In thinking about the SEC this week, I wanted to bring up the subject of curmudgeon crutches. It seems like two of the three new SEC coaches needed them to acclimate to both the head coaching role and the good graces of the fans.
In Knoxville, Johnny Majors has been seen at practice for the first time since losing his job to Phillip Fulmer. Maybe Majors didn’t come around during the Fulmer years because it took so long to recover from getting the knife removed from his back the last time he was around Phil.
In any event, now you see Majors moving back to Tennessee, talking it up with the fan base and being a Lane Kiffin cheerleader with every handshake. He's even been at practices giving some sage advice and having some coaching lessons with Kiffin as well as helping set a tone of tradition with the new players.
Kiffin's going to need all the help he can get and perhaps the biggest lesson he can impart on Lane is to hold his tongue as Majors has done for most of years since being knifed by Fulmer.
Whatever the reason, it’s nice for Majors come marching home, or shuffling as the case may be. He’s a fine man with a lot to offer his new young friend.
At Auburn, Pat Dye was a fixture on the campus as soon as Tommy Tuberville hit the door. Dye never really liked Tuberville and Tuberville never felt there was anything Dye could teach him that he didn’t already know, so they stayed far apart.
I was there in Auburn for the Alabama-Auburn game the day Bobby Lowder arranged to put another hot stick in Tuberville’s eye by dedicating the football field Jordan–Hare Stadium, Pat Dye Field.
Tuberville never walked over to Dye to congratulate him. In his mind, he saw exactly what Lowder was doing. Tuberville's accomplishments have far outweighed Dye's, yet Tuberville doesn’t even have a urinal named after him.
I guess that's what happens when you flip off the most powerful man at Auburn. Tommy went on to win that game, his fifth straight win against Alabama, so maybe he felt he had the last laugh.
But getting back to the crutch story, now Dye is everywhere blowing Chizik’s horn. To hear Dye tell it, Auburn's lucky Notre Dame didn’t fight them in a blood fight for him. According to Dye, Chizik can win football games, cure cancer and make mounds of Julienne fries.
Sorry Dye, but that 5-15 record still leaves room for a lot of doubt.
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