re: Auburn fans tired of the “good ole boys” club

“No doubt. We have the most colorful boosters in college football, and every thing that goes with that.”

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That could very well be the the case, but it happens all over. Yet, every time Auburn goes through a coaching search, they start throwing out booster names and who they want as their candidate for the job. I've heard about that during maybe two other searches at other schools.

Like myself and others have said itt, boosters buy access and influence. They do it all over the country but Auburn is one of very few who they feel the need to write unlimited stories about it.

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Auburn's boosters have the reputation they have, because there is a clear-cut pattern of power dynamics at play here that have marred the integrity of virtually every coaching search in recent memory. I can't speak for other programs, but Auburn in particular seems to be a microcosm of "college football" to an exaggerated degree, and I believe that the same ingredients that create the "magic" of the Auburn Family intangible qualities that seem to stand out with this program also enable and heighten the BS we bare witness to in regards to what takes place behind the scenes.

Let's look at a quick history of events going back several head coaching hires and you'll see that what is being presented through back channels, as "ridiculous" as it sounds, is not as unlikely as you'd think it is.

1) Bowden out, Tuberville in
Not only did Tuberville accept the job before Bowden was even officially fired/quit, but there was a faction in place for Bill Oliver to retain the HC title. So even going back this far you see this trend that will continue into the future of attempted "grooming" of current coordinators to supplant the departing head coach. Oliver supposedly sued the administration and won based off of "promises" that were given to him and not fulfilled.

2) Jetgate
Everyone knows about this one. Once again, certain boosters attempt to move in Tuberville's former coordinator into the HC position. They didn't consider that Tuberville actually had more fan support than anticipated and we know what transpired afterwards.

3) End of Tuberville
Certain booster(s) make contact with Houston Nutt before Tuberville is even let go. Resulted in Tuberville's full contract being paid out.

4) Tuberville Ultimately Replaced
Tuberville out; his 5-19 former DC is raised up out of nowhere as a complete "WTF" hire. Lets not forget that during the entire end-days of Tuberville, his other former DC - Muschamp - was the "dream replacement". That didn't end up happening as Texas gave him the "HCIW" title, and yet we still managed to hire a former coordinator of his. Tuberville's tenure was marred with plays to target Petrino, Muschamp, and finally Chizik as his replacement. All have one thing in common.

5) Chizik out, Malzahn in
Once again, the HC is replaced by the less-than-proven former coordinator. This one was at least easier to sell because Malzahn's offense had produced a championship just a few years prior, detracting from the fact that it was too early for Malzahn to return as the HC.

6) Malzahn out, attempted Steele in?
This seemed like absurdity when the talk first started, but it's been corroborated by enough people to suggest that this was in fact a real thing. Another tone-deaf attempt to push in a current coordinator who has no business of getting this job. The fan outlash and exposing of this story seems to have saved us from this nightmare (for now), but the fact that this was even a thing should tell you how dysfunctional this entire process is. There is no way in hell that Kevin Steele even gets a courtesy interview based off of merit without some clear meddling to push him in by "people with power". Not for this job opening.

So apart from the clear trend of boosters "cozying up" and grooming coordinators to be "their guy" which has been a repeated occurrence here, the other interesting thing to point out is how the "Search Committee" is completely loaded top to bottom with names and associates of former players/members all representing one faction of power - and all from one era. There is virtually no diversity there to represent any other alternative direction with regards to who gets to have a say. The other thing to note is how blatantly obvious it is that the AD at Auburn is just a figurehead position - Greene was hired to be this guy and turns out isn't actually complying as much as they would have wanted him to, which also probably explains why he tried to leave once already. Jay Jacobs was a "Yes Man" as well, the only difference is that he actually liked being in that position. Greene is trying to put his own stamp on the program and if that doesn't work, I expect you'll probably see him out the door and replaced with you-know-who as the new Jacobs.