Auburn Football "Family" at a Crossroads with Gene Chizik Hire

What has happened over the past five days around the Auburn football program has been nothing short of amazing, and not in the good way. After the hiring of new football coach Gene Chizik was reported on Saturday, the Auburn fans have been on a roller coaster that they wished they never would have gotten on in the first place.

It all starts with athletic director Jay Jacobs. Jacobs came under heavy criticism after the "resignation" of Tommy Tuberville, a coach that had been at the school for 10 years. Most fans don't believe Tuberville resigned, they believe he was fired. So the strong support that Tuberville had built up was coming down on Jacobs in a bad way.

But still there were many fans that were ready to move on in a positive direction and get a new coach. Many believed that Tuberville's regime had grown stale and change was needed. So there was still a lot of optimism regarding the search for a new football coach and Jacobs had a chance to sway the critics and make a hire that united the Auburn family and moved in a new direction.

Then came last Saturday.

Reports came out that Auburn had indeed hired a new football coach. It wasn't Turner Gill or Gary Patterson, it wasn't Jim Grobe or Brady Hoke, it wasn't a big time name like Butch Davis or Will Muschamp. Instead Jacobs hired a coach that was 5-19 his previous 2 seasons at Iowa State and is currently on a 10 game losing streak as a head coach.

Needless to say, the reaction was the most negative I've seen from the Auburn fan base maybe ever. The overwhelming sentiment was utter disbelief, followed by outrage at the people in charge that made the decision. There were more emails sent to Jacobs and President Jay Gogue's email than you can probably count.

Fans were upset, confused, and felt betrayed by an administration that they already didn't trust, now it put them over the top, but that's just the start.

Along came a former Auburn coach that is beloved by many fans, that is former Auburn great Pat Dye. Dye's contributions are recognized at Auburn to the point where the field is named after the man, but if there's one thing most fans don't like, it's a former coach that is meddlesome and doesn't know when to say goodbye.

Coach Dye came out and immediately said he's felt more welcome at Auburn these past few days than he had in 12 years. You might ask why he would say that, well it's because former coach Tommy Tuberville, while appreciating Dye's accomplishments, wasn't about to let a former coach control his program. So now Dye had his chance to take his program back with his own actions, actions that he could make reality because the current athletic director played under Dye in the 80's.

Now rumors are surfacing that Dye is having a hand in picking Chizik's new staff while Chizik is out recruiting. Something that many Auburn fans aren't in favor of and don't appreciate at all.

You want to know how to ruin a legacy? Well Pat Dye is in the process of making that happen if the hire of Gene Chizik doesn't pan out. Perception is that Dye had a hand in his hiring, so if it doesn't work out, his legacy will no doubt be tarnished.

OK, so Auburn fans are upset and downright angry with Jay Jacobs and a former coach Pat Dye. That's it right? It never is with Auburn.

Then you get to former Auburn basketball great, and NBA legend Charles Barkley. Barkley came out shortly after the hire of Gene Chizik and said that, "race was the No. 1 factor in this search." Barkley, friend and supporter of Buffalo coach Turner Gill, wanted his fellow African American to get the job and said Auburn officials were racist because they didn't hire Gill, a more accomplished coach, over Chizik.

Barkley's comments hit ESPN over the last three days and have no doubt caused Auburn University a lot of embarrassment in the national spotlight. The real issue is what would Barkley know about the inner workings of the football search? The answer is none. He based his opinion on assumptions and then threw his alma mater under the bus on national television with no facts to back it up.

Regardless, though, the Auburn family is no doubt fractured. You have a former Auburn football player as an athletic director that is currently the most unpopular person in the state of Alabama right now.

Then you have a former coach, and not just any former coach, maybe the greatest coach in Auburn history, giving his advice to his former player in athletic director Jay Jacobs as to whom he thinks the next coach should be.

Meanwhile, Auburn fans are wondering where this support from coach Dye was when the trustees tried to oust Tuberville in a secret coup in 2003? Where was his outrage as a former Auburn great when Tuberville was being embarrassed and lied to while they tried to find a coach behind his back?

To top it all off, Barkley comes out and basically calls his school racist on national television because they didn't hire Gill as their next head football coach. A member of the Auburn "family" caring more about his opinion and headlines than what may be true or not regarding the hiring process at Auburn University.

There is a common phrase that Auburn people use; I've used it throughout this article many times. It's called "family." Auburn doesn't call itself a "nation," or something else. The Tigers call themselves the Auburn "Family" because of the values the University tries to portray and because of the small town that Auburn is more represents a family than a nation. Either way, right now they are far from that.

If it is a family, though, it's a dysfunctional one. Former Auburn players basically calling their school racist, former coaches getting involved in hopes of one last power trip at the school where they used to reign supreme, and the athletic director as public enemy No. 1.

We haven't even talked about the role that the Board of Trustees always plays in coaching hires. Surprisingly enough, this seems to be a hire that the trustees didn't want or have anything to do with. But make no mistake, they play as big a part in the mess that is Auburn at times as anyone does.

The Auburn Family is at a crossroads. The question will be answered soon enough whether this family can come together and support a coach that virtually nobody wanted, but will be forced to root for.

Or will the Auburn people continue to tear down the decision, march in protest, ridicule their school in public, and undermine their own success because of power struggles?

What used to be the Auburn Family now puts the fans one one side and the officials and higher-ups with their own agenda's on the other, putting this family is on the verge of a bitter breakup.