For Auburn Football, a New Year Brings a New Life

New things are usually a cause for celebration; a new year, new baby, a new house, even a new coaching staff for your favorite football team.  

For those who were ready for a change at Auburn, you got your wish. It was a year that culminated in the midseason firing of offensive coordinator Tony Franklin, and a 5-7 record. Then, ultimately, the resignation of head coach Tommy Tuberville, whatever the reasons.

Clearly and unarguably Tuberville is one of the best coaches in Auburn football history and one of the best big game coaches ever. It’s too bad it had to end the way it did. I personally would have liked to see him finish on top.

Tuberville deserves to be, and forever will be honored for the totality of his tenure at Auburn. The Auburn family owes him thanks, so thank you, coach Tuberville, a true Auburn man.

Another great chapter in Auburn's long history comes to a close and a new chapter begins. Former defensive coordinator Gene Chizik returns home to the plains to carry the torch forward. 

Unfortunately the torch light was swallowed by a few dark days surrounding Chizik’s hire. A minority of the Auburn family, (with the help of blogs and news cameras) loudly displayed their anger for the hiring by athletics director Jay Jacobs and unfairly included Gene Chizik. To make things worse; the national media issued their unwarranted attacks on Auburn as well. 

Auburn interviewed two African American coaches. Ultimately, the coach that was hired is white. So Auburn is instantly labeled as “racist.”

The fact that a black president was recently voted into the most powerful office in the world, can we still not get over the hate? I could understand there would be anger had Auburn not interviewed any minority coaches, but they interviewed two.

Still unsatisfied, some accused Auburn of giving token interviews. How idiotic! How many minority coaches were interviewed at Tennessee, Clemson, San Diego State this year or Nebraska or Ole Miss last year or other FBS schools, by the way? Funny how all the dirt is being swept onto Auburn's door step.

Alabama went through the same garbage when they hired Shula over African American coach Sylvester Croom. Both were ultimately coaching failures respectively.

There are all kinds of tokens in the world. I’ll you tell what a stupid token is; it is to make a “token hire” because people on the outside of the Auburn program are pressuring you too. Are there any African American coaches that want to be token hires? Raise your hands if there are. I don’t believe that to be the case.

Those types of ill-fated arguments should die along with the bigotry that spawns the hate.

Speaking of hate, Charles Barkley should search inside himself as well and focus on attaining all the facts before accusing the school where he played college basketball, of making a racist decision by hiring Gene Chizik who happens to be white. A total disregard for the fact he had previous ties to Auburn and knows more about the current state of the program than any other candidate.

That did not matter. Not to mention before he took the job at ISU, Chizik was one of the hottest future head coaches in the country.

Nobody, and I mean nobody, wins at ISU. The few years they did have winning seasons it took Chizik’s predecessor six years to accomplish it, and he experienced a steady slide after his best nine-win season. Before that, his record looked like Chizik’s. Good luck, Paul Rhodes, you're gonna need it!

Pat Dye while speaking on a radio show in Birmingham, AL was concerned that Charles Barkley did not have all of the facts. Dye stated “Auburn is like a family and sometimes one of your kids gets out of line every once in awhile, but you still love him.” Now that’s class, try getting some Charles. While you’re at it, stop drinking and driving-it kills!

I must confess I was surprised but not unhappy about the hiring of Chizik. In my opinion, for those who dislike Jay Jacobs, it would not have mattered who he hired. There would have been those that would show there displeasure, warranted or not. I believe those “fans” actually did more to endanger the creditability of Auburn athletics than Jay Jacobs presumably could have.

Am I a big fan of Jay Jacobs? No, but I certainly don’t hate the man. Those of you that voiced your opinions in a misguided manner will forever own that mistake. The focused anger should not be toward Chizik. Why so angry, anyway? I understand you just lived through a very disappointing season, but have you ever heard of anger management?Try some...

The great thing about being in a family is you can make a mistake, learn from it and still be part of the family. 

Many said in order for Chizik to be accepted by the Auburn family, he would have to make a “splash hire” concerning the offensive coordinator position.  Is that the standard that we use now? Not quality of a man, but how big of a splash he can make. Save that for the championship swimming team.

Well, for those of you who like getting wet. Chizik made his splash hire with none other than Tulsa’s offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn. He has followed that big time hire up with Oklahoma State’s Curtis Luper and Trooper Taylor, respectively. As well as Jay Boulware from his former staff at Iowa State, and the only defensive coach so far is James Willis, a holdover from Tommy Tuberville's staff. 

If you’re an Auburn fan, you must agree that Gene Chizik as performed very well establishing his coaching staff thus far. If you’re not an Auburn fan you simply don’t agree and never will, so let’s leave that there, and move on. 

The next phase of the Chizik movement is to refocus on recruiting and bring in some top named talent-something that will be difficult, but not impossible at this point in the recruiting process. The last time I checked no high school athletes have or can sign a letter of intent until February.

Luckily Luper, Taylor, Malzahn and Willis are all top flight recruiters. No longer will Auburn be limited to Alabama, Florida, and Georgia for primary recruiting grounds. Three of those four and Chizik as well have established recruiting bases in Texas, Oklahoma as well as other mid western states.

Follow that up with James Willis continuing his recruiting in the fertile Mobile area. This combination opens up a new world to Auburn recruiting. If you think otherwise, quite frankly your idiot. I know it’s not polite to insult the reader, but you’re insulted only if you believe yourself an idiot.

Expect Chizik to methodically fill his defensive coaching staff behind much of the same thought. The continued focus on the quality of a coach, dedication, and chemistry to the team are his priority.

In my opinion Chizik has set the tone for what is to come in 2009. Will he have a winning season, take Auburn to a bowl, or attain higher success like winning the western division, or an SEC Championship? Who knows until the games are actually played, but one thing is for sure he has certainly set a good tone so far. 

He’s done in a matter of weeks that which many said he was not capable of doing at all. Chizik has brought closure to the turbulent season of 2008; he’s healing the self-inflicted wounds and reuniting the Auburn family.

Gene Chizik is more than a Band-Aid placed over Auburn football, as one editorial described. He’s a salve that is quickly healing the scars of battle, and readying the Auburn family for victory, sooner than later.