What really caused the drop off?

[auburnatl1 6,206]

This has been batted around on several threads over the past year. How’d we actually get here?  A 6ish year slide. Gus not evolving, lack of ol focus, player development, admin/booster politics, ect.   And then the Harsin misfire to finalize the collapse.  

All which contributed for sure. Self inflicted internal stuff. But I believe there was a bigger external reason - it was done to us.  Imo Saban killed tuberville but we eventually figured out a “work around”. Then Kirby killed Gus. (Harsin - same, just worse).  Complete recruiting starvation.   It wasn’t subtle and we haven’t found a work around.

In my (over simplified) opinion, auburn can’t go much beyond where we are without either changing our geographic recruiting strategy, or uga has to be… dealt with. Head to head we have to return the favor. Otherwise we’ll eventually plateau again. Massive challenge. Phillips is a great start. 

Edited June 28, 2023 by auburnatl1

[gman87 405]

It all changes as soon as we pay as much as $puat and UGA. It's pretty much that simple, well, and having coaches that give a sh**.

[gr82be 14,935]

It goes back further than Gus in my opinion. Tuberville capitalized on Bama being down and I never really understood his appeal in the first place. Auburn has never had a coach with a killer instinct in my lifetime. Dye was close. I'm hoping Freeze is it, the coach who doesn't accept no for an answer, the one who steps on the throat when we have the opponent down. I don't mind being respected but I also want be feared and dreaded as a program. Recent history AU coaches, minus Harsin, all gave us something special in their tenure. Ironic that Harsin may have done more for Auburn football's future than any of them. 

Edited June 28, 2023 by gr82be

[aucom96 1,658]

When we hired Tony Franklin, I began to worry about Auburn's future. This was a guy known for making more out of less and after him, we committed to a similar philosophy with Gus. We started recruiting projects and neglecting the trenches. We pursued football that scored off mistakes rather than dictating the game as we did with Dye and, to a lesser extent, Tuberville. With Saban in this state, it felt we were punting on holding our own with recruiting and I do feel we lost Georgia to Kirby, which led to Gus' eventual demise. 

What's scary is that the advantages teams like Georgia, Alabama and LSU had over us seem likely to become more pronounced and consistent now that college has become pro. Watching what Georgia did to TCU really underlined how ineffective trying to finesse your way around raw talent can be. I feel Hugh's biggest sales job is going to be to donors rather than recruits, and while not exactly a new job for a head coach, it will now be far more important. I don't like this new world of college football at all, but I hope that's just my general cynicism and not a new fixed reality for Auburn. 

[JerryAU 1,891]

For whatever reason, Auburn repeatedly failed to take advantage of an everchanging SEC landscape.  We've seen programs run through coaches and deal with their own turmoil for decades.  The conference was ripe for Auburn to step up and be the leader and take control, cement their place as an elite program and write our own history.  

Instead, we constantly exhibit our own special dysfunction and have wallowed around in mediocrity for years, even sub-mediocrity the last 2-3 yrs while pissing away over $80million trying to "right the ship."  It's just nauseating when you think on it too much. 

[Win4AU 4,201]

Players come to a school with hopes of making the NFL and making millions.  Gus started getting exposed by NFL talking heads and fellow SEC coaches and he was no longer able to recruit quality Oline players.  This started showing its head 2018 when the oline was average at best and the running game started to sputter.  You'd probably have to go back to Terry Bowden's final year to find a time that Auburn didn't have a 1,000 yard rusher so when that streak was broken it was over.  People say that the rule changes killed Gus's offense but it was the lack of an Oline.  It doesn't matter if he called a run up the middle every 1st down if you have an oline that can block for it.

Harsin's dug that hole deeper.

So basically you have 4-5 years that Auburn hasn't been able to recruit SEC quality Olinemen.  Every other position(sans QB under Harsin) has been decent.  Its more of a miracle that Auburn hasn't slipped farther as a program.  Freeze has done a lot to help get this back on track but even with the portal it'll take more than one year to get back to where Auburn has been since 2004-2017 time frame.

 

[W.E.D 11,071]

17 hours ago, auburnatl1 said:

Then Kirby killed Gus.

Gus killed himself.

He had an unique offense that took advantage of rules.  The rules changed and he couldn't adapt.  He's doing the same thing at UCF.  Giving play calling duties away, taking  them back...offense looks awful and lost.

Coaches have to innovate, especially over the last 10 years.  Style of play has drastically change.  Saban adapted.  Kirby was awful to start, then adapted with a better offense bet was able to keep his absurd/historic level defenses.

Hugh will have to continuously adapt if he wants to be successful 

[auburnatl1 6,206]

40 minutes ago, W.E.D said:

Gus killed himself.

He had an unique offense that took advantage of rules.  The rules changed and he couldn't adapt.  He's doing the same thing at UCF.  Giving play calling duties away, taking  them back...offense looks awful and lost.

Coaches have to innovate, especially over the last 10 years.  Style of play has drastically change.  Saban adapted.  Kirby was awful to start, then adapted with a better offense bet was able to keep his absurd/historic level defenses.

Hugh will have to continuously adapt if he wants to be successful 

I agree but imo it was also disastrous timing. If richt had stayed I’ve wondered if Gus would still be here.  Just putzing along with 8-9 wins and half our base going nuts that we “have to demand more” (ie uga’s fans during richt). Kirby destroyed the recruiting status quo (1/3 of uga’s current roster would historically have gone to au) and with now 2 elite predators in our backyard (1st time ever both were/are elite at the same time) - Gus’s flaws were exposed, recruiting collapsed, and he was roadkill.

Edited June 28, 2023 by auburnatl1

[DAG 34,938]

What hurts auburn is/was this need for safe picks , whom they seem they can be impressionable with..Gus, Gene, Harsin.

We had a chance with Kirby (kicked it), no clue how we failed with the Harsin hire and IMO we almost screwed up by giving CLK a contract of a lifetime.

I am not sure Freeze is the guy to get us consistently over the hump but I am sure he is the guy to set us up on the future. 

[W.E.D 11,071]

5 minutes ago, DAG said:

I am not sure Freeze is the guy to get us consistently over the hump but I am sure he is the guy to set us up on the future. 

Not sure I understand this logic.

[DAG 34,938]

1 minute ago, W.E.D said:

Not sure I understand this logic.

Well let’s think about this for a second. Everywhere freeze has been he has successfully built programs (this is exactly what auburn needs). He has never consistently been top tier with a program at this level however. That might change with Auburn and its resources but he has not shown that in his history as of yet. But he has absolutely rebuilt programs and he knows the blue print to do it. 

[Win4AU 4,201]

10 minutes ago, DAG said:

 

 we almost screwed up by giving CLK a contract of a lifetime.

 

History may prove me wrong but I think Auburn dodged a huge bullet by not hiring Kiffin.

 

[DAG 34,938]

Just now, Win4AU said:

History may prove me wrong but I think Auburn dodged a huge bullet by not hiring Kiffin.

 

I would agree, at least for the money they claim he was asking for 

[auburnatl1 6,206]

3 minutes ago, DAG said:

What hurts auburn is/was this need for safe picks , whom they seem they can be impressionable with..Gus, Gene, Harsin.

We had a chance with Kirby (kicked it), no clue how we failed with the Harsin hire and IMO we almost screwed up by giving CLK a contract of a lifetime.

I am not sure Freeze is the guy to get us consistently over the hump but I am sure he is the guy to set us up on the future. 

Even if we had gotten Kirby it might have been difficult to keep him from going back to uga in the long term (people were worried about cds going back to fsu). As for chf - I agree he is the perfect pick for undoing the last 5-7 years of regression and collapse (step 1), only time will tell if he is capable of …. step 2. Ps those that say the 12 team playoff will change things for us  - it might. But getting 5* tcu’d in the first round doesn’t sound a hell of a lot more appealing. 

[AuCivilEng1 12,293]

11 minutes ago, DAG said:

Well let’s think about this for a second. Everywhere freeze has been he has successfully built programs (this is exactly what auburn needs). He has never consistently been top tier with a program at this level however. That might change with Auburn and its resources but he has not shown that in his history as of yet. But he has absolutely rebuilt programs and he knows the blue print to do it. 

Freeze is here to lay the foundation for the next great football coach to take over the sport and make people forget Nick Saban forever....

Edited June 28, 2023 by AuCivilEng1

[DAG 34,938]

4 minutes ago, auburnatl1 said:

Even if we had gotten Kirby it might have been difficult to keep him from going back to uga in the long term

Who cares? I never understood this argument and I don’t till this day.
 

This is a tad bit varying for the people who argued against CDS. 

Edited June 28, 2023 by DAG

[DAG 34,938]

3 minutes ago, AuCivilEng1 said:

Freeze is here to lay the foundation for the next great football coach to take over the sport and make people forget Nick Saban forever....

Oh gosh please don’t start that lol. There are people who really do believe he is ready right now. 

[augolf1716 21,979]

1 hour ago, W.E.D said:

He's doing the same thing at UCF.  Giving play calling duties away, taking  them back...offense looks awful and lost.

Yep I have ucf fans and ex players I know coming up to me wanting to know wth Gus is doing

[AuCivilEng1 12,293]

5 minutes ago, DAG said:

Oh gosh please don’t start that lol. There are people who really do believe he is ready right now. 

Lol. I love me some Cadillac and I think he's fully capable of being as good as he wants to be one day. No clue how his career will go. And I agree that he is not ready at all at this moment. But I'll never not believe in Caddy. 

Edited June 28, 2023 by AuCivilEng1

[DAG 34,938]

1 minute ago, AuCivilEng1 said:

Lol. I love me some Cadillac and I think he's fully capable of being as good as he wants to be one day. No clue how his career will go. And I agree that he is not ready at all at this moment. But I'll never not believe in Caddy. 

He can become great for sure. 

[bigbird 60,941]

Gus' poor recruiting and even worse roster management is where it began, especially with the QB position and was exacerbated by the OL recruiting. 

 

[bigbird 60,941]

Frasier 

Moseley 

Johnson

Wallace 

Queen 

JF3 

Devin Adams 

Gatewood 

Sandberg 

Lyndsey 

Garnett  

 

[W.E.D 11,071]

39 minutes ago, DAG said:

Well let’s think about this for a second. Everywhere freeze has been he has successfully built programs (this is exactly what auburn needs). He has never consistently been top tier with a program at this level however. That might change with Auburn and its resources but he has not shown that in his history as of yet. But he has absolutely rebuilt programs and he knows the blue print to do it. 

Wasn't saying you were wrong, just didn't understand where you were going.  I agree he's been able to build.  Ole Miss did fall apart really badly on him, before the cheating accusations.  He'll build us up, but yeah...can he sustain.  If he can't and Auburn goes through our typical high peak and Deeeeeep low valley cycle....we're right back in the same spot.  

 

[cole256 17,085]

Never identifying how important players are. Program not evolving with time.

[W.E.D 11,071]

24 minutes ago, augolf1716 said:

Yep I have ucf fans and ex players I know coming up to me wanting to know wth Gus is doing

Just being himself.