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re: Why did Auburn fire Gus?
Posted on 11/3/26 at 7:19 am to cbree88
Posted on 11/3/26 at 7:19 am to cbree88
quote:No it wasnt. Gus fricking sucked. Zero road wins against quality opponents. Blew games after having commanding leads. Most predictable offesnive scheme after the league figured out his offense. Zero adaptablitly and the most stubborn belief he could run his offense without a mobile Qb.
Terrible mistake in hindsight
Its as if people forget about his whirly bird specials with a FB taking snaps
Posted on 11/3/26 at 7:21 am to Auburn80
Ok, I can get on board with that statement. You're right that the NCAA will not ever try to enforce any kind of NIL rules. They know that as soon as they do the courts will slap them down.
Posted on 11/3/26 at 7:22 am to 3rdDOWN
What are you talking about? I LOVED the whirly bird!
Posted on 11/3/26 at 7:22 am to cbree88
Because Nick Saban was coaching at that other school in Alabama...
Posted on 11/3/26 at 7:28 am to TheTideMustRoll
quote:
You're kind of proving my point for me. Malzahn absolutely delivered at this level for Auburn, but y'all decided that wasn't enough.
I was not for firing Gus. My take at the time was, show me the plan for his replacement and I might get behind it, but it better be a good plan. Otherwise I wanted to stay the course. Harsin wasn't a good plan.
Posted on 11/3/26 at 7:29 am to cbree88
It seems like someone starts a " why did Auburn fire Gus Malzahn" post every couple of months now
As I've stated before- I had no problem with Auburn moving on from Malzahn at the time.
The problem has been how Auburn has handled hiring coaches since letting him go. Hindsight is always 20/20
As I've stated before- I had no problem with Auburn moving on from Malzahn at the time.
The problem has been how Auburn has handled hiring coaches since letting him go. Hindsight is always 20/20
Posted on 11/3/26 at 7:30 am to cbree88
He wouldn’t have lasted much longer as a HC, regardless. He resigned from being the HC at UCF and only lasted 1 year as the OC of Florida State.
It’s obvious he was ready to relax and enjoy time with family.
In hindsight, it looks bad to have fired him. But in his time, he had 3 good seasons — 2013, 2017 and 2019. Some of his most loaded rosters (2014, 2015) severely underwhelmed. 2018 wasn’t good and neither was 2020. Was it better than what we’ve had 2021-present? Yes, but a lot of his seasons were mediocre at best. Auburn was trying to do better than that, but they’ve clearly made bad hires in the attempt.
It’s obvious he was ready to relax and enjoy time with family.
In hindsight, it looks bad to have fired him. But in his time, he had 3 good seasons — 2013, 2017 and 2019. Some of his most loaded rosters (2014, 2015) severely underwhelmed. 2018 wasn’t good and neither was 2020. Was it better than what we’ve had 2021-present? Yes, but a lot of his seasons were mediocre at best. Auburn was trying to do better than that, but they’ve clearly made bad hires in the attempt.
Posted on 11/3/26 at 7:49 am to TTsTowel
Who was the AU coach that benched Bo Nix for TJ Finley?
Posted on 11/3/26 at 8:02 am to cbree88
It was Auburn trying to be something they arent. Gus was the only Auburn coach since 1924 to never have a losing season. Auburn fans were mad he wasnt having more consistent success yet only Pat Dye in the 80s produced Auburns solo back to back 10 win seasons.
Them being mad at his 8-5 seasons made no sense. He was the embodiment of Auburn football or maybe even a little better.
Them being mad at his 8-5 seasons made no sense. He was the embodiment of Auburn football or maybe even a little better.
Posted on 11/3/26 at 8:03 am to AUTiger789
quote:
My take at the time was, show me the plan for his replacement and I might get behind it, but it better be a good plan. Otherwise I wanted to stay the course.
Yeah, Harsin was very clearly a, "I'm mad we aren't winning more and will assume that any idiot can do better than our current guy," kind of hire. Those don't seem to work out very often. To be honest that's my position on DeBoer at present. Does he have the team at the level we want it? No, but we could do a damn sight worse, and I'm not sure who we could legitimately go out and hire right now that would be a slam dunk improvement, so by firing him we'd probably just wind up heading in the wrong direction.
Posted on 11/3/26 at 8:12 am to Auburn80
quote:
Assuming other SEC teams would follow the rules was a mistake.
Yes, Auburn always respected as the SEC’s lone paragon of virtue
Posted on 11/3/26 at 9:19 am to TTsTowel
quote:All this + Auburn was forced to watch four teams in close proximity (UGA/LSU/Bama/Clem) compete for championships and win multiple NC's.
In hindsight, it looks bad to have fired him. But in his time, he had 3 good seasons — 2013, 2017 and 2019. Some of his most loaded rosters (2014, 2015) severely underwhelmed. 2018 wasn’t good and neither was 2020. Was it better than what we’ve had 2021-present? Yes, but a lot of his seasons were mediocre at best. Auburn was trying to do better than that, but they’ve clearly made bad hires in the attempt.
Gus was stubborn as hell though, he went through multiple OC's yet he refused to give up the offense. Some of Gus' former OC's are damn good coaches and they know what they're doing. Rhett Lashley & Kenny Dillingham are HC's and Chip Lindsey is Mizzou's OC. Gus just never trusted them to run the offense.
Posted on 11/3/26 at 9:38 am to TheTideMustRoll
quote:That's exactly how I feel about Sark.
I'm not sure who we could legitimately go out and hire right now that would be a slam dunk improvement, so by firing him we'd probably just wind up heading in the wrong direction.
Posted on 11/3/26 at 10:15 am to jhamil25
quote:Bryan Harsin.
Who was the AU coach that benched Bo Nix for TJ Finley?
Posted on 11/3/26 at 10:16 am to RT1941
Solid post. Very, very true.
Posted on 11/3/26 at 12:39 pm to 3rdDOWN
quote:
Gus fricking sucked. Zero road wins against quality opponents. Blew games after having commanding leads. Most predictable offesnive scheme after the league figured out his offense.
This all may very well be true.
But y'all always assume that when you fire a coach, the next guy will be better. Newsflash...they often aren't.
Was Harsin better than Malzahn? No.
Was Freeze better than Harsin? No.
Is this guy better than Freeze? Maybe. Jury is still out.
Posted on 11/3/26 at 1:37 pm to BamaGradinTn
quote:
Is this guy better than Freeze? Maybe. Jury is still out.
True. But at the very least, he's already done something that none of the last 3 guys have done. However else this year plays out- and it likely will be 7-5 best case...AU took down #1 at home.
I'm of the opinion that Freeze if the worst AU coach of at least my lifetime.
This post was edited on 11/3/26 at 1:38 pm
Posted on 11/3/26 at 1:55 pm to jhamil25
quote:same AU coach that reinstated Nix as starter the very next game and watched him do this:
Who was the AU coach that benched Bo Nix for TJ Finley?
Posted on 11/3/26 at 1:59 pm to cbree88
quote:
Why did Auburn fire Gus?
Terrible mistake in hindsight
Hindsight is the key word. At the time I don't really blame them because it was abundantly clear that he had taken them as far as he could and they simply weren't going to win it all with him.
Same with Florida firing Mullen. He obviously wasn't winnign them a title but he had them competitive and usually top 15 every year, I bet UF fans suffering under Napier would've liked to have had him back.
UGA was in the same boat with Richt and also made the same decision but ours worked out for the best, unlike AU and UF's.
I don't think the decision itself to fire him was a bad one they have jsut utterly whiffed on everyone that's come after.
Posted on 11/3/26 at 2:11 pm to WG_Dawg
Solid post and exactly what I have said in some of our board threads.
The decision was right at the time. It’s the bumbling of decisions since then that are the focus of my ire.
The decision was right at the time. It’s the bumbling of decisions since then that are the focus of my ire.
This post was edited on 11/3/26 at 2:13 pm
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