🏈 Auburn hires Bryan Harsin as head coach.
- Thread starter 18Champs
- Start date
18Champs
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Jay G. Tate
Jay G. Tate
IT'S A TRAP!
Staff
Today at 9:41 AM
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#1
AuburnSports.com is saying .... that Billy Napier removed his name from consideration for two reasons.
1. He wasn't given full autonomy on staff hires.
2. His (reasonable) wage demands weren't even close to met.
Thank you.
Jay G. Tate
IT'S A TRAP!
Staff
Today at 9:41 AM
Add bookmark
#1
AuburnSports.com is saying .... that Billy Napier removed his name from consideration for two reasons.
1. He wasn't given full autonomy on staff hires.
2. His (reasonable) wage demands weren't even close to met.
Thank you.
I was never turned down by a girl in school, it was just they sometimes removed their names from my consideration.
JoseyWalesTheOutlaw
Member
SoCalPatrick
Member
"Auburn is the pretty girl that has herpes and every guy knows it" -The Bunker
Auburn will keep searching and offering until they find a coach that is willing to take directions from the power brokers. The Auburn job is a resume builder because it's in the SEC. Sure the record will matter as far as future employment. However, most AD's and presidents are well aware of the political culture surrounding the Auburn athletic department. They know the head coach, whoever that may be, never had full control of the football program.
Let's think about that for a minute. I'd offer the Auburn job is a resume killer. Where do their coaches end up after being fired from Auburn? Better jobs?
Terry Bowden, with his undefeated season, found himself at North Alabama. Tuberville ended up at Texas Tech. Chizik in the studio. Barfield went from Auburn to a position coach at Mississippi State. Shug went to UGA, so there's an outlier.
SoCalPatrick
Member
This was from Marshall a few days ago. I read his first two points and immediately know what an outright lie this is.
-------------------------
AUBURN, Alabama - How do I start a column that will be probably be poorly received by lots of people? I will start with this: I have the same amount to say about who the next Auburn coach as someone on the street corner. In other words, I have nothing to say about it. I have never been told (I wouldn’t listen) or even asked by anyone at Auburn or connected with Auburn in any way to write something to support one position or another.
I’ve been around a long time and know lots of people on both sides of most issues, including this one. Most of them trust me. I’d like to believe that’s because I’ve proved in 51 years in this business that I am trustworthy. As a result, I am often able to get information. I share it when I can. When I can’t, I don’t.
I’ve covered lots of controversies, but this one is different. It’s not that people are passionate about what they believe. That’s normal. What’s not normal and what makes me very uncomfortable is conspiracy theories and the willingness of people to make their points by assaulting someone’s character without evidence, be it Kevin Steele or the mythical “good ol’ boys or even me.
As anyone who has for long read what I write knows, I don’t call for coaches to be fired. I didn’t call for Gus Malzahn to be fired. I also don’t say who should be hired. In either case, I’m not qualified to do that, and I won’t. I will happily do my best to work with whoever is hired. I know Kevin Steele and have since before he arrived at Auburn. He’s a good coach who is highly respected in the profession and a good man. I believe he would do a good job I don’t know the other coaches in the mix, but I have no doubt the same things are true of them.
That is as far as I’ll go on that. I’m not trying to convince anybody who the coach should be or change anybody’s mind.
Here are some things I know to be true:
--The notion that Auburn is somehow different because trustees and major donors are influential in major decisions is laughable. The same is true in every big-time athletics program. There are really, really powerful trustees or boosters at numerous places that are more involved and more powerful than any of those at Auburn. There are numerous programs where one donor/trustee is so powerful that no move can be made without them signing off. Does anyone believe anything of consequence happens at Oregon if Phil Knight doesn’t want it to happen? What most of those programs do is keep their disputes behind closed doors. Auburn has never had much success doing that.
--Auburn violated no SACS rules in this ordeal. In the first place, SACS doesn’t care who hires the football coach. There is nothing sinister about trustees making recommendations to the president. They didn’t fire Gus Malzahn. They recommended that move to Gogue, and he made it. It was his decision to make. They also recommended immediately hiring Steele. Gogue wouldn’t go for it and instead named a search committee, which was his right. Unhappy though they were, nobody tried to overrule him or had any authority to overrule him.
--The search committee – or advisory group as it is called – will make a recommendation to Gogue. They have no power at all to make him accept it.
--The university bylaws say that the Board of Trustees must approve contracts worth more than $1 million. That means the Board of Trustees will have to sign off on whoever is hired. There’s nothing sinister about that either.
--Coaches being invited to interview doesn’t mean they will interview. Interviews are expected to continue into Monday.
Here are some things I believe to be true:
--Indiana head coach Tom Allen, Auburn athletics director Allen Greene’s neighbor when both were at Ole Miss, has been a topic of conversation. Is he a serious candidate? A potential problem with Allen is that he has a unique contract. Though he makes $2.25 million per year, his buyout is startling at more than $23 million. That is not a typo. Clearly, for him to be a legitimate candidate, there would have to be some serious mitigation of that number.
--My guess is Auburn’s next head coach will come from the foursome of Kevin Steele, Alabama offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian, Clemson offensive coordinator Tony Elliott and Louisiana head coach Billy Napier. Luring Sarkisian will be expensive. Elliott’s interest level isn’t clear. Napier would almost certainly take the job. The same is true, of course, of Steele.
--Lots of people share the blame for the controversy around Auburn’s search. President Jay Gogue should have recognized the late ending of this season, with signing day looming, was a problem and been willing to make a decision a couple of weeks earlier. Those who wanted Malzahn fired and Kevin Steele hired should have talked it over with Gogue indepth before last Sunday. They would have apparently learned he would insist on a search committee. Instead, this has become the most contentious search I have been around, and I have been through some very contentious ones. A season altered by the pandemic made all this more difficult, and nobody in a position of power responded to it very well.
--In a Saturday conversation, a friend made a good point. This is the first Auburn football coach search that has happened in the social media environment we have now. That has made all the noise much louder.
-------------------------
AUBURN, Alabama - How do I start a column that will be probably be poorly received by lots of people? I will start with this: I have the same amount to say about who the next Auburn coach as someone on the street corner. In other words, I have nothing to say about it. I have never been told (I wouldn’t listen) or even asked by anyone at Auburn or connected with Auburn in any way to write something to support one position or another.
I’ve been around a long time and know lots of people on both sides of most issues, including this one. Most of them trust me. I’d like to believe that’s because I’ve proved in 51 years in this business that I am trustworthy. As a result, I am often able to get information. I share it when I can. When I can’t, I don’t.
I’ve covered lots of controversies, but this one is different. It’s not that people are passionate about what they believe. That’s normal. What’s not normal and what makes me very uncomfortable is conspiracy theories and the willingness of people to make their points by assaulting someone’s character without evidence, be it Kevin Steele or the mythical “good ol’ boys or even me.
As anyone who has for long read what I write knows, I don’t call for coaches to be fired. I didn’t call for Gus Malzahn to be fired. I also don’t say who should be hired. In either case, I’m not qualified to do that, and I won’t. I will happily do my best to work with whoever is hired. I know Kevin Steele and have since before he arrived at Auburn. He’s a good coach who is highly respected in the profession and a good man. I believe he would do a good job I don’t know the other coaches in the mix, but I have no doubt the same things are true of them.
That is as far as I’ll go on that. I’m not trying to convince anybody who the coach should be or change anybody’s mind.
Here are some things I know to be true:
--The notion that Auburn is somehow different because trustees and major donors are influential in major decisions is laughable. The same is true in every big-time athletics program. There are really, really powerful trustees or boosters at numerous places that are more involved and more powerful than any of those at Auburn. There are numerous programs where one donor/trustee is so powerful that no move can be made without them signing off. Does anyone believe anything of consequence happens at Oregon if Phil Knight doesn’t want it to happen? What most of those programs do is keep their disputes behind closed doors. Auburn has never had much success doing that.
--Auburn violated no SACS rules in this ordeal. In the first place, SACS doesn’t care who hires the football coach. There is nothing sinister about trustees making recommendations to the president. They didn’t fire Gus Malzahn. They recommended that move to Gogue, and he made it. It was his decision to make. They also recommended immediately hiring Steele. Gogue wouldn’t go for it and instead named a search committee, which was his right. Unhappy though they were, nobody tried to overrule him or had any authority to overrule him.
--The search committee – or advisory group as it is called – will make a recommendation to Gogue. They have no power at all to make him accept it.
--The university bylaws say that the Board of Trustees must approve contracts worth more than $1 million. That means the Board of Trustees will have to sign off on whoever is hired. There’s nothing sinister about that either.
--Coaches being invited to interview doesn’t mean they will interview. Interviews are expected to continue into Monday.
Here are some things I believe to be true:
--Indiana head coach Tom Allen, Auburn athletics director Allen Greene’s neighbor when both were at Ole Miss, has been a topic of conversation. Is he a serious candidate? A potential problem with Allen is that he has a unique contract. Though he makes $2.25 million per year, his buyout is startling at more than $23 million. That is not a typo. Clearly, for him to be a legitimate candidate, there would have to be some serious mitigation of that number.
--My guess is Auburn’s next head coach will come from the foursome of Kevin Steele, Alabama offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian, Clemson offensive coordinator Tony Elliott and Louisiana head coach Billy Napier. Luring Sarkisian will be expensive. Elliott’s interest level isn’t clear. Napier would almost certainly take the job. The same is true, of course, of Steele.
--Lots of people share the blame for the controversy around Auburn’s search. President Jay Gogue should have recognized the late ending of this season, with signing day looming, was a problem and been willing to make a decision a couple of weeks earlier. Those who wanted Malzahn fired and Kevin Steele hired should have talked it over with Gogue indepth before last Sunday. They would have apparently learned he would insist on a search committee. Instead, this has become the most contentious search I have been around, and I have been through some very contentious ones. A season altered by the pandemic made all this more difficult, and nobody in a position of power responded to it very well.
--In a Saturday conversation, a friend made a good point. This is the first Auburn football coach search that has happened in the social media environment we have now. That has made all the noise much louder.
Tidestalker
Member
SoCalPatrick
Member
Heard most of Rob Pate's weekly interview on Jox earlier while I was out. The highlights... He referred to AD Allen Greene as "well spoken." Also, threw his support behind Lane Kiffin to be auburn's coach, which literally made me laugh out loud. I still don't think they'd do it, but I think he'd at least listen. And if by some chance he did take it? it would be a guaranteed disaster.
18Champs
Member
t’s been nine days since Gus Malzahn was fired as Auburn’s head football coach. What has happened since could reverberate through the Auburn program for years to come. Almost from the start, this burgeoning controversy has seemed more personal than professional.
And that is a road to ruin.
Any administrator who is thinking in terms of doing anything for any reason other than what is best for Auburn football and the young men who play is not doing his or her job. What is best for Auburn football isn’t winning the press conference. It isn’t doing something for the purpose of saying “I told you so” or getting happy feedback on social media or making some administrator or trustee look good. It isn’t pointing fingers and assigning blame. There is plenty of blame to go around. It is making the best choice, whoever that is, for the right reasons and then doing whatever it takes to give that person every opportunity his rivals have.
Can all the factions, too often at odds with another, come together. The long-term health of Auburn football depends on it.
On Monday, a Sun Belt Conference coach passed on the job when he could have had it. A Conference USA coach passed on it with no offer. On Tuesday, Clemson defensive coordinator Brent Venables turned it down.
It all started on a December Sunday, a day after a 26-10 win at Mississippi State.
After the very difficult decision was made to fire Malzahn, Gogue was unhappy with some trustees for pushing him to immediately hire Steele. Angry words were exchanged. Athletics director Allen Greene was unhappy that he was left out of the decision to fire Malzahn, a move he strongly opposed. Trustees were unhappy that Gogue had insisted on waiting until the season was over and had then insisted on a committee.
An eight-person advisory committee was appointed last Tuesday, but seemingly three of those members – Greene, university COO Gen. Ron Burgess and trustee Quentin Riggins – are playing key roles and are doing all the interviews.
For days, all signs pointed to Steele being eventually named head coach, but then he was left out of the interviews. Louisiana coach Billy Napier jumped into the lead, and the job was his for the taking. He declined. UAB’s Bill Clark interviewed on Monday. He was not offered the job but pulled out anyway.
Lots of things have combined to make the Auburn program look less attractive to coaches than it has been in decades. Squabbling and power struggles among administrators, trustees and others is part of it. An explosion of venom and character attacks on social media is part of it. A president who is a short-timer and an athletics director who is known to have had a wandering eye is part of it. Being between Alabama to the west and Georgia to the east is part of it.
Auburn football has been pushed to the edge of the abyss.
It didn’t have to be this way and shouldn’t be this way. It’s not too late, but tTo avoid a meltdown of a proud and storied program, someone must step up, take control and stop the madness.
Otherwise, Auburn football could be facing some very dark times.
bama alum
Member
I don’t know about that one! I’ve seen many Barner fans basically want Bo Nix benched for good. Could you imagine what they would do if Papa Nix was the HC?#6... Patrick Nix?
planomateo
Member
JoseyWalesTheOutlaw
Member
Classic from the days of Tater Tot.....the names are still around
Here is how it works: Fifty to 60 men give $5,000 per year. Wayne would collect it. These are all good men. They didn't ask questions. The coach tells them that everybody cheats so we have to. My first two years we went 11-0 and 9-0-1. My third year, (assistants Jimbo) Fisher and (Rick) Trickett said, "Hall is on the phone a lot with Lowder." I thought he was going back to cheating. I told Hall that when the season was over he needed to move on. I told Garner that I was taking him off coaching for a year. That was the beginning of the end for me.
Jimmy Rane was in on all of this. He is high maintenance. Three current Board of Trustees members gave cash to players - Rane, Spina and McWhorter. Jimmy is a wannabe, a jock sniffer, a loose cannon. He wants to be involved in everything.
After I fired Wayne, (athletic director David) Housel came on. I don't dislike David, but David would get his feelings hurt if I called Lowder. I told David what Wayne was doing. Lowder said (of Housel) "He's not a good AD, but he's my AD. "David Dideon compliance guy, Jay Jacobs parking passes, Tim Jackson tickets. All are GAF members. Gerald Leschuck was keeping Lowder informed.
Here is how it works: Fifty to 60 men give $5,000 per year. Wayne would collect it. These are all good men. They didn't ask questions. The coach tells them that everybody cheats so we have to. My first two years we went 11-0 and 9-0-1. My third year, (assistants Jimbo) Fisher and (Rick) Trickett said, "Hall is on the phone a lot with Lowder." I thought he was going back to cheating. I told Hall that when the season was over he needed to move on. I told Garner that I was taking him off coaching for a year. That was the beginning of the end for me.
Jimmy Rane was in on all of this. He is high maintenance. Three current Board of Trustees members gave cash to players - Rane, Spina and McWhorter. Jimmy is a wannabe, a jock sniffer, a loose cannon. He wants to be involved in everything.
After I fired Wayne, (athletic director David) Housel came on. I don't dislike David, but David would get his feelings hurt if I called Lowder. I told David what Wayne was doing. Lowder said (of Housel) "He's not a good AD, but he's my AD. "David Dideon compliance guy, Jay Jacobs parking passes, Tim Jackson tickets. All are GAF members. Gerald Leschuck was keeping Lowder informed.
Kiffin wouldn't touch it (IMO). He's already a pariah at Tennessee. Does he want two SEC programs hating him for only lasting one year? Would Auburn be the third?
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