Rednilla

This right here really needs to be the mindset of the fanbase, regardless of anything else.

I could have sworn I remembered seeing that from the stands... but I know for a fact I wasn't in T-town, so I guess I'm imagining things.

That run wasn't in Tuscaloosa, because I was sitting in Jordan-Hare screaming my head off watching it happen. Which means it would have been 2017, Shivers' freshman season, because I didn't attend the 2019 Iron Bowl. At least, if you're talking about the one where he went right up the middle and had two DBs trailing right behind him virtually the entire run. (Man, that dude can fly!) Wait...maybe I'm thinking wrong...jeez, I must be getting old. I can only imagine how Golf feels. Well, yeah, going back to check, Shivers didn't get here til 2018... I could have sworn I was at the game when he did that, and I don't remember going to the 2019 Iron Bowl. Hmm.

No doubt. It's an old axiom that football is a game that is won and lost at the line of scrimmage, and that is almost always the way the game plays out. It's the reason Cincinnati got run off the field by Bama's execution of an extremely vanilla offensive game plan.

So the last coach to lose 5 straight... was also the coach who led us to a national championship. Gosh, you know, that's a really damning place to be...

So why did you jump down my throat for suggesting that Saban had a point with the whole process business? No, of course I'm not happy with the way the season turned out, but I see enough good things along the way to believe in Harsin's process. Pointing out other successful coaches in Auburn's history who had a losing season their first year reminds those who are so starkly doom and gloom that, frequently, the road to success has some bumps along the way. And whether you meant to or not, you have aligned yourself with one prominent poster on AUF who believes we should be bandwagon fans and not support the coach unless/until he starts doing well at Auburn.

Apologies, I suppose I should have used italics for emphasis rather than all caps, but I've just gotten used to using the all caps due to the fact that most people realize when you only capitalize one word, it's being used for emphasis, not for shouting. And you don't agree that there is a process to building a program? How is it done, then?

He also beat LSU in Baton Rouge his first season, so there is that similarity, which stands out since we didn't win there in between those two instances.

Do you see "Saban" and then shut down to all that is said afterward? I mean, do you genuinely lack the capacity to extrapolate anything useful from scenarios that are not EXACTLY the same? I'm not saying Harsin is going to have the same kind of success Saban has, because you're right, he doesn't have the REC behind him like Saban did (and does). But that doesn't negate the point that it is a process to build a program, and the first couple of steps in that process are usually ugly.

Yeah, but Shug was at least an Auburn man already, having played at Auburn.

What had Dye accomplished at Auburn that earned him forgiveness for going 5-6 his first year? Or Tuberville, for that matter? And are you calling yourself a bandwagon fan? Because I'm a fan of Auburn, which means I'm going to support Auburn through the thick AND the thin, not just when they're doing well.

I don't care where it comes from, that doesn't make the truth held within any less true. Well, his mentality at that point was to placate the fan base in an attempt to keep what happened (him getting fired) from happening. You're right. And at the end of Harsin's day, we'll either look back on this season as a necessary step in the process of transforming the team into the kind of winner Harsin is looking to build, or we'll look back and say he was in over his head. Looking back over the annals of football history, there aren't too many coaches who took over for a fired predecessor that had a great year in his first year. Two of the rare occasions happened for Auburn in the last few decades, so maybe some of you expect the coach to be able to come in and cure all that is wrong with the program as soon as they "are on the clock," but that's just not reality. Does anybody remember 2007, when all the bammers were regurgitating Saban's talk about it being a process? How we made fun of them for losing to ULM as part of that process? Well, Saban went on to win half of the national championships that were won between 2009 and 2020, so maybe there's some merit to the whole process thing, huh? No, that's not possible. We should throw tantrums about how we aren't getting our way from the very get go, and complain that this first year wasn't even as good as the last year with the last coach (ignoring the differences in systems and the losses at receiver), and having those complaints range from hinting to outright stating that we never should have gotten rid of the last coach. Oh, and then you have the numbskulls who state that we need to give Harsin 3-4 years to build the program...while complaining that the program isn't built yet in year 1. Because that makes SO much sense.

What's on second, I Don't Know's at third, Tomorrow's pitching, Today is catching, Why is in left field, Because is in center field, and I Don't Give A Darn is playing shortstop...

You said, "Make it make sense." Now you're saying you don't want it to make sense, you just want to forget about it and move on. Right.

I wasn't implying that you did say he liked it. I was explaining the difference in the mentalities of the last two coaches, which is what that tweet you responded to was getting at. Would you rather play for a guy who is upset at going 6-7 and wants to work to do everything possible to improve, or play for a guy who tries to convince the fan base that 6-4 isn't that bad?

Since Shug Jordan retired, we have had a total of two coaches who lasted a full decade at Auburn. Want to know what they have in common with Bryan Harsin? Yep, you guessed it: a record 1 game under .500 in their first season. But no, the sky is falling, the sky is falling...

When did Harsin try to defend the losing record? Just because it happened doesn't mean he liked it. I mean, can you seriously not understand that?

Yeah, because great coaches are going to look at the way Auburn fans treat their coach when he's not on top of the world and TOTALLY want to come here when Harsin's time is up.

Okay, you want it to make sense? The coach we have now isn't trying to convince us that the substandard record isn't really that bad. He hates the record, and strives to get better. THAT is the difference.

So he deserves support for 3-4 years, but he hasn't been good enough for support yet. Right. Because that makes SO much sense.

I'm not sure a truer statement has ever been uttered.

I think the main thing is that we want to see steady improvement towards becoming the caliber program our two biggest rivals are at right now. If we're not to 8-4, with prospects looking even more positive going forward, by 2023, then Harsin's seat is going to be uncomfortably warm at best.

That comment was the straw that broke the camel's back. His focus wasn't on getting better, his focus was on convincing people that what he had done was pretty good.

You're asking for a definitive value, and I'm not going to even attempt to provide one. However, the list you have as your signature quote isn't a bad place to start.

Middle of the pack? We've won the 13th most games of any school in NCAA history. But no, it's not about the belief that we are underperforming at 8-4. It's about the complacency with 8-4, the trying to convince the fan base that 6-4 wasn't that bad. It's about the hunger and drive to become a program that wins 10 games in a season regularly. Actually, come to think of it, did you even read the OP?