Comments on: Well, that didn’t take long

By: Aubiece

Aubiece — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 13:59:20 +0000

CGM will leave AU soon.. the question is how soon?… It is the kind of
problem you want to have… your co-ordinators doing such a bang up job
they become head coaches… It sure beats either mediocrity or plan
right out suckage….

As to CTT, my view is he is not experienced enough to be a head coach…
If CGM leaves, CTT would be in line for the co-ordinators job… and
unless their is a stellar candidate out there, would get it…. As to whether
CTT can coach as CGM level, I doubt it, but if he could get to 75-80% of
that level, that would suffice with the better talent AU will have…

To summarize, it is all good…

WDE Jerry

By: WDEwg

WDEwg — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 20:34:26 +0000

What are ya’ll’s thoughts on the danger or a repeat of Nallsminger if Taylor or Luper tries to run Malzahn’s offense (should he leave)? Jerry or others. I’ve seen that thrown out other places, and I’m not sure what I think.

By: Alex P in Smyrna G

Alex P in Smyrna G — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 19:23:38 +0000

OTS,

I wouldn’t say AU has “despite no real talent” on offense. But you nailed it on depth – especially on the line.

But if Mahlzan can stay for through 2011 (fingers crossed), then we should have enough steam built up to make a good hire and keep on trucking.

By: OTS

OTS — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 18:13:43 +0000

I’ll be frank on Trooper… if he leaves Auburn for a head coaching job right now (at Memphis or anywhere else), it will be a big mistake on the part of the school that hires him, and it won’t hurt Auburn a lick. He’s really just a young, energetic guy who relates well to young kids, thus making him a good recruiter, but even as a position coach he is nothing at all special. Auburn could replace him at the drop of a hat, and again it’d be a big mistake by whichever school that hires him. Any time you hire an average-at-best position coach, with no previous head coaching experience, to be your head coach, that just has disaster written all over it.

Malzahn, though, would be a completely different story. If he leaves, that’s legitimately a very big loss for Auburn, and I’m not exactly sure who would replace him honestly. You would really need a similar coach / philosophy because you’ve started recruiting players to play in that particular offense, and if you change midstream you end up with a lot of kids getting caught in a systems crunch.

Also, Malzahn’s departure would have an immediate negative recruiting impact because of Michael Dyer. He is committed to Auburn because of Malzahn — if you don’t know who Walt Williams is, you should do some reading on him — and if Malzahn leaves Auburn before NSD, Dyer will be gone in a matter of days.

Now, I will say that I don’t think Malzahn will end up with the Memphis job, for many of the same reasons that Jerry mentioned. However, just being brutally honest, as long as Malzahn continues to have Auburn rolling offensively despite no real talent and / or depth, his time in Auburn is going to be VERY limited. Young, hotshot offensive coordinators don’t stay offensive coordinators for long… they can generate entirely too much excitement as a head coach and sell too many tickets for a struggling school… it’s only a matter of time before some school comes along and tags him as their head coach.

That is pretty much what is happening with Malzahn at Auburn. If the success continues, it’s not a question of if, it’s a question of when. I imagine he’ll still be on the Plains come 2010, but if he continues to show out like he has this year, the chances of Malzahn remaining OOC at Auburn are somewhere between 0.00% and 0.01%.

By: jrsuicide

jrsuicide — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 17:27:58 +0000

ugggh. i KNEW this was gonna happen. stay away from my Spread Eagle 2: Electric Boogaloo, Memphis. noone wants to coach your stupid team!

By: AubOrange

AubOrange — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:28:36 +0000

Glad to see that Bob Davie is already on notice.

By: WarBlogEagle

WarBlogEagle — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:50:11 +0000

Alex, maybe, but the Muschamp-Taylor comparison doesn’t work for me; one’s a coordinator, one’s a position coach/assistant head coach. I think Taylor would be back along the sidelines talking to his receivers if that’s what he and Chizik felt his position required.

I understand why people have a hard time seeing Taylor as an OC, but just because most coordinators are the bookish, glasses-wearing type doesn’t automatically mean that a backwards hat-wearing type can’t do the job. Taylor looks plenty qualified to me and the positives of promoting him, I think, outweigh the negatives.

But hopefully this won’t be an issue for a while.

By: Alex P in Smyrna G

Alex P in Smyrna G — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:16:56 +0000

Honestly, Jerry, I haven’t noticed much ‘coaching’ coming from Taylor on game days. He’s waving the towel and working the crowd even when the defense is on the field. On one hand, that’s neat to see. But on the other, wouldn’t it be more productive to talk with the receivers about what just happened in their last posession?

Obviously, he’s improved their technique greatly over Greg Knox. And that is awesome. So is his recruiting ability.

I see folks compare him to Muschamp. CWM is there going nuts for his boys too. But once they come off the field, he’s sitting them down and talking about what they are going to do next time out.

I for one would not feel comfortable with Trooper being OC. I think he would make a better head coach and motivator, because as you’ve noted, we haven’t exactly seen him with glasses and a clipboard charting plays.

I like my OCs bookish and dorky… guys like Leach, Malzahn, Chow, and Borges.

Bottom line: Lose Malzahn before a good three years to establish Auburn as an offensive power and we are toast.

JMHO

APISG

By: Snable

Snable — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 14:39:49 +0000

Nice post. I feel good about this situation as well, as I believe both Taylor and Malzahn to be back on The Plains next year. However, let’s assume the worst and that both Malzahn and Taylor take the trip up to Memphis to interview during the next couple of weeks. I don’t believe that either of these men will allow the interviewing process to take away one second from their responsiblities at Auburn. For instance, did Tulsa look less prepared in the bowl game last year? Malzahn had already taken the AU gig, but Tulsa looked lights out in the game. I feel that Chizik has laid a solid foundation, and our program can absorb a loss like this, should it come to be. I’m like you though…expect the same major cogs to be walking the sidelines next year. These coaches know that AU is a year or two away from something special. War Damn Eagle.