re: What is the solution for the SEC coaching situation?

Not to mention Bama gets away with alotof penalties.

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Not many people think that way. What I do expect for an Auburn coach is to at least be playing for an SECC and possibly playoff birth every 4 years or so. Not to field the shite show we saw this year in his fourth year on the job. Do I think Gus needs to go? Right now, the answer is no. If he retains Lashlee, then he's proven that he is not willing to make the necessary changes to fix things. Gus has shown what he can do with the right signal caller, but he definitely needs an OC that can develop QBs. Lashlee ain't the guy. As bad as it was this year, the defense improved dramatically and will be even better next year. If we get Stidham at QB, this is a team ready to take the next step.

I remind myself that Gus is still pretty raw as a HC. He's taken steps in the right direction on defense. Now it's time for him to swallow his pride and take the necessary steps on the offensive side.

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I'm still betting you're a minority as far as patience goes, at least among the serious fans (and I consider anyone with thousands of posts on a sports message board to be a serious fan.) I want to say it's because of the age of instant gratification, but it's a bit more complicated than that. More that it's the age of a million viewpoints, all immediately accessible. Like it or not, this is the Age of Information transforming into the Age of Communication. Fan discontent is no longer limited to a few people hanging out together after work. Not only do we no longer have to wonder what our own fanbase is thinking and doing, we no longer have to wonder what fans and programs and sportswriters 5 or 10 or 20 states away are thinking and doing. If people were honest, I bet most of them would admit that seeing critical articles and fan reactions on-line really do intensify the disappointment in losses and failures. I doubt any Auburn fan logged into SEC-R today without feeling the apprehension that they were going to have the loss rubbed in their faces. It just makes the fans unhappier and ratchets up the pressure on the coaches, players, and admins to fix the problems that a large percentage of the fans are discussing on-line post haste. They can claim they don't care about what's happening on sports websites and message boards and Facebook. Their sensitivity to criticism and failure nowadays says differently.

Here's the current problem:

Urban Meyer quit.

He had UF on a roll and there was very good balance between East and West. UF and Bama played different styles, both attracted top talent. The other teams in their respective divisions wanted to catch up. Everything gets elevated when both divisions have top teams and coaching staffs.

Even if LSU had won in 2011, the West would be strong while the East weak, and the East would have continued to fall. The problem was made worse by Bama winning 2011. That pretty much made Bama the only top program, and dominantly so.

If Meyer didn't puss out, the SEC would still be the nation's best conference by far, the best assistants and best talent in the nation would flock to at least two programs in the conference rather than just one. The overflow would go to LSU, AU, UT, UGA, USC and now with Richt gone and Spurrier gone, the East has fallen further.

When Spurrier and Fulmer were the most dominant in the SEC, there were still excellent coaches in the West that had great seasons like AU in 94. However, recall how Spurrier and Fulmer sustained success and focus was on the East. The West began to fall. It took Saban's arrival at LSU to produce another champion in the West.

The conference must have elite level performance in both divisions to attract the best. And AD's must do a better job of selecting coaches. Whatever indicators AD's are using to predict performance, they need to find some new ones.

I think they need to start evaluating what these coaches do upon their immediate arrival somewhere. Saban immediately made MichSt a better team. Same with LSU. MichSt was 0-11 the year before Saban. His first year they went to a bowl game. By his 5th year they were a top 5 or top 10 team, at a time when OSU and Mich were elite.

Meyer did the same at Bowling Greene and at Utah. Utah was 5-6 the year before Meyer. They were 10-2 his first year, 12-0 his second year.

That's good coaching. Combine it with good recruiting and you have an elite coach. None of the recent SEC hires have proven to make things better in such a dramatic fashion.

When Mac was at CSU, they were 3-9 year before. His first year they were 4-8. Second year 8-5. That's good, but not nearly as dramatic as what Saban and Meyer did with teams upon their arrival. Spurrier took a UF program off of probation that couldn't finish higher than 4th in the SEC or lose fewer than 5 games, and won the SEC his first two years.

Butch Jones took over in Cincy - they won Big East and were top 10 and 12-1 year before. His first year they don't make a bowl game. Second year 10 wins but couldn't win the Big East. Brian Kelly got them to top 10 in a crappy conference. In 3 years Butch couldn't win the conference once. Yet he gets hired at UT.

Saban is a rare breed, and you won't find another one like him, at least not for a long time. I think schools are wanting the Urban Meyer/Les Miles 2007 type coaches, honestly.