re: UPDATE: Mike Irwin just said Malzahn is choice #1.

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Even if he doesn't have a good/great QB, his running offense is still nearly unstoppable. People forget they steamrolled people last year when they finally settled on that small white dude, and then struggled once he got hurt. Good thing about around here, most schools run a variation of his offense now, so QBs are more likely to be developed here than Auburn where they still play alot of standard I-formation ball in alot of the deep South.

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So he can't evaluate a QB coming out of highschool.

He can't develop a QB.

His offense has a non-effective passing game and is simplistic.

He underachieves most years, his best season was his first at the school.

Is this Houston Nutt? It sounds like Houston Nutt.

Eh the majority of them want to him to stay and would be upset if he left right now

Thing is they flip flop a lot and could easily want him gone again next year

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Thing is they flip flop a lot and could easily want him gone again next year

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They lose to Bama, they'll be crowing for him to pack his shite.

If I thought he could win here at close to the same clip he does at AU I could probably look past the sleazeball character issues and be alright with it, I just don't think he can at all.

Case and point: I remember my family discussing their personal run-ins with BP and how much of an outright prick he was to anyone and everyone around when he was on The Hill. The dude had zero prejudice when it came to who he tore into and why, so much so that he was giving out verbal arse kickings at times and places completely unrelated to football. At the time these stories were hilarious and everyone just laughed it off like "haha classic Bobby!"

Fast forward many months later after he's fired and those EXACT same stories are being passed around, only this time to justify why it had to be done and why he was such a POS. It's not like this was on some small scale between the people who knew/ran into him here and there either; the entire fan base was taking these stories and justifying in the same way.

Point being, people can look past A LOT when a HC is successful. I don't believe GM woukd have the success necessary.

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Maybe we'll finally start paying players.

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hopefully

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Point being, people can look past A LOT when a HC is successful. I don't believe GM woukd have the success necessary.

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I'm in agreement this, and I think lots in the state are too and lots aren't.

I know what I'm getting with Gus and it will be around 7 wins each year... Bareley above what we have now. Perhaps with the right qb, he could hit a 10 win season, but overall I think it'd be somewhere in between Bert and Nutt. That's not exactly Bobby P in his prime. I also think we'd recruit about where we are now...probabaly around 25 every year, but with far more players from Texas and Arkansas. I do know that every single rock in the state would be turned over for talent, though.

Personally, I'd like to see what Kiffin could do here, and that's not a joke. He's an arse, yes but he could finally get us into the upper 15-17 or so of recruitng and I believe his offensive philosophy is actually a far more advanced than Gus's...especially now that Briles has given his influence.

I know there's probably about a 5 percent chance of Freshwater coming here and probably an 85-90 percent chance of Gus coming... If Long were still here though, I'd know there a 100 percent chance neither would be hired...

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"what I was told today, is they will make him (Malzahn) say no before they move on to another candidate"

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Just means he's first in line to use Arkansas for a better deal w/his current employer.

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Eh the majority of them want to him to stay and would be upset if he left right now

Thing is they flip flop a lot and could easily want him gone again next year

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For the majority of AU fans, they recognize that Gus can be a really good/great coach. What AU fans get frustrated about is that Gus seems to want to "prove people wrong" about his weaknesses

Things Gus has done extremely well at Auburn

-Overall Roster Management
This is the first time since early 2000s that Auburn's depth at nearly every position (not QB) is great. We've had injuries to multiple RB, WR, OL, LB, DBs and there has been minimal to no dropoff. Under Malzahn, Auburn's recruiting has done a great job targeting roster weaknesses

Team Chemistry
Despite some lumps + injuries over the years, Gus' teams never seem to quit during the season. Every year after a bad loss, Auburn's team usually rights the ship and is competitive next game(s)

Auburn defensive turnaround
Auburn has had 3 defensive coordinators in 5 years, so the HC deserves credit for parts of this. At the end of the day, Gus brought in Kevin Steele who was panned as a hire and deserves credit.
Unlike Muschamp at UF, Gus emphasized D recruiting which has be integral to our current defense. Also, Gus deserves credit for working with/allowing both Muschamp/Steele to do their job.

Base Offense
Gus' offense works.... when he allows it to. At its core/foundations, there are no problems with the offense. There is a reason that AU consistently is able to pound some decent teams even w/ subpar QB/OL play and w/o any real WR talent. It is when he wants to go back to HS twirlybirds or uninspired playcalling that fans get mad.

Reasons why Auburn Fans are upset

QB Evaluation/Development
Gus needs an OC pairing that can evaluate/develop QBs. Then he needs to accept that he should just run the O w/ a dual threat QB

Playcalling
Gus can get stubborn/conservative and go into a TuberShell. It's weird, some games like UGA he is brilliant while Clemson he is a moronic

Gus doesn't embrace the best version of his offense
Gus' offense works w/ guys like Sean White or J Stidham. It just isn't at its best with those guys. Gus has targeted more prototypical pocket passers and not dual threat/runners

He needs a good OC pairing
Both to address the above, talk Gus out of stubborn playcalling and to continue to innovate on the base offense

Something to keep in mind about Gus is he has been a head coach for 6 seasons. Saban didn't have a 10 win season until his 8th season as HC.

Gus likely has not hit has peak as a coach.