Rednilla

You didn't say it was outstanding, but you have it stuck in your head that it was if you really believe your logic regarding how we should have been 10-2 last year. A completely new system with players who weren't recruited to play in that system is a recipe for growing pains. And even that's if the veteran QB doesn't get hurt. Hmm, I wonder why there were no adequate backups in place...

No, his task is to rebuild the program into something more than what it had become. Whether you admit it or not, Gus had trashed the program. There's a reason he got fired despite not having a losing record in 8 seasons. Rebuilds take time. The problem is that you refuse to acknowledge it's a rebuild. This is why no one believes you when you say this isn't carryover from Malzahn: you have it stuck in your head that the team Gus built was outstanding, when that's just not the case.

Any amount he went backwards was due to being left with far less than you are willing to admit and having to make do while changing to something completely different. One thing you didn't mention about that graphic of all the head coaches was that the record he was trying to match was the best of all the "previous year" records. None of the others were winning records, so he had a bigger task than any of his predecessors, now didn't he? Don't let that keep you from continuing to bash Harsin, though. He's only the head football coach at the school you proclaim to love. He doesn't deserve time to get his program together before you start tearing him down, does he?

The problem is with your barely suppressed glee at talking about how bad Harsin is after you defended Malzahn right up until the very end, and your consistent beat of being a negative Nancy after what you didn't want to happen (Malzahn getting fired) happened. You have it stuck in your head that a "good" head coach would have turned things around immediately while ignoring the fact that the last two head coaches we had who started fast flamed out pretty quickly after that. Which is why I brought up the one game under .500 record. The last two coaches we had who took us to sustained success started with a record one game under .500. Maybe it's just a coincidence, or maybe, just maybe, building something takes a little time to get all the pieces together.

You are severely deluded if you actually believe that.

Nope, just on a cool list with 3 of them.

Yeah, I admit, I wondered about where Ashford fit in on the regular backup list, running the whole offense rather than just a package predesigned for his size and athleticism.

Dude, you've been silly since the start. You're talking about best case scenarios all the way around just to get to 9-3 last season, but setting the expectations at 10-2 in the first year of a coach changing the culture at a place is flat out laughable. You're reminding me why I had your posts hidden from my view for so long. The stupid seeps out of you.

Yes, it is, because the reason you're telling people to move on is that they're talking bad about Gus, and you don't want that because it pokes holes in your theory that there was an abundance of talent on the roster and Hars should have been able to pick up from nothing, install a new offense and defense with coordinators he'd never worked with before, and had a year to rival Gus's first year. Don't you think that's stretching things just a teensy bit?

So, in other words, if Gus had been the head coach, we would have been a 10 win team? That's what it's all about. Geez, you're so transparent.

That's the same source that spelled Flanigan like "Flannigan"...they don't do this reporting thing too well, do they?

There's a lot of history with the AU-Florida rivalry, but I know I don't want them as our third permanent rival. I can live with Miss State. I visited Starkville once, years ago, and the place struck me as being a scaled down version of Auburn.

Well, it doesn't exactly help our image, but it's not something we can't overcome. That said, thank you for cluing me into what you were talking about.

It remains to be seen how Harsin's first recruiting class will do, and you're right about the second seasons of Tubs and Dye, I was just pointing out the similarities. I get that you're being sarcastic with your last sentence, but I'm not entirely sure who/what it's directed at, so I'm not sure how to respond. I don't think we're anywhere close to finished as a program if Harsin doesn't work out, I just think we should give him positive support for a couple of years to let him get his system in place.

Well, let's see. Here's what you said: Gosh, I can't imagine why anyone would see that and think you were defending Gus. Except, you know, that whole sentence telling everyone to move on from Gus...🙄

I think he looks like a fairly typical Auburn kicker. Which is, of course, pretty high praise. It's ridiculous to think about how good our kickers have been through the decades.

Should have won it all that year. Such a shame.

Competing for the SEC Championship year in and year out is good enough, but if you're competing for the SEC Championship, then the National Championship is within your grasp, as well.

Well, we won it in 1957, got robbed of it in 1983, were an earthquake away from playing for it in 1988, won 20 straight games from 1993-1994, were predicted to win it all in 2003 before falling flat, and went undefeated again in 2004 and *should* have at least had a shot at it. That, of course, is not including the teams Mike Donahue fielded, most notably the 1908, 1913, and 1914 teams, all of which were crowned national champion by some computer poll or other retroactively, because they didn't exactly compete for national championships as there was no such thing at the time.

I've been paying attention, and it hasn't been 2 years since you started agreeing Gus's time had come. And even when you *did* start agreeing, it felt forced, more to save face than anything else. Because if you REALLY realized that it was time for Gus to go, you'd understand what state he left the roster in, and you'd understand that any coach taking over and trying to start building their own thing was going to struggle to have a winning record. So either you don't really realize that it was time for Gus to go, or you just REALLY don't like Bryan Harsin, and refuse to give him any benefit of the doubt or, you know, time to get things going his way. No, you're going to spread doom and gloom as much as you possibly can. Because you love Auburn so much, right? I mean, that's what it all boils down to, isn't it?

Gus "has to be" a marshmallow because that's what he was. The program had lost its edge, and the players had been allowed to get soft. That's why you saw so many transfer out even after staying on for a year: they didn't like playing for the hardass, because his requirements are very different than Malzahn's were. That's what changing culture takes. But Derick Hall and Eku Leota would likely have been selected in the NFL Draft if they'd decided to go early, and they are back for another year. Tank Bigsby could have gone anywhere in America if he'd wanted to leave, and he's back. So there has to be some kind of allure to what Harsin is bringing to the table. We ARE in a different day, but that just means the hardass coach has had to evolve. Tubs wasn't exactly the same as Dye, either. My point was about changing culture taking a little time, and pointing to the last two coaches at Auburn in a similar situation, not saying that Harsin is going to be the next coming of Pat Dye. Of course we will let it play out and see how it goes, but this is the time of year for this kind of talk, because there's nothing else going on.

Oh, I know. He became convinced Malzahn was the right guy in 2013 and hasn't stopped believing yet. I bet he fantasizes about Gus being hired back at Auburn and winning a national championship just so he can say I told you so to everybody.

Chizik and Bowden were taking over from teams used to their head coach being a hardass, not teams that were used to a marshmallow like Gus, and like Tater Tot, and presumably like Barfield as well (but I wasn't around for him, so I don't really know). That's the parallel I'm drawing. I'm sorry you missed that, but... BTW, you realize that 1999 was only 23 years ago, right? I mean, I know Dye was 81, but I mentioned him *after* Tubs to support the point I'd already made, not to make a new point.

Geriner, at least, was a 4 star. Seems like Fair might have been a 4 star on at least one of the sites, as well.

Mikey, I'm sorry, but you are just flat out blind. We had a losing season last year because of the fact that Gus Malzahn is a marshmallow and Bryan Harsin isn't. The last time we had a coaching change like this one, with a hardass taking over a soft team, we also finished one game under .500. Did get a memorable fake field goal against LSU, but still, a losing record. Matter of fact, it seems like Dye was a game under .500 when he took over from Barfield, too. So maybe Harsin isn't in such bad company.