Saturday, December 13, 2008

No words

I thought it would be a good idea to go take in a basketball game with a couple of friends, get away from the computer for a while, get my mind off of the increasingly real nightmare that was "Gene Chizik hired as next Auburn head coach."

I still don't know if that was a good idea or not, now that, somehow, Gene Chizik has been hired as the next Auburn head coach. Maybe it was better to come home to it, since it was a shock, like jumping into the deep end of the pool in March, rather than wading into the iciness of it over the course of the afternoon.

Either way, this is where the "cold water" analogy ends, since there's not going to be any getting used to it. I don't know how to react. It doesn't seem real. It doesn't seem like they could possibly be so shortsighted. I'm going to spend tonight trying to figure out how to react. That, and drinking.

I'll get back to you tomorrow.

War Eagle, anyways. Seems like we say that a lot these days.

20 comments:

Unknown said...

I'll join you in that drinking.... have a beer for me. goodness what lunacy; to hire a defensive minded coach with a 2-9 record. this is a step up from Tuberville????? evidently, the coach's agent won this one... sheesh.

Anonymous said...

Name one "pro" to this selection. Just. One.

That he was a coach at Auburn before?

That he knows the SEC?

That he's willing to take the job for $100 and a lifetime supply of Byron's Smokehouse BBQ?

I don't understand. What am I failing to see in Chizik as a head coach that the powers-that-be are seeing here?

crowson2000 said...

What they are probably seeing is that he was a better defensive coordinator than Muschamp, and he has 5 more wins. Everybody would have been happy with Muschamp; why? I guess because he can recruit and he gets excited during games, etc.

I don't see this as horrible, just far from ideal. At least he has some experience as a head coach, and he has coached in two BCS conferences as def. coordinator or higher, which is more than most of the candidates can claim (Gill included).

I think they wanted a "yes man," and somebody they could hire and put their own coordinators in place.

I still think Gill or Charlie Strong would have been better for PR and recruiting, but I'd rather have Chizik than Fisher, Nutt, Spurrier, Hoke, etc.

Just my opinion... but I also liked Terry Bowden...

Unknown said...

I am drinking right now too, I just poured Bailey's in my coffee. Chizik's not the best choice obviously...but that's who we hired and we have to live with it. I just hope our rabid fanbase will give him a chance and not boo him every time they see him or vandalize his car and home, but I have a bad feeling that Chizik will almost be DOA by the time he he gets to AU. I foresee that Chizik will not be given a fair chance by the fans to succeed which is unfortunate and unfair. This hire reminds me of the Ron Zook hire at Florida and the negativity toward him after replacing Spurrier. Tuberville was somewhat of a legend at AU and replacing a legend is not easy. It is almost impossible to succeed in coaching at a high profile school when you are perceived to be a loser, the recruits will sense it too and go elsewhere. I predict that Chizik and Jacobs will be gone in 2-3 years and hopefully the negativity of this past year will wear off by then and AU's fanbase will give the next coach a fair chance. Just think, things are negative now, but it will only get worse. We were really going to struggle next year and possibly in 2010 no matter who the coach was as recruiting has steadily dropped off the past couple of seasons. Try to stay classy through this AU. WAR EAGLE!!!

Unknown said...

I think your exactly right Crowson"not horrible, but far from ideal" is how I would describe Chizik. Who knows, ISU might have gone 9-3 next season, won the Big 12 North and everyone would be complaining "Why didn't we hire Chizik last year". But the fact that people are publicly protesting Tubby's "firing", and that AU replaces Tubby with a guy who is 5-19 as a head coach. The masses will revolt. He will not be given a chance to succeed at AU by the fans, even if they get a good offensive coordinator.

crowson2000 said...

yeah, I think the Zook comparison is dead on too. Maybe we'll get our Urban Meyer in a few years... Just hang in there til then

at least he's not Bill Oliver

Unknown said...

Bill "Brother" Oliver,LOL. thanks for the laugh. I was attending AU at the end of the Bowden Admin. This is a similar situation but it feels worse than it did then. I had just gotten so used to ragging on my Bammer buddies, dang it.

Anonymous said...

Auburn, Ray Goff. Ray Goff, Auburn.

Anonymous said...

Does Chizik like strippers??
Just askin'. No reason.

Anonymous said...

I guess Kragthorpe wanted to finish the job at Louisville?

Anonymous said...

I've been drinking, along with a bunch of other Auburn fans. This is a SICK JOKE. Who gets rid of a coach that won five games this season, only to hire a coach who has won 5 games over TWO seasons????? Jacobs is a JOKE!!!!!!! FIRE HIM NOW!!!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

The rest of the SEC laughs at you. Saban licks his chops and Richt has proof positive of prayer. Sorry fellas...

S.G. said...

ANONYMOUS--I think you're on to something. Treat Chizik to a night-out in Gulf Shores. How about New Year's Eve? There's no time to lose.

Anonymous said...

I've read your blog for a long time and never commented. I usually feel the same way you do, only disagree on occasion. I want to apologize ahead of time but WTF! I am sick of this sh*t. JJ is runnin the program the TT put together into the dust. Auburn is suppose to hold some sort of integrity and try and do the right thing. Whatever was said about TT is bullsh*t, he was not given an oppurtunity to correct his mistakes. CTF was fired by the hirer ups! TT did not fire him. Sh*t rolls down hill. I'm in the military station in texas and am so proud to be an Auburn Tiger but not today! This corrupt Auburn fraternaty has got to end! Auburn could have been or should be a national contender this past year and for at least the next 2! The 2008 Iron bowl SHOULD have been a nail biter. All the luck to Chizik (HA!) but it is doubtful Auburn will see a year above Ole Miss for the next 3 yrs and that really makes me sad. Great blog by the way...I agree with MOST the things you say. Turner Gill would have made me really proud and the War EA-GILL T-shirt.

Anonymous said...

By the way I am also drunk off my @$$ so cheers all you auburn fans.

Anonymous said...

Real curious if Borges will end up OC.

Anonymous said...

Posted this on the wrong thread earlier...

I have made previous comments here that I wanted Leach partly so we could add the Pirate to our long list of mascots. Unfortunately, this entire foolish search may make us forever the TigerWarEaglePlainsmenClowns.

In defense of Chizik, I think (hope) he is a better HC coach than his ISU record suggests. His body of work as a DC certainly suggests so. Unfortunately, I can't imagine him being secretly awesome either.

Now that we can look back at this whole process in hindsight, I have two horrifying thoughts:

1) FJATPTB placed AU connections at the top of the criteria, meaning that Garner and Nix were in fact serious candidates.

and/or

2) That any/all respectable candidates didn't like what they saw once they got a look under the covers and removed their own names.

Anonymous said...

On a plus note maybe he can get Marks and Coleman to forego the draft this year.

Sorry...only positive thing I can think of at the moment.

War Ea-Gene anyone?

PS Love your stuff

rc said...

Ok...well, I think the consensus is that this was a bad hire. I don't think Chizik was even on the radar, until the deal was done, actually.

But, he's now our head coach. We didn't have a say in it, and he was definitely not our choice, but here we are. He will coach this team in 2009...no doubt about it.

So as Auburn fans, we have to help him succeed in every way possible. If he wants it, at least let's make it easy for him. We need to give the guy some room.

I'm not saying this for his sake...until he proves himself to be a true hacker, and pulls this family together (and I doubt that was in his contract, but he damn well better understand that it is his first and most important hurdle) and shows Auburn that he is much better than the dolts who hired him...then he's just in it for the money as far as I'm concerned.

But we have to help him prove himself...to be good or bad, we have no choice now. At this point, the conventional wisdom is that he's a loser...well, if he is, at least don't let it be our fault.

If we welcome him and give him the chance to prove himself whem it counts the most, then before he packs out, we can at least say we gave the man the benefit of the doubt...at Auburn.

Remember...you rarely get to choose your family...so he's adopted kid your parents took in out of the kindness of their hearts. Let's help him be worthy of it. War Eagle.

Unknown said...
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