My heart wasn't set on Mike Leach. I think he's a great candidate, but as great as I think he'd be, there are two other guys I'd rather Auburn hired first.
However: if Auburn's athletic leadership somehow believes
1. that the coach that just took Texas Tech to 11-1 in this year's Big 12 and by all accounts is willing to at least listen to what Auburn would have to say isn't even worth considering
2. that Houston Nutt is
I am forced to conclude they are incapable of judging what's best for this football program.
Because of the sea of rumor and doubletalk this process must wade through, final judgment is suspended (here, at least) until Auburn's coach is actually named. But I did not expect this process to be so infuriating, to make me this angry, sad, and afraid.
Here's to hoping saner heads prevail. I'm no longer optimistic.
UPDATE: If true, this only changes the identity of the lackluster candidate they'll set their heart set on. Dude, this whole Nutt thing has me seriously emo. The weekend needs to arrive in a hurry.
6 comments:
Good news, Nutt got a contract extension and a raise.
Come on Jerry, you're not excited about the group that brought us Jeff Lebo and Tom Slater bringing us a new football coach?
This is why I could get excited about Leach -- he's not Nutt. Or Fisher. Or Neil Callaway.
See, Lebo is why I probably shouldn't be so arrogant about declaring who Auburn should and shouldn't hire; he had some really, really good years at Tennessee Tech and if he wasn't my first choice, I thought he was a pretty good hire. Oh well--everybody and their brother thought Dennis Felton was going to turn Georgia into a machine, and it hasn't quite worked out like that. Sometimes that happens in hoops, unfortunately.
As for Slater, I don't know enough about college baseball to judge.
But in football, well, you can tell. I don't think anyone at Texas A&M (a program with a ton of similarities to Auburn) saw Mike Sherman hired and thought "Yes! This is the guy who's going to get us back to the top of the division!"
Neil Callaway, FTW.
Hey I know Neill from my days at Auburn. Neill's a great guy and solid offensive line coach. He is also the Peter Principle in action. No way would I want him to be my head coach.
But to answer your FTW question:
Neil Callaway was Jacobs' position coach. Pat Dye would approve.
And I was probably wrong to lump Lebo in with Slater, he was worth the gamble really, at the time. And he' shad some bad luck, some which is of his own making.
Deep breathes, Jerry,
All a ruse orchestrated by Jimmy Sexton -- and it WORKED.
The "source" also had to say Leach was out b/c no one would buy that Nutt>Leach.
We announce Mike Leach on Monday.
Yar! and War Damn Eagle!
To clarify the above, I PREDICT we announce Leach on Monday. Not trying to pretend to be connected at all.
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