Max
Member
"Hello again.
Auburn's off week has come and gone. The last time we spoke in this space — My View of The Truth (Part I) — I noted that Auburn people*, by and large, were fed up with Gus Malzahn. That hasn't changed much. Oh, there was a short period after the win at Ole Miss when most People* stopped privately campaigning for Malzahn's dismissal. A conference win is a conference win even if it comes against a lower-tier team. And I figured the whole melodrama would go into neutral.
I was wrong.
The skepticism festered. I now have two theories about why that happened:
• Apathy is the enemy. I can tell you this as a business owner whose business (this site) ebbs and flows at a pace dictated by the football team. Big winning is great for business. Big losing is great for business. 8-4? 7-5? 6-6? Terrible for business. You probably don't care about my business situation very much, but Allen Greene, commander of the Auburn Athletics business, faces similar challenges. He's trying to raise money for Jordan-Hare upgrades, a new football complex, baseball upgrades, softball upgrades, you name it. He's trying to improve Auburn in the face of very stiff competition from other excellent, healthy programs like those found at Georgia, Alabama, Florida, LSU. He needs money to improve — and he's having a hard time raising money right now because a lot of people are fed up with Malzahn.
Fed up? That's what I wrote. Their position is that Malzahn, barring miraculous parts of seasons or the bizarre ending to the 2013 regular season, has a ceiling of slightly-better-than-mediocre and that's just not good enough for Auburn. Consider that Malzahn is now six seasons into his tenure as head coach and his team currently sits at 2-3 in conference play — with its two toughest tests still ahead and still contested on the road. This is not a good position considering Auburn supporters were prepared for a good season.
They were prepared for that because Malzahn told them to expect it.
"To have both of our coordinators back with the majority of our players coming back is a very good feeling going into this year," he said at SEC Media Days in July.
"I really feel like we're going to have a hungry team trying to take that next step," he said at SEC Media Days in July.
This is not the next step. This is at least one step back, though watching Auburn lose to Tennessee convinced some folks that the program now is a few steps off the pace. Rampant skepticism, along with some outright disdain, is not the sign of a program that has the backing of its people. We've mentioned many times that Malzahn isn't one to foster goodwill with much of anyone either by choice or through a lack of social skills. So when the team falters and the coach's value (in the eyes of his people) is completely rooted in wins and losses, well, this is what happens. The bridge begins to collapse.
The Auburn supporter base is, at best, apathetic about Malzahn right now. From where I sit, there's nothing short of a 3-1 finish that will appease folks who just don't have faith in Malzahn's ability to move Auburn forward. Greene simply cannot move forward with so much resistance. He knows that.
• Malzahn's response to this situation has been sub-optimal. We've already covered part of this insofar as we know Malzahn doesn't do much to foster goodwill. He hasn't wavered on that policy, so to speak, since the loss to Tennessee. He's not reaching out to people and explaining his vision for fixing this season. He's always operated like a proprietor — one that doesn't feel obligated to fraternize with patrons or even other proprietors. He sees himself as commodore of a lustrous and ornate ship out on the open seas. Nobody tells him what to do. No suggestion carries weight because there's only one man with his hand on the wheel.
To carry this theme ahead: As the seas roughen, this captain relies even less on his crew. He sees this as a fight between him and the sea. Two belligerents. One versus one. All illusions of collaboration onboard evaporate.
Nowhere is this development more obvious in real time than the proposed football complex. Malzahn and his wife, Kristi, recently (and generously) gave $2 million of their own money to kick off the fund-raising effort. The problem? We're told that Malzahn has been "unyielding" when discussing anything associated with the project. He has a vision for this facility, how it will operate and what it will look like, and the head coach doesn't consider anyone else's opinion relevant to the discussion.
He's acting like an undefeated coach with major trophies in his cabinet.
He's actually a struggling coach whose most recent postseason victory occurred at the 2015 Birmingham Bowl.
Employment experts always tell folks to dress like the job you want, not the job you have. Maybe that's what Malzahn is doing. Maybe he's simply hell-bent on portraying himself as the championship-level coach he really, really wants to be. Maybe it's not all about Malzahn's serial inability to sense the temperature of the room and adjust his delivery accordingly. Considering Malzahn's relative inability to trust people, however, it's unlikely that miscommunications are going to be resolved.
**********
So what happens now? Auburn plays Texas A&M on Saturday morning in what is a second consecutive must-win game for Malzahn. I figure a loss there will set the wheels in motion for Malzahn's dismissal. A win will stave off the highly aggressive scrutiny for a period of time, just like what happened after Ole Miss, but modern-day Auburn people judge themselves by what Auburn accomplishes against LSU, Georgia and Alabama. If this regular season ends with a messy/bloody trip through Amen Corner, I'm not sure a victory against A&M will matter.
A large-ish portion of Auburn people have quit on Malzahn.
Reclaiming their loyalty looks like a 100-to-1 shot from here. Malzahn has beaten the odds before, but turning this around will take more than a Kick Six and a Prayer at Jordan-Hare. He almost surely needs an epic November run to remain employed at Auburn on January 1, 2019.
That's the truth as I see it on this day, Oct. 31, 2018.
Thank you for subscribing to AuburnSports.com and for reading this piece.
FOOTNOTES:
* In this case, People (capitalized) are Auburn supporters with some measure of tangible influence on what actually happens.
*In this case, people (lowercase) are Auburn supporters with no tangible influence."
Auburn's off week has come and gone. The last time we spoke in this space — My View of The Truth (Part I) — I noted that Auburn people*, by and large, were fed up with Gus Malzahn. That hasn't changed much. Oh, there was a short period after the win at Ole Miss when most People* stopped privately campaigning for Malzahn's dismissal. A conference win is a conference win even if it comes against a lower-tier team. And I figured the whole melodrama would go into neutral.
I was wrong.
The skepticism festered. I now have two theories about why that happened:
• Apathy is the enemy. I can tell you this as a business owner whose business (this site) ebbs and flows at a pace dictated by the football team. Big winning is great for business. Big losing is great for business. 8-4? 7-5? 6-6? Terrible for business. You probably don't care about my business situation very much, but Allen Greene, commander of the Auburn Athletics business, faces similar challenges. He's trying to raise money for Jordan-Hare upgrades, a new football complex, baseball upgrades, softball upgrades, you name it. He's trying to improve Auburn in the face of very stiff competition from other excellent, healthy programs like those found at Georgia, Alabama, Florida, LSU. He needs money to improve — and he's having a hard time raising money right now because a lot of people are fed up with Malzahn.
Fed up? That's what I wrote. Their position is that Malzahn, barring miraculous parts of seasons or the bizarre ending to the 2013 regular season, has a ceiling of slightly-better-than-mediocre and that's just not good enough for Auburn. Consider that Malzahn is now six seasons into his tenure as head coach and his team currently sits at 2-3 in conference play — with its two toughest tests still ahead and still contested on the road. This is not a good position considering Auburn supporters were prepared for a good season.
They were prepared for that because Malzahn told them to expect it.
"To have both of our coordinators back with the majority of our players coming back is a very good feeling going into this year," he said at SEC Media Days in July.
"I really feel like we're going to have a hungry team trying to take that next step," he said at SEC Media Days in July.
This is not the next step. This is at least one step back, though watching Auburn lose to Tennessee convinced some folks that the program now is a few steps off the pace. Rampant skepticism, along with some outright disdain, is not the sign of a program that has the backing of its people. We've mentioned many times that Malzahn isn't one to foster goodwill with much of anyone either by choice or through a lack of social skills. So when the team falters and the coach's value (in the eyes of his people) is completely rooted in wins and losses, well, this is what happens. The bridge begins to collapse.
The Auburn supporter base is, at best, apathetic about Malzahn right now. From where I sit, there's nothing short of a 3-1 finish that will appease folks who just don't have faith in Malzahn's ability to move Auburn forward. Greene simply cannot move forward with so much resistance. He knows that.
• Malzahn's response to this situation has been sub-optimal. We've already covered part of this insofar as we know Malzahn doesn't do much to foster goodwill. He hasn't wavered on that policy, so to speak, since the loss to Tennessee. He's not reaching out to people and explaining his vision for fixing this season. He's always operated like a proprietor — one that doesn't feel obligated to fraternize with patrons or even other proprietors. He sees himself as commodore of a lustrous and ornate ship out on the open seas. Nobody tells him what to do. No suggestion carries weight because there's only one man with his hand on the wheel.
To carry this theme ahead: As the seas roughen, this captain relies even less on his crew. He sees this as a fight between him and the sea. Two belligerents. One versus one. All illusions of collaboration onboard evaporate.
Nowhere is this development more obvious in real time than the proposed football complex. Malzahn and his wife, Kristi, recently (and generously) gave $2 million of their own money to kick off the fund-raising effort. The problem? We're told that Malzahn has been "unyielding" when discussing anything associated with the project. He has a vision for this facility, how it will operate and what it will look like, and the head coach doesn't consider anyone else's opinion relevant to the discussion.
He's acting like an undefeated coach with major trophies in his cabinet.
He's actually a struggling coach whose most recent postseason victory occurred at the 2015 Birmingham Bowl.
Employment experts always tell folks to dress like the job you want, not the job you have. Maybe that's what Malzahn is doing. Maybe he's simply hell-bent on portraying himself as the championship-level coach he really, really wants to be. Maybe it's not all about Malzahn's serial inability to sense the temperature of the room and adjust his delivery accordingly. Considering Malzahn's relative inability to trust people, however, it's unlikely that miscommunications are going to be resolved.
**********
So what happens now? Auburn plays Texas A&M on Saturday morning in what is a second consecutive must-win game for Malzahn. I figure a loss there will set the wheels in motion for Malzahn's dismissal. A win will stave off the highly aggressive scrutiny for a period of time, just like what happened after Ole Miss, but modern-day Auburn people judge themselves by what Auburn accomplishes against LSU, Georgia and Alabama. If this regular season ends with a messy/bloody trip through Amen Corner, I'm not sure a victory against A&M will matter.
A large-ish portion of Auburn people have quit on Malzahn.
Reclaiming their loyalty looks like a 100-to-1 shot from here. Malzahn has beaten the odds before, but turning this around will take more than a Kick Six and a Prayer at Jordan-Hare. He almost surely needs an epic November run to remain employed at Auburn on January 1, 2019.
That's the truth as I see it on this day, Oct. 31, 2018.
Thank you for subscribing to AuburnSports.com and for reading this piece.
FOOTNOTES:
* In this case, People (capitalized) are Auburn supporters with some measure of tangible influence on what actually happens.
*In this case, people (lowercase) are Auburn supporters with no tangible influence."
