Time to eat crow

[NWALA Tiger 3,536]

Folks I have been adamate that I thought Harsin should get 3 years. Even argued that point with fellow posters. However,  after hearing certain things and seeing the shedding of the roster that's going on, with no portal additions of late, it's becoming clear that this thing is spiraling out of control. Best case is we start a ton of freshman and sophomore next year. Because of what I've just said, I think their is a chance (small), that Harsin doesn't make it thru Spring practice. According to what I've gathered, it's that bad.. For the ones that want to say I TOLD YOU SO... go ahead and Blast away....

[DAG 34,115]

35 minutes ago, NWALA Tiger said:

Folks I have been adamate that I thought Harsin should get 3 years. Even argued that point with fellow posters. However,  after hearing certain things and seeing the shedding of the roster that's going on, with no portal additions of late, it's becoming clear that this thing is spiraling out of control. Best case is we start a ton of freshman and sophomore next year. Because of what I've just said, I think their is a chance (small), that Harsin doesn't make it thru Spring practice. According to what I've gathered, it's that bad.. For the ones that want to say I TOLD YOU SO... go ahead and Blast away....

I am going to be real. You shouldn’t have to eat crow. Only time anyone should eat crow is in the face of obvious evidence that they refuse to listen to or pre-conceived notion without data. Why are you apologizing for being a rational fans? Some of the I told you folks aren’t even in it for Auburn. They are upset because their favorite last coach got fired. To me you , kept out hope but now you realize even hope can’t erase evident disjointness. 
 

Let’s be real. How many of us actually said at the coaching search “you know who we should get? The guy from Boise?” I can’t think of a single person.  Most of us were willing to give him a chance (why wouldn’t you if you are a fan of Auburn) and initially he showed promise and now things have hit a complete 180 based on the data presented. There is nothing wrong with acknowledging that and shifting. 
 

Who should eat crow? The freaking leaders who choose to not relinquish control, spend or take calculated risks. They should eat crow because ultimately a good bit of the issues we are seeing completely falls on them. Holding on to coaches too long, not doing a great job vetting , not willing to go after the “guy.” It is a vicious cycle. 
 

@e808 deserves props. He said this way ahead of time with logic to back it up (way before any of these “insiders” jumped on the hate train.) The others not so much. Just Gus fans upset. It wouldn’t have mattered if we got Mario or Billy, they would complain. 

Edited February 3, 2022 by DAG

[JDUBB4AU 5,138]

Mario or Billy would have came had the AU admin got off their ass and made it happen . Maybe football in Auburn doesn’t matter to Auburn . Drain the swamp is a term that was used . The swamp is over the levy guys and it ain’t draining 

[fredst 9,064]

1 hour ago, NWALA Tiger said:

Folks I have been adamate that I thought Harsin should get 3 years. Even argued that point with fellow posters. However,  after hearing certain things and seeing the shedding of the roster that's going on, with no portal additions of late, it's becoming clear that this thing is spiraling out of control. Best case is we start a ton of freshman and sophomore next year. Because of what I've just said, I think their is a chance (small), that Harsin doesn't make it thru Spring practice. According to what I've gathered, it's that bad.. For the ones that want to say I TOLD YOU SO... go ahead and Blast away....

I’m with you. I had cautious optimism after hearing him speak about his vision for the program and thinking he might be the guy to get us back to hard nosed football with a professionally run organization. I thought COVID was a big recruiting obstacle that would be overcome as things opened up. The season itself, particularly after the OM game, really made me start having reservations and the slow-rolling disaster the entire program has been since the end of the regular season has me ready to end the Harsin experiment before too much long-term damage is done. Gus really killed my enthusiasm for Auburn football but this might finish it off entirely 

[woodford 3,688]

I became optimistic eventually but was never excited about the hire. I wanted Luke Fickell. I think he would be a great long term fit for Auburn. 

[AuburnEagle79 2,171]

I'm not eating any crow regardless of how it turns out. On paper he was a good hire, and who knows, maybe he still will be.

He had only been a winner and brought in two SEC guys to help smooth things over. He has emphasized discipline, which was sorely missing, and many players weren't into that level of commitment and style of coaching. 

The culture changes that he's trying to make are needed, but the execution has apparently been off, way off.

If he fails, I still don't think hiring him was a bad idea. He checked out on paper and was the anti-JABA hire, which is what most here wanted. 

[GreenTiger 1,008]

I hired a person once who I thought was a great fit all around for our academic program but ended up not bringing the skills of what I thought or hoped they would bring. This realization took about a year and half to realize. 

Point being, no one can predict the future and no one can predict human nature. 
 

PS…. It’s just a game being played by young people. 😂

[Zeek 16,660]

Eating crow in February before even the A-day game of his second year? Nah.

It's okay to admit things look bad without also being total meltdown doom and gloom. Just chill and enjoy basketball. I have chosen to ignore any and all football news until the season starts. It is not worth your time or stress to worry about something almost 8 months away from materializing.

Watch and think about literally any of the sports we currently have playing. We are crushing it in a lot of sports right now.

[NoALtiger 3,875]

No crow for anyone, we all want the same thing (or should), which is that our program is winning and stable. I seriously could care less who coaches, just win. This whole thing is a train wreck but it’s not because of comments on a website from anonymous posters and if they like a coach or not. All good. 

[Auburn02 130]

26 minutes ago, Zeek said:

Eating crow in February before even the A-day game of his second year? Nah.

It's okay to admit things look bad without also being total meltdown doom and gloom. Just chill and enjoy basketball. I have chosen to ignore any and all football news until the season starts. It is not worth your time or stress to worry about something almost 8 months away from materializing.

Watch and think about literally any of the sports we currently have playing. We are crushing it in a lot of sports right now.

💯

I've never been much for keeping up in the offseason although I find myself on these boards almost daily, and constantly wondering why I choose to read into the negativity when we're still 7 months away from the season with a top-20 recruiting class. I realize things are in constant flux and I'm not so naive to keep my head in the sand and assume everything will end up perfect either, but I'll let the results on the football field dictate whether or not all is lost.

Edited February 3, 2022 by Auburn02

[W.E.D 11,070]

3 hours ago, NWALA Tiger said:

Folks I have been adamate that I thought Harsin should get 3 years. Even argued that point with fellow posters. However,  after hearing certain things and seeing the shedding of the roster that's going on, with no portal additions of late, it's becoming clear that this thing is spiraling out of control. Best case is we start a ton of freshman and sophomore next year. Because of what I've just said, I think their is a chance (small), that Harsin doesn't make it thru Spring practice. According to what I've gathered, it's that bad.. For the ones that want to say I TOLD YOU SO... go ahead and Blast away....

You think he's going to get fired before end of spring practice?  I can't see that.

I've always been pro Harsin. I really liked the hire.  I disliked half of the staff, but thought he was the right guy.  It's not over yet....but right now he looks like a disaster and it's spiraling. 

[Cardin Drake 1,961]

It's time to cut our losses and move on...this situation is absolutely toxic.  Coaches and players can't function in in this atmosphere. I've never seen anything unravel so fast.

[AEAugirl 9,642]

4 minutes ago, W.E.D said:

You think he's going to get fired before end of spring practice?  I can't see that.

I've always been pro Harsin. I really liked the hire.  I disliked half of the staff, but thought he was the right guy.  It's not over yet....but right now he looks like a disaster and it's spiraling. 

I don’t think he will be fired but there has been smoke around campus this past week he might not be around much longer.  

I thought we made the best hire out of the coaching carousel of 2020 but right now its looking like possibly the worst.  Perception is everything and right now its the lowest I can remember it being at AU in a long, long time. 

[McLoofus 35,182]

I'm glad there were several perspectives posted before I opened this thread to skim through them. They all seem fair, honestly. Like... it's both that bad but also that early in Harsin's tenure. 

I feel like I'm going to have crow to eat. I think most of us made assumptions one way or the other. A lot of assumptions that will seem right in hindsight were more of the blind squirrel and broken clock variety, but that doesn't matter because it appears *right now* that my assumptions were flat wrong. 

But that's only how it appears right now. There's still light at the end of the tunnel, even if the train is running in reverse. 

[fasttimes 356]

The lack of patience is a problem IMO. Was it not pretty obvious with the extreme lack of talent on the oline and depth on dline this was going to be quite a rebuild? Seemed that way to me.

it wasn’t going to be a come in and after one year everything would be fixed. I understand everyone wants a saban timeline turnaround but that’s not realistic.

id like to see a bit more patience but it doesn’t seem many have the stomach for that. Imo of course.

[maryland tiger 616]

Has a game been played in 2022? Let things play themselves out over Spring before we start jumping off bridges. We have really come to a sad place in American when males are as emotional as women. It is not a good look! 

[NWALA Tiger 3,536]

6 minutes ago, fasttimes said:

The lack of patience is a problem IMO. Was it not pretty obvious with the extreme lack of talent on the oline and depth on dline this was going to be quite a rebuild? Seemed that way to me.

it wasn’t going to be a come in and after one year everything would be fixed. I understand everyone wants a saban timeline turnaround but that’s not realistic.

id like to see a bit more patience but it doesn’t seem many have the stomach for that. Imo of course.

Not a Saban like turnaround  but just to be moving in a forward direction.... We arent...That could reverse itself... The only that that helps right now is winning.. Harsin can't do that till September 

[Mikey 16,781]

4 minutes ago, fasttimes said:

The lack of patience is a problem IMO. Was it not pretty obvious with the extreme lack of talent on the oline and depth on dline this was going to be quite a rebuild? Seemed that way to me.

it wasn’t going to be a come in and after one year everything would be fixed. I understand everyone wants a saban timeline turnaround but that’s not realistic.

id like to see a bit more patience but it doesn’t seem many have the stomach for that. Imo of course.

We haven't seen anything to indicate that the problems you mention are being addressed, or even recognized. Eight (8) D-linemen have left Auburn and entered the portal since the end of last season. Harsin's staff has recruited exactly two O-linemen in two recruiting cycles.

We are currently in worse shape at those two positions than we were when Harsin took over. To repair something, one must pick up hammer and nails and get to work. There is zero evidence that the current staff even understands that something needs repair, let alone have started the repair process.

[gravejd 3,281]

2 minutes ago, fasttimes said:

The lack of patience is a problem IMO. Was it not pretty obvious with the extreme lack of talent on the oline and depth on dline this was going to be quite a rebuild? Seemed that way to me.

it wasn’t going to be a come in and after one year everything would be fixed. I understand everyone wants a saban timeline turnaround but that’s not realistic.

id like to see a bit more patience but it doesn’t seem many have the stomach for that. Imo of course.

I think patience is a reasonable thing to expect if something is being built. But so far nothing is being built. You can't still be in complete tear down mode and disarray going into year 2 of a new coaching staff. A coach has to be able to point to something that gives fans hope. Right now there is nothing. No staff stability and just meh recruiting success. And that meh recruiting turns into horrid recruiting if you look at the positions where we need bodies like OL. We actually did decent with DL recruiting...but that coach is gone now and we are starting over. 

[cole256 17,085]

Have you even been posting on here enough for anybody to come at you? 

I doubt anybody would come looking for you to say I told you so

[McLoofus 35,182]

6 minutes ago, cole256 said:

Have you even been posting on here enough for anybody to come at you? 

I doubt anybody would come looking for you to say I told you so

Can't speak for that person but sometimes I'll own up to my own bull-ish before anyone comes at me. Folks might not even know I ever said it. Right thing to do sometimes though. 

[Hank2020 3,232]

22 minutes ago, maryland tiger said:

Has a game been played in 2022? Let things play themselves out over Spring before we start jumping off bridges. We have really come to a sad place in American when males are as emotional as women. It is not a good look! 

I agree with the idea of not jumping off the bridge. All the rest of the gender based references I don’t. Must be just the ladies that met you jumping.😄

[Bro Johnny Mac 1,410]

Still to early to tell IMO if it’s going to turn around or not.

It’s  always been extremely hard for a coach to take over a program and his number one priority is to change the culture. That’s really what is needed. When this is a new coach’s priority there is always turn over with players and staff. Twenty years ago, a coach could basically run off who he wanted to.
With the portal rules (which I think is a positive thing)  as they are, it makes the culture change a lot more challenging. That’s not an excuse,That’s just the reality of the situation.
That being said,Harsin needs to figure out how he’s going to get the culture changed before he gets fired.
Two more seasons like this past year and he will be gone.

Im still optimistic that he’s going to figure it out, but things have been trending in the wrong direction lately

If he doesn’t, he will be fired and we’ll hire another coach. No worries.

 

[autigeremt 6,832]

I'll eat three plates of it if we can get rid of him and start fresh sooner than later. I wanted the hard nosed approach but I also wanted the passion to advance the program in all phases. 

It's not happening. 

[au302 2,669]

1 hour ago, AEAugirl said:

I don’t think he will be fired but there has been smoke around campus this past week he might not be around much longer.  

I thought we made the best hire out of the coaching carousel of 2020 but right now its looking like possibly the worst.  Perception is everything and right now its the lowest I can remember it being at AU in a long, long time. 

Hard to buy this. He won't leave voluntarily this late without that buyout. Unless he jumped for an NFL OC job or a west coast school comes open this late, then maybe I could believe that. But we're in February and he's getting ready for spring ball and transfer portal targets.