re: Gus was a fraud

Certainly not, he was also dealt some brutal injuries during that run. Check his record the year following that, do you not remember going to JH and walking a guy this fan base (my dumbass self included) tried to tell you was gonna win the heisman before the season (Stidham) in Pruitt’s first year? What little success he was able to create vanished into thin air much quicker than it was created

He was a fraud. Couldn't develop a QB, and mainly through them under the bus when it was convenient. Still have no idea how Barners let him run Sean "the gamer" White down into the ground. Awful Coach.

Gus was at Arky under Nutt and Nutt completely neutered his offense. He wanted no part of Gus's HUNH ides. Nutt basically used Gus to land some of Gus's high school recruits. And it is known there is still bad blood between them.

Then in 2009 Chiz brought Gus on as OC. That is when we started seeing some of Gus's offensive ideas. However, Chiz also did not want the HUNH and it is known he slowed him down to protect the D.

In 2012, Hugh Freeze was hired at Ole Siss. Freeze and Gus had never coached together, BUT were really good friends who shared ideas a lot (heard Gus say this himself). Freeze coached at Arky St. right before Gus and Gus took that job over from Freeze. Anyway, Freeze began running the HUNH in the SEC in 2012.

The next year, '13, Gus took over at AU and also began running the HUNH. His was slightly different than Freeze's. Gus ran a weird wing-T POWER offense with lots of running and very simple route trees. Freeze was more traditional spread/pass oriented. Gus found Nick Marshall who was insanely good at running the zone-read and RPO's (maybe the best I've ever seen). When Nick Marshall was clicking, it was beautiful to watch. Made Gus look like a genius.

Gus lost Marshall to graduation and then tried to go with a standard drop back passer. It just didn't work. JJ was a disaster. As the years progressed, he got better with the pocket QB, but his offense was never the same. It was mid pack in the SEC at best. Some years he still put up top rushing numbers, but his passing offense never was that good. Everyone made fun of his simple route concepts (including other coaches).

Contrary to what people think, Gus has not always been a "running QB" guy. At Tulsa, he had a very successful pocket QB who put up big numbers. He couldn't find that success at AU because, well, the defenses are just better here. In the SEC, he needed a running QB and a QB who was really good at the fakes and RPO's. That's what really kept SEC D's off balance, at least for a while.

I totally get what you’re saying, Other fan bases will always try to justify why you should have kept your coach instead of firing him. Newsflash: other teams want you to lose. If the guy isn’t getting it done and is showing no sign of getting it done soon, get rid of him....IF you have a good plan in place to replace him (and that was Tennessee and now auburns problem - no plan)

I’ve been to auburn one time (had a great time, awesome town) and it was that UT game. I will say that i don’t think that particular game is all on Gus. That was JGs best game of his career, and our WRs caught everything. But overall, it does fit into the pattern you are talking about

Yes I was actually trying to allude to that entire season to summarize his career. This board would all be laughing at us had we not fired him after his quote saying 6-4 is a solid season and the video of him dancing the night away after beating a 2-7 miss st. It sucks the search has gone this way and I completely agree with you, I for some reason had faith we would have a good plan in store for this moment because well that just seems like common sense. Can’t have shite I guess lol

I check this board once every blue moon man, tonight being one of them. Was not anticipating to see so much support for him here so I felt the need to fire off some of my thoughts.

This is an odd question and I’m not sure why I gave it the time of day

I agree. The answer is for sure to hire a guy that can't even win the Sun Belt

Gus’s offenses at Auburn were at their best when he had a great RB. Even in 2010 with Cam at QB, Michael Dyer carried a heavy load. In 2013 Tre Mason ran for nearly 2,000 yards, on top of Marshall’s 1,000+ yards rushing. 2017 it was Kerryon Johnson, and we saw what happened to Auburn in the SEC Championshio Game and bowl game without Johnson. Now, Stidham was playing better than any QB in the league at the end of that 2017 season, so it wasn’t all Johnson, but my point is all the focus on the QB is off base, IMO. It’s the RB that keys Gus’s offense, and it’s only real dangerous when he has a dynamic RB. Because when that RB could get 5+ yards on first down, it really opened up Gus’s playbook and allowed him to run the no huddle and exploit the defensive personnel on the field. Those 4 RB’s were the only ones that could do that on a consistent basis for him.

I agree with you now ask yourself this The Spleen, can you fathom a Nick Saban led Alabama team completely imploding late in the season due to an injury to your star running back?

If Jimbo won as many SEC titles as Gus he would have been underpaid at $75 million.

Y’all are right Gus needed to go because y’all didn’t appreciate what you had and you got spoiled. It’s your program’s Solich moment.

I bet the falling will feel like flying for a minute or two so enjoy it.