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According to something called the Southern Sports Tonight radio show, Auburn athletics director Jay Jacobs is going to recommend to president Jay Gogue to give head coach Gene Chizik another year on the Plains.
Our sources saying AUB AD Jay Jacobs to recommend to AU Prez that Gene Chizik be given another year.
— SST Radio Show (@SSTRadio) November 19, 2012
Southern Sports Tonight follows 768 users on Twitter and has a following of 757. According to its website, the show is hosted by Scott McKinney and can be heard daily from 2-6 p.m. across the Florida panhandle, south Georgia, south Alabama, south Mississippi and south Louisiana. This isn't the first time Southern Sports Tonight's sources have provided information about the Auburn coaching situation. On Nov. 8, SST reported on Twitter that Chizik was on his way out:
We are hearing Gene Chizik has met with team and informed them he will not be back following the season. Will coach through Iron Bowl.
— SST Radio Show (@SSTRadio) November 8, 2012
So, Monday's "breaking" news seems to be a direct contradiction to what SST's sources were saying fewer than two weeks ago. If Chizik has already told his players that he won't be back next year, it seems unlikely that Jacobs would be endorsing him for another season.
But it's not just the Auburn coaching situation on which SST has "inside" information. The show has sources with knowledge of what's going on behind the scenes at Arkansas, too. On Oct. 1, when the Razorbacks were a miserable 1-4 and coming off a 58-10 defeat at the hands of Texas A&M, SST reported this juicy nugget:
We are hearing John L. Smith may be reassigned within the Arkansas athletic dept. this week and Paul Petrino take over as interim coach.
— SST Radio Show (@SSTRadio) October 1, 2012
It's Nov. 19, John L. Smith has not been reassigned and Paul Petrino hasn't taken over as Arkansas' interim coach.
So, should SST's reports be taken seriously? Absolutely not. Frankly, it would appear that the show is taking message board rumors and reporting them as information it has heard from sources. The "Jacobs is going to recommend giving Chizik another year" rumor has been flying around the pay sites for the last couple of days, and SST's earlier reports were also popular rumors floating around the Internet.
Will Jacobs recommend giving Chizik another season? It's certainly possible, but SST likely has as much inside info about Auburn as any fan with a subscription to Auburn's pay-walled forums. This report is blind speculation at best and attention-seeking rumor mongering at worst.