AJC > Sports > Blog > Archives > 2008 > December > 17
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
More bad timing at Auburn
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Nobody asked me but:
1. There is more tough timing at Auburn: I’m sure the timing could have been worse, but I’m not sure how. Gene Chizik is named Auburn’s new head football coach amid a fractured fan base, many of whom didn’t understand how a 5-19 coach from Iowa State, who had a cup of coffee as Auburn’s defensive coordinator, was an upgrade over Tommy Tuberville. Then came charges from Sir Charles Barkley that race was “the No. 1 factor” in the decision to hire Chizik, who is white, and not Buffalo’s Turner Gill, who is black
And while all of this is going on and Auburn is getting beat up, in some cases unfairly, in the national media, the renewal form for 2009 season tickets went out. So it can’t be a coincidence that former coach Pat Dye recently sent out a letter asking for the Auburn family to rally behind Chizik. The unstated message: “Please renew your season tickets.”
I had several Auburn fans contact me and say they weren’t sure they would renew their season tickets. I’ll bet that they do. Emotions are running a little raw right now on the Loveliest Village. Those fans will realize that they HAVE to rally around Chizik and the new staff.
2. I’m surprised Dan Mullen will call the plays in the BCS championship game: There are a million things to do when a new head coach takes over at a school. If that man has never been a head coach before, there are two million things to do and there is a very steep and time-consuming learning curve. Best wishes for Dan Mullen, the new head coach at Mississippi State, as he tries to keep his old hat as the offensive coordinator at Florida through the BCS championship game with Oklahoma. It has a chance to work because Mullen and Tim Tebow basically share the same mind when it comes to offense. But you can bet that the head coach, Urban Meyer, will be watching closely. Meyer is one of the better detail coaches I’ve met. If he sees any slippage in preparation for Oklahoma, he will step in.
3. Joe Pa continues to fool us all: Here is why I like Joe Paterno. Yeah, he’s cranky and he makes it tough on the media. He has an ego like all talented people do. But the guy simply will not follow the script that other people have been trying to write for him. Several years ago when he had several tough seasons in a row, the script writers in the media said it was time for him to go. The game, they said, had passed him by. Paterno said no, there were some things that needed fixing in the Penn State program and he knew how to do that. This season the Nittany Lions went 11-1 and if not for a last-second loss at Iowa, Paterno would be playing for the national championship. Then the script writers said that after such a great season it was again time to go. Paterno ain’t buying it. He has gotten a commitment from Penn State for three more seasons just as he turns 82 years old. He’s got a new hip and he’s ready to go to the Rose Bowl and take on USC. How could you not pull for this guy?
4. Turner Gill was never going to Iowa State: When Chizik got the Auburn job over Buffalo’s Turner Gill, many assumed that Gill, a former Nebraska quarterback and assistant coach, would take over at Iowa State. That was not going to happen. Gill is a proud man and felt he had already proven he could build one downtrodden program by taking Buffalo to a MAC championship in only three seasons. So he decided to take a contract extension at Buffalo that goes through 2013 with rollover options. It was disappointing to see Gill passed over by Syracuse and Auburn but he will ultimately he will benefit from this experience. At least I think he will.
5. Notre Dame will ALWAYS be Urban Meyer’s dream job and that’s okay for the Gators: It’s always been humorous to me how some stories are bigger nationally than they are locally. Take the innocent comment recently from Urban Meyer that Notre Dame, a job that he turned down to come to Florida in 2005, was his dream job. The local media guys didn’t go nuts because they understood the context. It was always a dream of Meyer’s mother that he be the head coach at Notre Dame. Meyer was named after a Pope, for crying out loud. For that reason Meyer will always be complimentary when the subject is Notre Dame. But as often the case, Meyer’s desire to be respectful of Notre Dame was cast as uncertainty about his current situation with Florida. Silly. For Meyer, Notre Dame is a dream job. Florida, on the other hand, is a REAL job where it is possible to compete for the national championship every season. He understands the difference.
