Malzahn will keep his job, but..

[cctiger 572]

5 minutes ago, lionheartkc said:

That's the last thing you should want. Having to play against a Malzahn run Arkansas would be an annual nightmare for us. He's a legend in that state, so he would have his pick of all of the regional talent, plus whoever his staff could snag from the rest of the SEC and, unlike Bret... he wouldn't insist on trying to play Big 10 football in the SEC.

Well, to tell the truth, I would just like to see him gone off the Plains. And, if he would do such a better at Arky why in the world is he not doing it at Auburn? Again, I ask the question, why not at Auburn if he could do it at Arky? Right now I would sure rather play against him than have him running the O on the Plains, or for that matter the whole show.The 2 games against the dawgs and the gumps were pathetic. Auburn for all intents and purposes should be at 10-2, maybe even 11-1.

[lionheartkc 6,150]

49 minutes ago, cctiger said:

Well, to tell the truth, I would just like to see him gone off the Plains. And, if he would do such a better at Arky why in the world is he not doing it at Auburn? Again, I ask the question, why not at Auburn if he could do it at Arky? Right now I would sure rather play against him than have him running the O on the Plains, or for that matter the whole show.The 2 games against the dawgs and the gumps were pathetic. Auburn for all intents and purposes should be at 10-2, maybe even 11-1.

You can find plenty of discussions about why our teams haven't performed as well as they could, which is a combination of poor decisions on his part, gambles that didn't pay off, injuries, and other things that were out of anyone's control.  That being said, the main answer to your questions is he's gotten his on the job training and is at the point were he's ready to take the next step or fall on his face... why would you want him having that opportunity at some place where he would own the region in recruiting and likely have complete control over his whole program (which is arguable at AU), when we went through the bumps and bruises of his training period?

If you missed it, the two games against Georgia and bama were played with the majority of our main offensive talent either playing hurt or not playing because they were hurt.  In both of those games, our D stood up and made noise, especially the bama game. They are a force for the first time in 10 years. The failure in those games, on Gus's part, was not having a solid back-up QB. Still, it's not as deep of a failure as it seems on the surface, as both Jeremy and Queen's situations were out of his control. John, on the other hand, is all on him.

As for being 10-2/11-1, your right, we had the talent to be that, but at the same time, how many teams in history, who lose their top 3 running backs, pre-season, and have the level of injury that we had at the end of the season, can claim the #2 spot int he SEC and a likely trip to the Sugar Bowl. 

The glass is not half empty, my friend, and the cupboard is nearly full for next year.  We are a little QB dept away from being a force.

War Eagle

[1913-14 263]

2 hours ago, lionheartkc said:

That's the last thing you should want. Having to play against a Malzahn run Arkansas would be an annual nightmare for us. He's a legend in that state, so he would have his pick of all of the regional talent, plus whoever his staff could snag from the rest of the SEC and, unlike Bret... he wouldn't insist on trying to play Big 10 football in the SEC.

and who would all that regional talent be? good riddance gus...go home

 

[lionheartkc 6,150]

14 hours ago, 1913-14 said:

and who would all that regional talent be? good riddance gus...go home

I seem to recall an Auburn record holder at running back, who beat Bo's freshman rushing record, coming from there... Our current #1 O-Lineman was only about 3.5 hours away from Fayetteville when he was in high school.

There is talent outside of the South. 

[cctiger 572]

15 hours ago, lionheartkc said:

You can find plenty of discussions about why our teams haven't performed as well as they could, which is a combination of poor decisions on his part, gambles that didn't pay off, injuries, and other things that were out of anyone's control.  That being said, the main answer to your questions is he's gotten his on the job training and is at the point were he's ready to take the next step or fall on his face... why would you want him having that opportunity at some place where he would own the region in recruiting and likely have complete control over his whole program (which is arguable at AU), when we went through the bumps and bruises of his training period?

If you missed it, the two games against Georgia and bama were played with the majority of our main offensive talent either playing hurt or not playing because they were hurt.  In both of those games, our D stood up and made noise, especially the bama game. They are a force for the first time in 10 years. The failure in those games, on Gus's part, was not having a solid back-up QB. Still, it's not as deep of a failure as it seems on the surface, as both Jeremy and Queen's situations were out of his control. John, on the other hand, is all on him.

As for being 10-2/11-1, your right, we had the talent to be that, but at the same time, how many teams in history, who lose their top 3 running backs, pre-season, and have the level of injury that we had at the end of the season, can claim the #2 spot int he SEC and a likely trip to the Sugar Bowl. 

The glass is not half empty, my friend, and the cupboard is nearly full for next year.  We are a little QB dept away from being a force.

War Eagle

Ok Clark, I give all the credit in the world to The defense, your right about the D. But what about the O the last 3-THREE years with no developed QB? what about play calling, where is that big O guru, that offensive genus? poof! all of a sudden say he did go to the hogs and pop! he is a genus again.HE has not developed a QB in all his time on the Plains. I compare him to ole Doug Barfield, He is stubborn just like ole Doug. If Barfield had of hired him a DC like The Guru has finally found the brains to do, then ole Doug could have probably retired from coaching at Auburn. In my opinion, Gus can't hold Doug Barfields jock strap when it comes to play calling. And I respect your opinion, you do make some valid points, those points just have not been shown on the field of play by Gus AT AUBURN yet. I hope they do though, if he is going to be on the Plains for a few more years, I really hope that they do.   War Eagle!

[Win4AU 4,055]

We get to keep the coach that has led us to 4 straight bowls including the bcsnc, New Year's Day bowl, and Sugar Bowl!   Hoooooorrrraaaayyy!

[keesler 5,934]

16 hours ago, AUDevil said:

Shelf life of an OC in the SEC is about 4 years if you're really good.  It's been that way at least since the late 90's.  You can't hire coaches b/c of the offensive systems they run any longer...have to get CEO coaches that can attract talented coordinators.

^^THIS^^ Can't be posted enough.  

AU hired what was at the time, a very good OC - he's been drawing a HC paycheck while training to be a HC in what most folks consider the toughest division in the strongest conference in the country.  He has to go head to head in state with not only one of the best college HC's in the business today, but their staff full of experienced, former college HC's and NFL coaches.

 

[lionheartkc 6,150]

2 minutes ago, cctiger said:

Ok Clark, I give all the credit in the world to The defense, your right about the D. But what about the O the last 3-THREE years with no developed QB? what about play calling, where is that big O guru, that offensive genus? poof! all of a sudden say he did go to the hogs and pop! he is a genus again.HE has not developed a QB in all his time on the Plains. I compare him to ole Doug Barfield, He is stubborn just like ole Doug. If Barfield had of hired him a DC like The Guru has finally found the brains to do, then ole Doug could have probably retired from coaching at Auburn. In my opinion, Gus can't hold Doug Barfields jock strap when it comes to play calling. And I respect your opinion, you do make some valid points, those points just have not been shown on the field of play by Gus AT AUBURN yet. I hope they do though, if he is going to be on the Plains for a few more years, I really hope that they do.   War Eagle!

See... here's the rub... your basing you entire opinion on the end of the year instead of taking everything into account. IF Sean and Kam had not gotten hurt, we would have curb stomped Georgia, taken bama to the wire if not beaten them, and be in the running for a play-off spot. Gus would be up for coach of the year for the second time in 4 years, and no one would be bitching. Instead, Sean and Kam got hurt (along with 10 other guys), we suffered for it, and the pitchforks came out.

Yes, Gus is far from perfect... He has a bad habit of sticking to his guns, he has a worse habit of not knowing the teams strengths until game 3, and his play calling falls apart when he's not comfortable with the players on the field (though, this can be said for a lot of coaches... see Ole Miss's collapse when they only lost their QB).  Those are things he needs to fix, and if he doesn't fix them, his career won't last much longer. Fortunately, most of it can be fixed by hiring a new OC, adding depth and better conditioning our players for the rigors of the SEC. All of that being said, his playbook dominated several teams this year. When was the last time we laid a whipping on Mississippi State like that? I'll tell you... We've done it 1 other time since Tubbs left. We also smacked Arky with one of the worst defeats in the history of the program.  Sure, neither team was very good this year, but we didn't beat them, we stomped them.  Against Arky, we scored one more touchdown and held them to 27 fewer points than mighty bama. We also annihilated every cupcake on our schedule. Yes, that should be expected, but it was an improvement... as in, we're getting better not worse. Oh yea... and then there's LSU. Our offense scored more points on LSU's D then BOTH of the teams in the SEC Championship game.

So, you see... you can't look at the bad without the good.  And Gus is a FAR better coach than Barfield.

[1913-14 263]

5 hours ago, lionheartkc said:

I seem to recall an Auburn record holder at running back, who beat Bo's freshman rushing record, coming from there... Our current #1 O-Lineman was only about 3.5 hours away from Fayetteville when he was in high school.

There is talent outside of the South. 

READ HOGVILLE AND THE COMPLAINTS ABOUT LACK OF TALENT THEN GET BACK WITH ME...AND ARKANSAS IS CONSIDERED THE SOUTH...

[lionheartkc 6,150]

Just now, 1913-14 said:

READ HOGVILLE AND THE COMPLAINTS ABOUT LACK OF TALENT THEN GET BACK WITH ME...AND ARKANSAS IS CONSIDERED THE SOUTH...

Wow... caps lock stuck?

Arkansas is considered the South by Arkansas, but they are far from being the South.  They are just the redneck of the Midwest. Heck, Fayetteville is literally less than an hour from Missouri which is also not the South, contrary to their university's membership in the SEC.

As for fans complaining about lack of talent... that's what fans do... complain. Arkansas fans are some of the most skilled complainers out there. Their problem is that all of the talent leaves to go play for the better schools in the SEC, Big 12 and Big 10. 

[WarDlowe 39]

5 hours ago, lionheartkc said:

See... here's the rub... your basing you entire opinion on the end of the year instead of taking everything into account. IF Sean and Kam had not gotten hurt, we would have curb stomped Georgia, taken bama to the wire if not beaten them, and be in the running for a play-off spot. Gus would be up for coach of the year for the second time in 4 years, and no one would be bitching. Instead, Sean and Kam got hurt (along with 10 other guys), we suffered for it, and the pitchforks came out.

 

I do give some leeway to the fact that the injuries did significantly impact our performance.  However, the reason for the pitchforks is more because of the preparation displayed and lack of a plan for the games in which players, especially Sean, were not available.  The Clemson game which Gus had all offseason to prepare for was total little league, and the UGA and UAT games seemed to return to that lack of preparation, which also has to do with Gus's inability to develop quarterbacks.  Even with the wins we got in the middle chunk of the season, how many of those were because of a stellar defensive job by Coach Steele and the offense doing just enough to win?  I think the reason for the pitchforks was not because of the tanking at the end of this season, but because of the cumulative result of what we are seeing when one thing falls out of place the past three seasons.   
 

With all that said, I don't think the sky is falling.  As others have said in this thread, a successful SEC HC has to be able to recruit good coordinators more than anything else (see Saban).  We have one of those in place right now.  If Gus will get an OC to challenge him on that side of the ball we could be in good shape.  

[lionheartkc 6,150]

20 minutes ago, WarDlowe said:

I do give some leeway to the fact that the injuries did significantly impact our performance.  However, the reason for the pitchforks is more because of the preparation displayed and lack of a plan for the games in which players, especially Sean, were not available.  The Clemson game which Gus had all offseason to prepare for was total little league, and the UGA and UAT games seemed to return to that lack of preparation, which also has to do with Gus's inability to develop quarterbacks.  Even with the wins we got in the middle chunk of the season, how many of those were because of a stellar defensive job by Coach Steele and the offense doing just enough to win?  I think the reason for the pitchforks was not because of the tanking at the end of this season, but because of the cumulative result of what we are seeing when one thing falls out of place the past three seasons.   
 

With all that said, I don't think the sky is falling.  As others have said in this thread, a successful SEC HC has to be able to recruit good coordinators more than anything else (see Saban).  We have one of those in place right now.  If Gus will get an OC to challenge him on that side of the ball we could be in good shape.  

I TOTALLY agree with the highlighted statement. I can't think of anything that Gus could say to convince me that he didn't blow the Clemson game all by himself.  As for Georgia and bama... I don't know that any coach could have salvaged our offense. That doesn't write Gus a get out of jail free card, because he made that bed with how he handled finding a back-up QB this year, but losing 12 players (not counting the 4 in the off season), most of whom were on offense, and having many more key players hurt is monumental to overcome.

I'm counting the days until the announcement that Lashlee is leaving for a new challenge and a new OC is on his way.

[Malcolm_FleX48 1,869]

2 minutes ago, lionheartkc said:

I TOTALLY agree with the highlighted statement. I can't think of anything that Gus could say to convince me that he didn't blow the Clemson game all by himself.  As for Georgia and bama... I don't know that any coach could have salvaged our offense. That doesn't write Gus a get out of jail free card, because he made that bed with how he handled finding a back-up QB this year, but losing 12 players (not counting the 4 in the off season), most of whom were on offense, and having many more key players hurt is monumental to overcome.

I'm counting the days until the announcement that Lashlee is leaving for a new challenge and a new OC is on his way.

Question is, would Gus let the new OC even touch his darling offense though. 

[lionheartkc 6,150]

1 minute ago, Malcolm_FleX48 said:

Question is, would Gus let the new OC even touch his darling offense though. 

Considering what he's been able to do with this program, I have to think he's smart enough to realize that he needs fresh ideas. If not, he's throwing his career away.

[Malcolm_FleX48 1,869]

2 minutes ago, lionheartkc said:

Considering what he's been able to do with this program, I have to think he's smart enough to realize that he needs fresh ideas. If not, he's throwing his career away.

Same, though at the same time, it seems like his offense and offensive strategy is the one thing he has left intact at all costs. 

[keesler 5,934]

38 minutes ago, Malcolm_FleX48 said:

Question is, would Gus let the new OC even touch his darling offense though. 

You have been MIA for a while Malcolm, good to see you stop by to post on here.

[DAG 34,103]

1 hour ago, 1913-14 said:

READ HOGVILLE AND THE COMPLAINTS ABOUT LACK OF TALENT THEN GET BACK WITH ME...AND ARKANSAS IS CONSIDERED THE SOUTH...

 

Yeah, they have talent in spurts. Also, I've spent quite a bit of time living in Arkansas, specifically screening the high school athletes for fall sports.  CGM is a very polarizing figure there, but he would cause a huge split in fanbase and among coaches. He is particularly well liked in NW Arkansas, but not much anywhere else. He was hated when he coached at Shiloh and even more so at Springdale. Also, many of the residents did not like the way things played out originally when he was there with Nutt, from both sides. Basically, what I am saying is CGM would have to really work to get the athletes he would want from the little rock area and some of the southern parts. He has a good baseline with the private school sector, but he is has garnered an impeccable rep among the public schools. Not to mention the apparent negative recruiting he did, trying to pull Frazier and Dyer away from the state, which he accomplished. I think eventually he will go back to Arkansas though. It will be interesting for sure.

[lionheartkc 6,150]

3 minutes ago, Malcolm_FleX48 said:

Same, though at the same time, it seems like his offense and offensive strategy is the one thing he has left intact at all costs. 

I think that's mostly because he and his OC don't know anything else.  As bird has pointed out, it does actually work... it just needs adjusting.

[AU-24 3,124]

42 minutes ago, Malcolm_FleX48 said:

Same, though at the same time, it seems like his offense and offensive strategy is the one thing he has left intact at all costs. 

Good to hear from you!