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They say timing is everything. For Auburn, it spells disaster.
Do you find it odd that Auburn athletic director Allen Greene waited until Tuesday before saying Gus Malzahn will be the coach next year? And, that heās looking forward to working with him for a long time?
It came days after the Tigers defeated Texas A&M 28-24 at Jordan-Hare Stadium in what was the worst performance Iāve seen by a winning team in 35 years of covering college football. Yes, it was that bad.
Donāt try to couch it being positive for Auburn in any way. If you do believe the win was something positive, youāve been fooled too long.
What the victory bought Auburn fans was more of the same.
Because Auburn won, the awkward pressure was removed from Greene ā and more importantly Auburn President Steven Leath, who saddled Auburn with Malzahnās ridiculous $49 million contract (with a buyout that currently sits north of $32 million) last December.
If Auburn lost to the Aggies, Greene and Leath would not have been allowed off the hook so easily in the court of public opinion.
The pressure to act on Malzahn would have intensified with humiliating losses in its final two SEC games beginning this Saturday at Georgia and Nov. 24 in the Iron Bowl in Tuscaloosa. And, they will be humiliating.
Auburn could play its best games of the season against the Bulldogs and Crimson Tide and be humiliated. The gap between the schools is large. The discrepancy between the leadership of the programs is even larger.
But Auburn has gone through this situation previously.
In 2010, Auburn won the national championship under Gene Chizik.
Chizik won the title because of Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Cam Newton more than any program Chizik created. Chizik has been described as the āworst coach ever to win a national championship.ā
Athletic director Jay Jacobs was under the misguided belief that Texas would want Chizik if then-coach Mack Brown retired. So, he rewarded him with an extension that increased his salary to $3.5 million annually.
Two years later, Jacobs fired Chizik after the worst season in school history which included an 0-8 SEC record and season-ending conference losses to Texas A&M, Georgia and Alabama by a 150-21 score.
By the time this-Malzahn fiasco is completed people will look back on the Chizik debacle fondly for two reasons: the cord was cut quickly and the payout ā though huge at the time ā dwarfs the situation now.
Remember the āWho will get fired bowlā between LSU and Auburn in 2016? Auburn won 18-13 and Les Miles was fired the next day.
LSU thought it had scored a game-winning touchdown on the final play for an 19-18 victory, but the touchdown was overruled.
If Auburn lost that game, the coach on the chopping block would have easily been Malzahn. The same could be said for last Saturdayās game against the Aggies.
If Auburn lost, thereās no way Greene comes out this week with his vote of confidence. This is what that confidence is going to get you.
A head coach who pursues a quarterback that doesnāt fit his system, but he keeps banging away with the square peg in the round hole and expecting incredible results and wondering why it doesnāt happen.
A good coach can adjust his system to players skill sets the same way a CEO can accentuate his workers strengths to accomplish goals.
Every SEC head coach and defensive coordinator knows Malzahnās system inside-and-out. Itās not innovative any more but rather pedestrian.
When every sports writer, aunt, uncle, grandfather, grandmother, brother, sister, pet dog, cat or bird, can correctly predict every single play Auburn will run on each possession thereās a problem.
Letās see wide-receiver reverse. Attempt a run-pass option where everyone in the stadium knows there is no ārunā option because Jarrett Stidham will not run the ball. Then, a wide receiver screen that has no chance at success from the outset for a three-yard loss. Punt.
Thereās nothing against Malzahn personally. Heās caring, loyal, hard-working (though a bit paranoid) and espouses values that we need much more of in our society. But is he worth what Auburn bought into?
Because of back-to-back wins over top-ranked Georgia and Alabama last season, the school over-inflated Malzahnās market value because of the threat that Arkansas would offer him a similarly ridiculous contract.
This is where an amended Disney Song should have blasted over the Jordan-Hare PA system: āLet him go, let him go ā¦ canāt hold him here anymore ā¦ turn away and slam the door ā¦ let him go, let him go ā¦ā
Now, Auburn fans will enjoy a 10-win season every five years (during a year when the Georgia and Alabama are home games) but four seasons of 7-5 or 8-4 campaigns with a multitude of head-scratching decisions.
For this, Auburn made him the fifth-highest paid head coach in the country. And forget about winning another national championship.
If itās not going to happen in a season with the Prayer at Jordan-Hare and Kick Six or in a season when Auburn beats two No. 1-ranked teams and those teams end up playing for the national championship while you sit at home watching them ā¦ then it aināt ever going to happen.
Remember, this is the coach who brings in talent and does not make them better. Where four-and-five-star athletes donāt ever perform to that expected level or disappear entirely from the program.
This is a coach who thought it was wise to play three different quarterbacks in the same game (Clemson 2016) and brought in the āpassingā quarterback to run and the ārunningā quarterback to pass. You know, to throw off the defense. They were probably laughing.
He cannot make midgame adjustments. If something doesnāt work, you can pretty much forget about it. The handwriting is on the wall.
And, so it is for Auburn fans. Your wagonās hitched to Malzahn. What youāve seen so far is what you are going to get for the remainder of his tenure on the Plains.
Review last weekās āwinā while itās fresh in your mind ā¦ no running game, overmatched offensive line, defensive backs that have never been able to play the ball, pitiful execution, etc. Improvement in those areas may not even make a dent to respectability in difficult to stomach games against Georgia and Alabama.
Auburn fans, you better get used to wallowing in it because that broken record is going to go round and round for years to come.
Timing is everything. If Auburn got the result it deserved against Texas A&M, the flame would have got hotter. But know Auburn is going to continue to pay an enormous sum for smoldering mediocrity.
Buckle up Auburn fans, your broken record of Malzahn hits will keep on playing
Do you find it odd that Auburn athletic director Allen Greene waited until Tuesday before saying Gus Malzahn will be the coach next year? And, that heās looking forward to working with him for a long time?
It came days after the Tigers defeated Texas A&M 28-24 at Jordan-Hare Stadium in what was the worst performance Iāve seen by a winning team in 35 years of covering college football. Yes, it was that bad.
Donāt try to couch it being positive for Auburn in any way. If you do believe the win was something positive, youāve been fooled too long.
What the victory bought Auburn fans was more of the same.
Because Auburn won, the awkward pressure was removed from Greene ā and more importantly Auburn President Steven Leath, who saddled Auburn with Malzahnās ridiculous $49 million contract (with a buyout that currently sits north of $32 million) last December.
If Auburn lost to the Aggies, Greene and Leath would not have been allowed off the hook so easily in the court of public opinion.
The pressure to act on Malzahn would have intensified with humiliating losses in its final two SEC games beginning this Saturday at Georgia and Nov. 24 in the Iron Bowl in Tuscaloosa. And, they will be humiliating.
Auburn could play its best games of the season against the Bulldogs and Crimson Tide and be humiliated. The gap between the schools is large. The discrepancy between the leadership of the programs is even larger.
But Auburn has gone through this situation previously.
In 2010, Auburn won the national championship under Gene Chizik.
Chizik won the title because of Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Cam Newton more than any program Chizik created. Chizik has been described as the āworst coach ever to win a national championship.ā
Athletic director Jay Jacobs was under the misguided belief that Texas would want Chizik if then-coach Mack Brown retired. So, he rewarded him with an extension that increased his salary to $3.5 million annually.
Two years later, Jacobs fired Chizik after the worst season in school history which included an 0-8 SEC record and season-ending conference losses to Texas A&M, Georgia and Alabama by a 150-21 score.
By the time this-Malzahn fiasco is completed people will look back on the Chizik debacle fondly for two reasons: the cord was cut quickly and the payout ā though huge at the time ā dwarfs the situation now.
Remember the āWho will get fired bowlā between LSU and Auburn in 2016? Auburn won 18-13 and Les Miles was fired the next day.
LSU thought it had scored a game-winning touchdown on the final play for an 19-18 victory, but the touchdown was overruled.
If Auburn lost that game, the coach on the chopping block would have easily been Malzahn. The same could be said for last Saturdayās game against the Aggies.
If Auburn lost, thereās no way Greene comes out this week with his vote of confidence. This is what that confidence is going to get you.
A head coach who pursues a quarterback that doesnāt fit his system, but he keeps banging away with the square peg in the round hole and expecting incredible results and wondering why it doesnāt happen.
A good coach can adjust his system to players skill sets the same way a CEO can accentuate his workers strengths to accomplish goals.
Every SEC head coach and defensive coordinator knows Malzahnās system inside-and-out. Itās not innovative any more but rather pedestrian.
When every sports writer, aunt, uncle, grandfather, grandmother, brother, sister, pet dog, cat or bird, can correctly predict every single play Auburn will run on each possession thereās a problem.
Letās see wide-receiver reverse. Attempt a run-pass option where everyone in the stadium knows there is no ārunā option because Jarrett Stidham will not run the ball. Then, a wide receiver screen that has no chance at success from the outset for a three-yard loss. Punt.
Thereās nothing against Malzahn personally. Heās caring, loyal, hard-working (though a bit paranoid) and espouses values that we need much more of in our society. But is he worth what Auburn bought into?
Because of back-to-back wins over top-ranked Georgia and Alabama last season, the school over-inflated Malzahnās market value because of the threat that Arkansas would offer him a similarly ridiculous contract.
This is where an amended Disney Song should have blasted over the Jordan-Hare PA system: āLet him go, let him go ā¦ canāt hold him here anymore ā¦ turn away and slam the door ā¦ let him go, let him go ā¦ā
Now, Auburn fans will enjoy a 10-win season every five years (during a year when the Georgia and Alabama are home games) but four seasons of 7-5 or 8-4 campaigns with a multitude of head-scratching decisions.
For this, Auburn made him the fifth-highest paid head coach in the country. And forget about winning another national championship.
If itās not going to happen in a season with the Prayer at Jordan-Hare and Kick Six or in a season when Auburn beats two No. 1-ranked teams and those teams end up playing for the national championship while you sit at home watching them ā¦ then it aināt ever going to happen.
Remember, this is the coach who brings in talent and does not make them better. Where four-and-five-star athletes donāt ever perform to that expected level or disappear entirely from the program.
This is a coach who thought it was wise to play three different quarterbacks in the same game (Clemson 2016) and brought in the āpassingā quarterback to run and the ārunningā quarterback to pass. You know, to throw off the defense. They were probably laughing.
He cannot make midgame adjustments. If something doesnāt work, you can pretty much forget about it. The handwriting is on the wall.
And, so it is for Auburn fans. Your wagonās hitched to Malzahn. What youāve seen so far is what you are going to get for the remainder of his tenure on the Plains.
Review last weekās āwinā while itās fresh in your mind ā¦ no running game, overmatched offensive line, defensive backs that have never been able to play the ball, pitiful execution, etc. Improvement in those areas may not even make a dent to respectability in difficult to stomach games against Georgia and Alabama.
Auburn fans, you better get used to wallowing in it because that broken record is going to go round and round for years to come.
Timing is everything. If Auburn got the result it deserved against Texas A&M, the flame would have got hotter. But know Auburn is going to continue to pay an enormous sum for smoldering mediocrity.
Buckle up Auburn fans, your broken record of Malzahn hits will keep on playing
