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[Darth Vader]

The idea behind this thread is simple. State why you believe it was either a good or bad move for Auburn to hire Gus Malzahn. The one thing I request though is you back up your opinion with something of substance that is not effected by your allegiance to or against Auburn. So, what say SECTalk? Malzahn to Auburn... Good hire or bad?

[StaringContestYouAndMe]

I think it is a good hire. Not the sexy hire that a lot of people were hoping for. I just like defensive-minded coaches more, but with the way the game of college football is evolving, I think it is a good hire for Auburn to turn things around quickly.

[BulldawgFan]

eh...I'm in the middle. I do believe he is a great offensive mind ,however, I have to wonder if he has enough hc expirence to deal with handling both sides of the ball. I know he could just let BVG or whoever is there take it over ,but imo a great coach controls both sides.

[Darth Vader]

Two solid responses thus far. Thanks to both of you.

[Penguin]

Gus, despite how much I dislike it, is a good hire

I think Auburn could have done much better, much better, had we been willing to give up more control and make some compromises from the executives end. That being said, Malzahn could prove to be a Petrino without the hormone problems. No one can argue with his results on the offensive end, and the dude is naturally intelligent not just with football, he's going to figure out a way to win hes going to our recruit everyone offensively, hes going to win 8-10 games per season. What he hasn't proven is if he can get to that next level, the championship level. The hop from OC to head coach of one of the nations best college football programs is...massive.

Malzahn was a safe hire, he has the potential to be great, but then again so did dyer, so did frazier, lots of people have the potential, few people reach the actual. Thats what this whole situation boils down to, Malzahn is halfway to actual, we had guys on the table like stoops like Petrino, who were at or close to actual status.

I am excited about the potential for stability that he provides, if he can win us a natty within the first 5 years he could be here for 20 or more and I like the guy so...not to quote @SECats but 7/10

Edited by Penguin, 04 December 2012 - 11:50 PM.

[TrueGCFan]

He's better than what you had. I think the question is what do you consider success?  Just winning or winning national titles?  I think you will be a better team, but I don't think he is or will ever be in the same league as Saban.

Could you have done better?  With who was willing to come I doubt it.

[Penguin]

TrueGCFan, on 04 December 2012 - 11:49 PM, said:

He's better than what you had. I think the question is what do you consider success?  Just winning or winning national titles?  I think you will be a better team, but I don't think he is or will ever be in the same league as Saban.

Could you have done better?  With who was willing to come I doubt it.

not who was willing to come but who was willing to give up a certain amount of control, I doubt it too. Its not AUBURN is the administration. Auburn could be great and any coach would literally crawl through broken glass to reach Bear status nationally and that could be done at Auburn. See my above post because Malzahn and Auburn are both in the same spot, both have a TON of potential neither has reached actual yet.

[M2J]

Good hire.   Everybody knows the guy can coach offense.  Everybody knows that Auburn hired him to be the head coach of the offense and Chizik to be head coach of the defense and to be a recruiter.   The offense in Auburn was relatively solid enough for them to win 8 games 2 of the 3 years he was there and his offense lead to a more improbable undefeated run IMO than Notre Dame's this year, while the Defense was always a weakness...where has Tuberville probably left more on the defensive end for a coach to pick up and be solid there within this time. I don't know about him as a recruiter,  or on defense.

Will be interesting to see his staff on defense.

If I were an Auburn fan, I'd be a bit disappointed, but I'd be pretty optimistic. He's not a sexy pick, and I don't even know how safe a pick he is.   But the man can coach offensive football...he's a name that's been pretty prominent in the South for some time now, but is finally truly getting his shot as a head man at a big program and to prove he's more than just an offensive mind.

As the Alabama fan that I am, the move doesn't move me at all.  Which is why I'd be a disappointed Auburn fan.

Edited by M2J, 05 December 2012 - 01:21 AM.

[HobnailedBoots]

Bad hire.

1) It tells me that the AU administration is trying to keep certain pieces of the old staff together, so choosing Malzahn isn't as much about starting fresh as it is keeping continuity, and I think it means that the BOT are still trying to keep their hooks in the football program instead of giving a coach full control of it. I think Auburn has had the same problem for years - too many cooks in the kitchen, so to speak. Hiring a guy with a bigger name that would have brought in his own staff would have told me that people like Bobby Lowder and Pat Dye were ready to relinquish some control. Hiring Malzahn tells me they're still trying to run the football program from outside the athletic department.

2) Malzahn is a spread offense guy. I thought AU wanted to go with a more pro style offense and physical minded football? They won't get that with Malzahn. Furthermore, I'm not sure that his style of offense can be successful in this league without a freak athlete like Cam Newton running it. His results without Newton didn't impress me.

3) They could have done better. Arkansas hired Bret Bielema. Tennessee is reportedly set to hire Charlie Strong. Both successful head coaches at relatively big programs. Guys like Bret Bielema weren't even on the public's radar, so it tells me that Jeff Long did a more thorough search than AU's "committee" did. Frankly I don't know if they looked around much at all, more like they opened up the Rolodex and called only old AU assistants, and that lack of thoroughness would bother me if I were an Auburn fan. I mean really, how is this different from the Chizik hire? Going with a former AU assistant because he was good as an assistant at Auburn? In the academic community, graduates of an institution rarely teach at the same school, because it creates what they call "academic stagnation." A lack of new ideas/perspective to keep the intellectual pool fresh.  Maybe Auburn has a little bit of that going on with their football program.

Edited by HobnailedBoots, 05 December 2012 - 01:28 AM.

[MrGamecockFan]

i like the hire, but now we will truly get to know whether it was malzahn's offense or cam newton running it that was more successful!

i also consider malzahn to be a much better coach than chizik!

Edited by MrGamecockFan, 05 December 2012 - 02:58 AM.

[cocky4ever]

Hobs already hit on a lot of points I was going to bring up. Plus, just because he's an offensive minded coach doesn't mean he'll have good offenses. Chizik had great defenses at Auburn as a coordinator. As a HC though his team had horrible defenses. Malzahn will have lots of other stuff to worry about besides the offense. They should've gotten a bigger name that was less of a risk. The rest of the West seems to be improving, so if this turns out to be a bad hire Auburn will be even further behind in a few years.

Edited by cocky4ever, 05 December 2012 - 04:24 AM.

[Ocho]

I am not sure how to feel about it yet. I feel like his offense is really rather predictable. I suppose I do need to keep in mind that I watched him for three years, but when Arkansas State came to Troy this year me and my pastor went to the game together. Before every play I could tell him almost every time exactly what the offense was going to do, because pretty much wherever the second running back went into motion was where the ball was going, with the occasional play action pass. I feel like we saw some of that in year three with Gus as OC.

In some ways I do really like the hire, because players seem to enjoy playing for him, he was a part of recruiting most of our offense, and I see that as being really beneficial to us moving forward.

I do know that even though we will be a hurry up spread team we will run the ball A LOT. I really like that, and expect it to be more successful than the stuff we were doing this year.

Essentially, I think we could have done better. Gus has been a great coordinator, and was an 8-3 championship coach at Arkansas State. But at the end of the day, that is the sunbelt and this is the SEC. They are not equivalent by any means. I would have liked to see us get a man with more experience, or someone from outside of the Auburn tree. Brett Bielema was someone I wanted from the beginning, because I love the way Wisconsin played football. But at the end of the day, we obviously didn't want to go that direction. It all remains to be seen, but obviously if he wins a championship within two years we will say JJ is a genius and Gus is the greatest HC ever. We have a history of doing such things.

[Ocho]

As long as he fires Trooper I will consider is tenure a success.

[the Paradox]

Ocho, on 05 December 2012 - 04:40 AM, said:

As long as he fires Trooper I will consider is tenure a success.

The fact that Auburn brought in another "yes" man means Trooper will probably be staying.


RTR

[Noah]

the Paradox, on 05 December 2012 - 05:04 AM, said:

The fact that Auburn brought in another "yes" man means Trooper will probably be staying.


RTR

  That brings up an interesting idea.   I'm waiting to see where Trooper lands cause he's got a pocket full of recruits that he will take with him.... especially a recent transfer to Auburn High.