Feeling Hopeful and Optimistic About the Future of the Program?

Yeah it’s hard for me to say. I feel basically the same exact way I felt last year when I heard we were hiring Harsin.. which is to say I have no idea what to expect for our program.

I'd say we are better on defense. I'd like to part ways with everything offense. All new players, coaches, etc.

Shitty recruiting and blowing leads gets nothing but a downvote from me. I want him to be successful but all I see so far is a blowhard talking a bunch of coach speak.

-We have one of the winningest active HCs in college football.
-Bo's mechanics improved.
-The defensive line improved over the course of the season and gave Alabama more hell than Georgia did.
-Derek Mason may have finally acquiesced to calling plays that better fit our existing personnel, rather than insisting on 3-down idealogical purity
-Special teams, while lousy overall, showed some moments that were encouraging. The punting game against Bama in particular. Our backup kicker performed admirably
-The team absolutely didn't quit. See IB.
-Receivers seemed to improve after the coaching change.
-We have a good RB room.
-We learned what the hell a Tight End is, and how to use it.

But...

There are at least that many negatives. That HC made that win percentage at a storied program in the... Mountain West. Bo may be gone, and we may or may not have an SEC serviceable QB. Even if Bo stays we have some key personnel losses. The team underperformed based on its talent (my biggest disappointment). We don't have an OC and we don't know which direction that's going to go. Our OL is going to be mediocre AT BEST for the foreseeable, largely negating that RB room. The recruiting class don't look too swooft.

My attitude toward the state of the program is exactly like its win/loss record: 50/50.

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We beat a 5-7 LSU team in Baton Rouge

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Excuse me?! You mean 6-6 L2U!

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Excuse me?! You mean 6-6 L2U!

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You are correct. I forgot they beat TAM

The SEC is about to frick us.

We learn how to not blow leads we are 10-2

Ok, here some general positives money can’t buy - the rest is just stuff you can actually buy (coaches, facilities, etc).

- Auburn City is growing extremely fast (this will be an advantage in the coming years/decades)
- AU is located in the best recruiting area in the nation and we are close to Atlanta
- We have (world) famous alumni who are active parts of the AU family, Tim Cook, Bo Jackson, Charles Barkley, Rowdy Gaines, Cam Newton, etc
- We have the coolest traditions in CFB + we co-own the IronBowl (most schools would kill for this), the DSOR is a secondary rivalry for us (it would be easily the premier rivalry for most schools)
- Currently, we have an Olympic gold medalist and potentially the future #1 NBA draft pick on campus, pretty cool.
- AU ranks top100 among national universities and top40 among public universities in the U.S. - I think this is top5 among SEC schools.
- Auburn is an SEC school (100+ FBS schools would kill to be in the SEC)
- We can claim John Heisman
- State-of-the-art $95M FOF is under/construction (ok we bought this with money)

During the Iron Bowl we honored the 2010 NC Team, the Gymnastics AA Olympic gold medalist, and Apple’s CEO was the IB honorary captain… that’s some Stanford-level shite.