Auburn fans are circling the wagons today in support of Tuberville.
By War Damn Zack
Yesterday I wrote, "Open It Up," Today it is "Backs Against the Wall." As Auburn people we know that Tuberville is not a hypocrite. He would not tell the media one day, "We are committed to the spread." And fire Franklin the next without there being some sort of falling out. The truth will come out, the question will be, is it too late?
Jay wrote Auburn is at a Crossroads. That statement became even truer on Wednesday. Things have to be bad on the Plains because Tuberville had to fire Franklin in the middle of the season. My guess is that Franklin was tired of the watered down version of the spread that Tuberville and the other coaches made him run. Two egos collide and BAM... Fallout! I said that Franklin needed to "sink or swim." Well he sank, like a rock. It became clear that Tuberville was not going to give up total control of the Offense, and Franklin had to have that to make his system work. It just is not fair to the players. Forget us as fans. We are going to be there forever. Alumni do not disappear. The players give all they have to Auburn, and the seniors deserve better. No one can convince me that Auburn is better as a program after this debacle.
Looking forward, the only OC I know that is available now is Lane Kiffin. Auburn has little to no chance of getting him. He will be looking at Head Coaching jobs only; at least at this point. Pat Nix is the best choice in my opinion, but he has only been at Miami one year. He has tremendous young talent down there, and things seem to be looking up. He did a fine job at Georgia Tech and has things going pretty well Miami; will memories of Auburn be enough to sway him? Something tells me he still needs a couple more years to get it all together. Will Tuberville even want an Auburn Man at OC?
More importantly will any OC want to come in to Auburn and not bring his own staff? I cannot think of any other SEC School where the coaching staff is tied to the head coach. Auburn seems to go thru OCs and yet Gran, Knox, Nall, and Ensminger all seem to hang around. Gran is a keeper. Look at what he has done with our backs. He is a great recruiter and keeps our backfield loaded year after year. Nall has been good for years, but maybe it is time for a change there. Knox has yet to produce a single top quality WR. Ben and Devin have been a couple of his better products, but they are known as terrible route runners. They never lived up to their potential at Auburn either. Ensminger, what can we say about him. Look at how our TEs have done... enough said. Trott should be a stud, but he cannot block. And looking at the first 6 games this season he cannot catch either.
"Backs Against the Wall"... Yes. "Crossroads"... Yes. How will Tuberville respond? The Players, Recruits, Alumni, and Fans are all waiting to see. Personally I think that Tuberville will do what needs to be done. I have faith, do you?