Why Jacobs hired Chizik

[Kaos]

Auburn made a stupid, stupid, stupid hire. But the reasons for the hiring were not race-based. I've puzzled over this and I know exactly what happened based on the personalities of the people involved. I don't feel like writing all this in an article today, but here's the basic scenario:

Jay Jacobs is a boob. He's an evangelical Christian, which is not necessarily a negative, but as such he thrives on emotional response as opposed to rational thinking. He's taking advice from Pat Dye, who still lives in 1984 where you just line up and "knock hell" out of people.

Jacobs talks to Gill. He has an idea of what he wants to do, he's straightforward and analytical. He's got ideas for ramping up Auburn's offense, for bringing in young, new dynamic coaches.

Dye grumbles. I love Pat Dye. He gave Auburn fans hope when we had none. He gave us back pride when it had been taken away. For that, I will be forever in his debt. BUT, Dye was raised in the old Alabama way of thinking. Dye wanted "Auburn" people to be brought in the same way the Tide used to fill its staff with old coaches and players.

Jacobs talked to a bunch of other people. Nobody was telling him what he wanted to hear. Nobody was "loving" Auburn like he thought they should, they were talking about the nuts and bolts of what they were going to do.

Enter Chizik. All hat, no cattle. The Chiz can talk a good game. He gets misty-eyed when pledging his undying love to whatever he's decided to love at the moment, whether that be ISU or Auburn. Jacobs, because he isn't very bright, falls in love with the talk and ignores the walk. He's found somebody who will live and breathe, eat and sleep Auburn. Or at least he says he will. And he gets a man-crush. Chiz tells Dye exactly what Dye wants to hear. He's getting the old gang back together. He'll fill his staff with people who know and love Auburn. He'll run the damn ball and play good defense. He'll knock hell out of some people.

Jacobs has an orgasm.

And he hires the guy.

Much like Ed Orgeron baffled the Ole Miss brass with his BS, Gene Chizik wowed Auburn's idiot AD with his talk.

And here we are. Auburn just made the worst hire in the history of college football. It's not race as Charles indicated.  It all comes down to a decision based on the wrong criteria and fueled by emotion rather than reason.

[tiger88]

I hope you're wrong.

One thing that impresses me is that I guessed isu would be glad to see him go but they were pissed. They felt he was on the right track and started 11 freshmen last year.

He is all hat and no cattle though. I just hope he does the right things to bring in the cattle though.

I do think it was time for tubs to go and if chizik doesn't work out, on to the next and I'm guessing jj will pay the price if chizik fails miserably.

[War Eagle!!!]

I tend to agree with you Kaos. I am as dissappointed by this as everyone here. And then I read this from Carlos Rogers and it gives me just a little itsy bitsy glimpse of hope. We don't know EXACTLY why he was hired and what went on at ISU. We do know that he usually has a pretty damn good defense and he was a hot coaching name a couple of years ago. Having some of the players step up for him is HUGE in my book. Rogers says that Chizik was one of the main reasons for his sucess and that he is absolutely the right man for the job. It is hard to argue with someone that has been coached by the guy and knows him personally. That is MUCH MUCH more than we can say about him...

It was important for Carlos Rogers to be in Auburn Monday.

The NFL cornerback and former Auburn didn't have to be at Gene Chizik's press conference to introduce him as the Tigers' new head coach. But he felt compelled to fly down from Washington D.C. to show his support.

"I have a real tight relationship with (Chizik)," Rogers said. "I think it was real important to come down here and just see him again.

"He's like a father to me. You have someone like that in your life that can take you in and treat you like a son not just coaching you."

As a defensive coordinator and secondary coach at AU from 2002-04, Chizik helped Rogers develop into an All-American, winning the Jim Thorpe Award for the nation's best cornerback in 2004 and becoming a first-round draft pick of the Washington Redskins the following spring.

Under Chizik, Auburn had the nation's top defense in 2004 and went undefeated.

"What we did our senior year comes from him coming in my sophomore year and saying once ya'll get my program down you'll see a difference. In two years we had it down and ya'll know the results," Rogers said.

Rogers expects Chizik to relate well to Auburn's current players, who are coming off a 5-7 season and still dealing with the departure of head coach Tommy Tuberville and his entire staff.

"He's a player coach and a hard worker," Rogers said. "If you're not committed to working hard and trying to be your best you're not going to be a fit for him. I think that's what we did. We had a coach that loved players and loved football.

"You have to take that same enthusiasm and passion he has for the game and tie it into your game."

While Chizik's hire has been a source of controversy in Auburn and greeted with skepticism nationally, Rogers has no doubts he's the right man for Auburn.

"No doubt," Rogers said. "With his passion for the game and his commitment to football and his job, I thought he was the best guy."