some money bags, protect him from the Ajc and let him do his thing.

To a degree this is what we have to do or we will be having the conversation again in 2-4 years after gus is gone.

Kaos · « **Reply #4 on:** November 26, 2018, 11:33:54 PM »

The Braves hired Brian McCann. Can he still hit homeruns?

The Prowler · « **Reply #5 on:** November 27, 2018, 12:42:56 AM »

Bill Belichick

jmar · « **Reply #6 on:** November 27, 2018, 01:19:53 AM »

Quote from: GH2001 on November 26, 2018, 11:24:22 PM

I think, this ^^^

saban has changed a lot.

Saban was in the middle of his current run in 2013. We hired the guy who ate his lunch in 2010. Was it the right move, hell no. But Bama didnâ€™t look nearly as invinceable and the juggernaut as they do in 2018. I honestly thought with 2010 and 2013 that we had put a nice sized dent in their armor. Itâ€™s a different time. Like them or not theyâ€™ve changed the whole game. And peopleâ€™s perception. I think auburn has no choice but to go big here. And I THINK that some PTB finally have awakened and realize this.

This was Gaâ€™s thinking with Kirby. Take a saban protege. A Ga guy. Give him the keys to the kingdom and some money bags, protect him from the Ajc and let him do his thing.

To a degree this is what we have to do or we will be having the conversation again in 2-4 years after gus is gone.

We could do worse than a Stoops/Dabo protege in Brent Venables if we were wanting to go the route of top flight coordinators.
Good to hear Stoops deny any contact.

Jumbo · « **Reply #7 on:** November 27, 2018, 03:36:08 AM »

So Stoops denial means that we have been in talks with him 100%.

Saniflush · « **Reply #8 on:** November 27, 2018, 06:46:55 AM »

Quote from: GH2001 on November 26, 2018, 11:24:22 PM

This was Gaâ€™s thinking with Kirby. Take a saban protege. A Ga guy. Give him the keys to the kingdom and some money bags, protect him from the Ajc and let him do his thing.

But can we really protect him from the Opelika Auburn News?

wesfau2 · « **Reply #9 on:** November 27, 2018, 08:05:17 AM »

There are less than a handful of names that blow my skirt up given the current CFB environment.

I think it's a fool's errand to chase Saban without the attendant NCAA protections.

You point out the relative unknown quantities that came to coach at Auburn over the last 40 years...and they're the ones that laid the foundation for success with stability.

Chasing Saban got us Chiz (and the crystal) and Gus.

As backassward as our "process" looks, it hits more often than not if we disregard the Saban-effect.

The Six · « **Reply #10 on:** November 27, 2018, 08:09:38 AM »

Here's the rub - Auburn doesn't need to do something drastic to try and win an arms race with Alabama or Georgia. Fact is, Auburn attracts top talent. We just haven't done much with a lot of it. Need coaches who not only recruit but develop these guys. That brings stability and wins.

wesfau2 · « **Reply #11 on:** November 27, 2018, 08:12:20 AM »

Quote from: The Six on November 27, 2018, 08:09:38 AM

Here's the rub - Auburn doesn't need to do something drastic to try and win an arms race with Alabama or Georgia. Fact is, Auburn attracts top talent. We just haven't done much with a lot of it. Need coaches who not only recruit but develop these guys. That brings stability and wins.

Yup.

Kaos · « **Reply #12 on:** November 27, 2018, 08:56:50 AM »

Malzahn recruits as well as anybody weâ€™ve ever had. Doing it in the era of Saban is even more impressive.

He just doesnâ€™t know what to do with it when he gets it.

bgreene · « **Reply #13 on:** November 27, 2018, 09:14:12 AM »

Quote from: wesfau2 on November 27, 2018, 08:05:17 AM

There are less than a handful of names that blow my skirt up given the current CFB environment.

I think it's a fool's errand to chase Saban without the attendant NCAA protections.

You point out the relative unknown quantities that came to coach at Auburn over the last 40 years...and they're the ones that laid the foundation for success with stability.

Chasing Saban got us Chiz (and the crystal) and Gus.

As backassward as our "process" looks, it hits more often than not if we disregard the Saban-effect.

I'm not saying we're chasing little nick. I am saying, that because of what he has done in turd town, TPB are awake to the fact that they can't go hire someone without a proven record. They also know that this is the best conference and that we are in the best division of that conference, and if you want to win in said conference, you need a coach that can win. And yes, to win you have to be able to develop players and make them better. Which brings me to my previous point, the new PTB want to win, and want a coach that can come in and take the talent we have and build with it.

GH2001 · « **Reply #14 on:** November 27, 2018, 09:37:37 AM »

Quote from: The Six on November 27, 2018, 08:09:38 AM

Here's the rub - Auburn doesn't need to do something drastic to try and win an arms race with Alabama or Georgia. Fact is, Auburn attracts top talent. We just haven't done much with a lot of it. Need coaches who not only recruit but develop these guys. That brings stability and wins.

No. Not drastic.

Proven.

Whether thatâ€™s Bill Clark or Bob Stoops.

Chizik was not proven. Gus was not proven.

Its time we hopped on this train and hire a good coach who is proven. Who can recruit and develop and be consistent. There are coaches out there who have a track record of these things.