Auburn football: Analyst worries about Ron Roberts without Dave Aranda
New Auburn football defensive coordinator Ron Roberts has already been grouped alongside new offensive coordinator Philip Montgomery as ‘meh’ hires by Opelika-Auburn News editor Justin Lee, and now another analyst is bearish on new head coach Hugh Freeze’s first DC on the Plains.
Jerry Hinnen, a former CBS Sports writer, openly questioned whether or not Roberts would be able to thrive without his former boss, Baylor head coach Dave Aranda, helping him game plan schematically:
Might work fine, but color me skeptical a guy Dave Aranda worked alongside for 3 years and decided wasn't good enough even with his help is going to be good enough _without_ Dave Aranda's help https://t.co/GV4G4oXqft
— Jerry Hinnen (@JerryHinnen) December 12, 2022
The last big Auburn football coaching staff overhaul was praised
For those down on the fact that the new Auburn football coaching staff is being doubted in the aftermath of their implementation, fear not. Bryan Harsin’s initial hires were praised, and we all know how that worked out.
To be fair, we were singing the praises of former Auburn University Athletic Director Allen Greene IV for bringing Harsin on-board and allowing him to hire a good number of his staff from Boise, and also hiring Derek Mason as defensive coordinator and Mike Bobo as offensive coordinator. We own our misjudgments.
But for those worrying about whether or not AU is due for another regime that’s resigned to losing, don’t forget that key positional coaches were retained by Hugh Freeze. Zac Etheridge will remain secondary coach and an associate head coach along with Carnell “Cadillac” Williams, Christian Robinson has been kept on as linebackers coach, and Trovon Reed remains as Director of Football & Recruiting Relations to continue his work on the recruiting trail.
Things will play out as they play out, and the only thing that will truly develop any informed opinion are recruiting results and, more importantly, wins on the field.