remember when a year or two ago coach dye was caught

[aubiefifty 17,487]

on video at an auburn practice saying if auburn did not find a qb it would be a long year? i think looking back maybe ol coach knew what he was talking about. and now he says if our d is decent we can be really good and he is more excited this year than any other cept when we got bo. think he knows what he is talking about?

[jcm81 2]

Yes, I remember that. While it was not popular, it turned out to be a correct statement. I guess hindsight really is 50/50.

About the D this year... I would be more interested in what he has to say in a candid environment than what he is putting out there for mass consumption.

[aubiefifty 17,487]

i like coach dye. he is probably my fav coach of all time. he made bama come to auburn. and i think he knows if we will be any good on d or not.

[aubiefifty 17,487]

its kinda funny but back when coach dye was still caoching he came to anniston with coach stallings as well as a hanful more. they had been hunting and hit a local bar and partied the night away. a friend told me the next day after they were gone. i wanted to go check it out. i heard they were awesome fun!

[bwillaub 0]

One thing is for sure. He knows more about football than any of us on here......sober or not.

[juscAUse 1]

its kinda funny but back when coach dye was still caoching he came to anniston with coach stallings as well as a hanful more. they had been hunting and hit a local bar and partied the night away. a friend told me the next day after they were gone. i wanted to go check it out. i heard they were awesome fun!

Funny you mentioned Gene Stallings. Even on these forums, Coach Dye is an old drunk, but anybody from uat that ever got slammed a couple of times in public is ........*chirp, chirp, chirp* . Any body that partakes has had a few too many more than once, in all probability. I don't refer to Coach Dye, Coach Stallings, or Coach Bryant as drunks. I figure they are probably just imperfect humans (like the rest of us) with a genius for coaching the game of football (unlike the rest of us). By the way, a uat friend of mine ran into Bear at a bar in Birmingham in the late 70's. Now THAT was a funny story!

[subterranean_jack 112]

on video at an auburn practice saying if auburn did not find a qb it would be a long year? i think looking back maybe ol coach knew what he was talking about. and now he says if our d is decent we can be really good and he is more excited this year than any other cept when we got bo. think he knows what he is talking about?

Back to the original question, after the alcoholic sojourn....

There wasn't an SEC-caliber QB on the roster last season. Now there is. Whether they are ready to play like one yet, I don't know.

With Malzahn at the helm and the OL a year stronger, I expect the offense to improve. Noticeably.

Whether the defense has improved, I seriously doubt it will be a huge jump. If Johnson has taught them how to tackle, it will be improved. Improved enough to beat LSU, Georgia, or Alabama? Nah. If it has improved enough to keep us in the game for four quarters against SEC West opponents, then the defensive coaching staff will have done an excellent job.

[keesler 5,934]

on video at an auburn practice saying if auburn did not find a qb it would be a long year? i think looking back maybe ol coach knew what he was talking about. and now he says if our d is decent we can be really good and he is more excited this year than any other cept when we got bo. think he knows what he is talking about?

Dye's prognostications are about 50/50 most of the time. Midseason last year he said Gene Chizik could lose every game on the schedule and he'd still have a job at the end of the season......

[cooltigger21 0]

on video at an auburn practice saying if auburn did not find a qb it would be a long year? i think looking back maybe ol coach knew what he was talking about. and now he says if our d is decent we can be really good and he is more excited this year than any other cept when we got bo. think he knows what he is talking about?

Dye's prognostications are about 50/50 most of the time. Midseason last year he said Gene Chizik could lose every game on the schedule and he'd still have a job at the end of the season......

It was easy to believe that he would be given one more year. I honestly didn't think the admin would have the cajones to go ahead and do that. I think the way they lost had as much of an impact as the fact that they lost.

[aucanucktiger 1,810]

Sorry, Stallings never finished in the top 25 in 7 years as coach at Texas A&M, he was a bad NFL head coach (23–34–1), lost his first 3 games at Bama and didn't win squat there until his later discovered cheating kicked in. He and Bama were stripped of an entire season (1993), not the last time Bama forfeited wins for cheating of course. Major violations included Stallings and Bama's AD personally falsifying elgibility documents for star Bama player Antonio Langum ('92 SEC championship game MVP). The NCAA uncovered a pattern of SMU/UF level violations during Stallings tenure but miraculou$ly found no violation$ by the $ame Bama $taff and player$ on Bama'$ '92 title squad. Gene Stallings was fired from every head coaching stint he ever had, although you'd never know it from his glowing biographys on wikipedia, etc. Hardly a genius.

[aubiefifty 17,487]

my point in this is not to say folks were wrong to be upset when dye said that. my point is he nailed that and now he says he is the most excited he has been since bo. as for dye saying chiz would be back i think he was just trying to give the man some support. people might question chiz as a head coach but very folks will ever say he was not a man of integrity.........

[DyeCampAlum 335]

Dye did say he was excited about this year, but not because he expected a lot of wins. IIRC he expected to see a well-coached team with much improved effort. Said we'd score and be scored upon.

[auburn4ever 1,266]

I recall him saying that.

[DyeHardAllTheWay 0]

"Hindsight is 50/50", as they say. Or as Pat Dye says.

[milehighfan 1,240]

Auburn didn't have an SEC QB last year. Nor did they have much of an offense, or offensive game plan. I truly hope under Gus the offense really turns it up right out of the gate August 31st.

[TheBlueVue 177]

on video at an auburn practice saying if auburn did not find a qb it would be a long year? i think looking back maybe ol coach knew what he was talking about. and now he says if our d is decent we can be really good and he is more excited this year than any other cept when we got bo. think he knows what he is talking about?

Dye's prognostications are about 50/50 most of the time. Midseason last year he said Gene Chizik could lose every game on the schedule and he'd still have a job at the end of the season......

I think his evaluations of Auburn's talent is a helluva lot more accurate than 50/50. He was being loyal to GC..what did you expect him to say on a sports talk radio show? "Auburn is going to fire GC's azz if he loses anymore games?"

[cole256 17,084]

Well dye did offer up chizik was a better coach than Saban......

[HDFatboyTN 3]

Well dye did offer up chizik was a better coach than Saban......

No, as I recall Coach Dye said "Saban is the best coach in the country -- I'll grant him that. But he ain't a better man than Gene Chizik," and also " I wouldn't swap him for 10 Sabans."

[TheBlueVue 177]

Well dye did offer up chizik was a better coach than Saban......

No, my memory was he'd rather have him than Saban. I guess we could argue all day what that means but he did not specifically say GC was a better coach.

[AUld fAUx@ 2,584]

Dye did say he was excited about this year, but not because he expected a lot of wins. IIRC he expected to see a well-coached team with much improved effort. Said we'd score and be scored upon.

and questions may remain unresolved awhile

"To be successful defensively in the SEC, you have got to be able to stop the run. The Tigers might not get an indication from the Washington State game regarding how they are performing in that area…"

Coach Dye at http://auburn.scout.com/2/1318695.html

[cole256 17,084]

I may be wrong. It wouldn't be an argument I know when to bow out. When you're wrong and keep arguing that's when you look stupid lol!

I'm more of a free thinker I guess, in football I look at wins and losses and I think it's crazy to say you'd rather have chizik as a coach when we're looking mediocre as a team.

I don't really get caught up with the better than the other school stuff and they are cheaters and everybody against us stuff. I think every school have good people supporting them as well as bad. U think at some point of time it's the same with leadership all schools have had good men and bad men. So with that being said I'd rather have a coach that wins. If the other team fan base hates him oh well....they will have stuff to say no matter how good or "evil"he is. Might as well have the wins as well

[japantiger 4,066]

I may be wrong. It wouldn't be an argument I know when to bow out. When you're wrong and keep arguing that's when you look stupid lol!

I'm more of a free thinker I guess, in football I look at wins and losses and I think it's crazy to say you'd rather have chizik as a coach when we're looking mediocre as a team.

I don't really get caught up with the better than the other school stuff and they are cheaters and everybody against us stuff. I think every school have good people supporting them as well as bad. U think at some point of time it's the same with leadership all schools have had good men and bad men. So with that being said I'd rather have a coach that wins. If the other team fan base hates him oh well....they will have stuff to say no matter how good or "evil"he is. Might as well have the wins as well

Sorry Cole, but Alabama really is the root of all evil....and I am sure they gain all their wins by being in league with the devil.

but yeah, coaching is about W's and L's...

[TheBlueVue 177]

I may be wrong. It wouldn't be an argument I know when to bow out. When you're wrong and keep arguing that's when you look stupid lol!

I'm more of a free thinker I guess, in football I look at wins and losses and I think it's crazy to say you'd rather have chizik as a coach when we're looking mediocre as a team.

I don't really get caught up with the better than the other school stuff and they are cheaters and everybody against us stuff. I think every school have good people supporting them as well as bad. U think at some point of time it's the same with leadership all schools have had good men and bad men. So with that being said I'd rather have a coach that wins. If the other team fan base hates him oh well....they will have stuff to say no matter how good or "evil"he is. Might as well have the wins as well

Sorry Cole, but Alabama really is the root of all evil....and I am sure they gain all their wins by being in league with the devil.

but yeah, coaching is about W's and L's...

Looking at wins and losses does not qualify you as a free thinker but by contrast makes you more a part of the vast herd of knuckleheads who demand instant gratification. You put words in Pat Dye's mouth presumably in an attempt to discredit him. Obviously, you weren't around prior to Dye's arrival on the Plains.

[Dixie1860 27]

on video at an auburn practice saying if auburn did not find a qb it would be a long year? i think looking back maybe ol coach knew what he was talking about. and now he says if our d is decent we can be really good and he is more excited this year than any other cept when we got bo. think he knows what he is talking about?

Dye's prognostications are about 50/50 most of the time. Midseason last year he said Gene Chizik could lose every game on the schedule and he'd still have a job at the end of the season......

It was easy to believe that he would be given one more year. I honestly didn't think the admin would have the cajones to go ahead and do that. I think the way they lost had as much of an impact as the fact that they lost.

The reason they were canned had little to do with football itself. While it was very bad, everything went to S*** as well and couldn't be ignored. Thank God it did, otherwise we would be at best mediocre and maybe on probation.

[bikeriderga 134]

Dye did say he was excited about this year, but not because he expected a lot of wins. IIRC he expected to see a well-coached team with much improved effort. Said we'd score and be scored upon.

No coach or person can be sure how a team will perform. All that they can do is judge the talent that the team has, its spirit and team work, and guide them to being the best that they can be.

When Pat Dye states that he has not been this exited about an Auburn team since he arrived at Auburn, he is saying a lot; -- a whole lot about the potential of this team and its coaching staff.