Auburn Football: A New Face is Desperately Needed
By Matt Hand
Mandatory Credit: John Reed-US PRESSWIRE
Yes Gene, the way out of Auburn is that way. Thanks for the Natty and sorry it didn’t work out.
Enough is enough. The Gene Chizik era should be over. The Jay Jacobs era should come to an end. Auburn football has reached new lows and with the season only halfway over, it’s only going to get worse.
Auburn came into the 2012 season without a lot of hype and now we know why. Auburn has descended to the SEC’s worst team, and it only took Chizik three and a half years to do this to a once-proud program.
I know, I know. Chizik won a national championship in his 2nd year on the Plains. Thanks Tommy Tuberville for a great 2007 recruiting class, which ranked #7 on rivals.com, stocking the 2010 team with the most seniors in program history. Thanks to Gus Malzahn for recruiting Cam Newton, the main reason we won the crystal ball.
I know, I know, recruiting is going well. Why does this matter when we can’t develop the talent we have brought on board. Talent without leadership can only take you so far. It’s hard to explain why this staff can’t develop the players its bringing to Auburn. Tuberville was notorious for bringing guys in without all the recruiting stars and accolades you see from players at Auburn now, but he was able to mold them into football players who played hard and smart. This coaching staff is incapable of doing this.
I’ve hinted at it and suggested it all season long, now it’s time to go to the rooftop and scream it for the whole Auburn family to hear, Fire Gene Chizik. Fire Jay Jacobs. Start over with this staff and let’s get a new face in Auburn to lead our beloved Tigers.
Chizik and his staff have also tarnished Auburn’s name. Labeled as cheaters, Auburn’s 2010 national championship will always have an asterisk attached to it, fair or not. Auburn was investigated by the NCAA and even the FBI and cleared of any wrongdoing, but this is still not good enough for most people. He has turned this program, known for its physicality and running backs, into a soft, undisciplined program. Player’s act recklessly off the field and on the field. Personal fouls and arrests are as common as hearing “War Eagle” on the Plains now.
This wasn’t a problem under the previous coaching staff. It’s now something every Auburn fan has to deal with every day.
Auburn fans may disagree over when Chizik should be fired or who should replace him if he does, but one thing remains true, we need to act on this immediately so we can right the ship with another administration as soon as possible. Bobby Petrino is the most popular name out there to replace Chizik and it also draws the most criticism. Like him or not, Petrino is a proven winner who could recruit better players to Auburn than he was able to at Arkansas or Louisville, giving him an even better chance to win games. Many people say Jacobs would not approve this hire, but he may not be the man to make this decision. He should worry about his own job security.
Do Auburn fans really believe Petrino is the only coach in America that has had an affair? If we didn’t hire coaches based on that criteria, we may be looking for a long time. Petrino has proven he can develop talent. Petrino has never had a program that was ranked highly in recruiting rankings, but he always won. He took Louisville and Arkansas to BCS bowl games. Where were these programs at before he got there? There’s your proven winner.
I know, I know. Petrino is a bad guy. Be that as it may, he’s a winner and winning cures a lot of injustices. Let’s face it, it’s not like Auburn has hired a lot of coaches most would consider saints anyway. It’s time for Auburn fans to get off their high horses and meet reality.
Petrino or not, we need a proven winner at Auburn, one who stands up to Saban and Alabama. We need a coach who will recruit talent and develop the talent once they get to Auburn. These players deserve better than what their receiving. They came to Auburn to win and this coaching staff has let them down. Auburn fans are some of the best in the nation and the Auburn family deserves better. A coach making as much as Chizik does has to produce better results. No one denies Chizik is a good person. Auburn fans don’t need nice. We need wins. We deserve wins. We expect wins, and if Chizik wants to coach at Auburn, he better earn wins, and fast.