Chizik's Hiring of Lolley As Assistant Coach Raises Questions at Auburn

Chizik's decision making ability is about out of focus as the picture of the man he just hired to coach his defensive cornerbacks, Phillip Lolley.  Jacobs promised that Auburn would hire "the best coaches available", and Chizik echoed those same remarks, so it's perfectly acceptable to scratch our heads now and say, "Lolley?"

Now, it's not that Lolley is not or may not be a good coach.  Here's his bio courtesy of Auburn:

Experience

Helped coach the secondary at Auburn from 2000-03. Served as the conditioning coach at Auburn from 1999-2000. Head Coach at North Jackson (Ala.) High School from 1988-98. Head Coach at Stevenson High School, 1984-87. Defensive Coordinator at Demopolis High School, 1982-84. Head Coach at Warrior Academy, 1978-82. Assistant Coach at South Choctaw Academy, 1977-78.

So five years ago, he finished a three-year stint as a secondary coach, and that alone should prove that he's qualified to be a cornerback coach.  So what's my beef with this?

For the last five years, he's had one of those "still gets a paycheck" jobs at Auburn.  He's spent the last five years as Auburn's NFL relations man.  Are you kidding me?  Auburn needs a salaried man to maintain relations with the NFL?  Am I missing something here?  Sounds like one of those jobs you get when they want to fire you, but you have the negatives of the Christmas party that went horribly bad.

But let's be fair, he did also help Tubberville with the spring "Coaches Clinic".  That takes almost two weeks to plan and carry off.  So he did have some other duties than maintaining Auburn's relations with the NFL.  By the way, what relations does Auburn have with the NFL?  Since I don't know, I guess that's why I don't have a great job like that.

But anyway, I do understand the concept of picking someone late.  Chizik walks into the ballroom looking for the best dancing partners he can find.  He picks a few and does his public dance with them quickly in front of cameras.

Then he takes seven and a half weeks of looking at Lolley, who's been there along, and says, "Oh.............OK, I pick you."  Boy, ever been the last picked for a team on the playground?  Ever had to wait seven and a half weeks to be picked?  Hard to put a good spin on, "What a find we got in this coach!"

Did everyone else in the ballroom turn you down first?  Did it really take you seven and a half weeks to find someone just down the hall from your office?  This is making about as much since as the firing and then re-hiring of James Willis, who also began to feel like a dance partner who wasn't really wanted by Auburn.

It may be interesting to see how this hire is brought into focus and spun by Auburn and Chizik and if that explanation will ever be clear and ever make Lolley look less like the homeliest pick at the ball.