I have been quite absent over the past week due to a much needed vacation out to Las Vegas. I watch very little TV while on vacations anyway, but damn near no TV at all while in Vegas. There are too many better things to be doing in Vegas than watching the tube. I only used my phone to check emails and pop in a couple of times to TrackemTigers. I purposely avoided anything that was Chizik related. It was hard… but I managed to do just that. I decided that I wanted to get the info on my own and not listen to the “fallout” until I had my own thoughts. Here we go…
I heard about the Chizik hiring on ESPN Radio in a cab going from one end of the strip to the other. The cabbie was from Wisconsin and was a huge NCAA football fan and of course a Badger fan. When I asked him to turn it up he obliged. After the quick blurb from some talking head, the cabbie asked me what I thought. He knew I was an Auburn fan due to my Auburn hat. I told him Chizik was not the marquis name I was looking for but I think he is a true Auburn Man and will be fine. He laughed and said that he had a rider yesterday that said that Tuberville was an “Auburn Man.” To which I agreed. He asked me why Auburn would fire an “Auburn Man” that averaged 8.5 wins a season. I had no answer… I hate that. If someone asks me a question about my school, I want to have an answer. I was saved by the fact that we had arrived at the Wynn, and he said good luck to you guys, and I hope that Auburn can figure out how to run a program. Even cabbies in Vegas think Auburn makes stupid decisions, what does that tell ya.
Moving on… Chizik may not be the person we had in mind to lead Auburn. But I am man enough to admit that I did not think that Tuberville was the right man to lead when he arrived either. Look what he did… he turned us into believers. He did great thing for us as a school, and as a program. Who is to say that Chizik will not continue the great things that Tuberville started. I think back to some of the players that were in the Chizik coach secondary of Auburn, and we were pretty good. We all remember the 2004 season, but he produced pretty good squads before that. He also left us some good recruits and we are still seeing some of them on the field.
I think that Chizik will be just fine at Auburn, but he really needs to get his staff together and I mean now. Recruiting is the life blood of any team, but there has to be more that a couple of people doing it. Having “Auburn people” recruiting players is not the way to go. These kids need to know what kind of coaching they are going to get. They need to know what sort of schemes the offense and defense are going to run. That is my biggest worry.
What is the point of my little piece here… well it is to back off of Chizik, until he can prove what he can do. I know that his record was bad at ISU. Hell no one can win at ISU. Iowa State is viewed in the Big XII as we in the SEC used to view Vandy. But they are worse than Vandy. Give Chizik a chance. I think that if he can build off the Christian and Family mentality that Auburn has had over the last 5 years, we as a program will be just fine. He is going to lose some games, and when he does the doubters will come out in force. Just let it all work out. Either it will work out or it won’t but he is our Coach and I will stand behind him. Barkley should stand behind him. Charles is welcome to hate Jacobs, the Trustees and the rest of the administration as much as the next guy… but Chizik is our coach.
We always talk about us being the Auburn Family. There is the Gator Nation, Buckeye Nation and more importantly the Saban Nation. We are not a nation at all; we are called the Auburn Family. No one is harder on you than family and that is what is going on at Auburn. We are being hard on Chizik and the administration but no one will stand with you more than your family. Family is with you through thick and thin. It is time to welcome Gene Chizik into the Auburn Family once again.
War Damn Eagle
