The Bodda Getta

PM-What about Rocker as DC?

I will Gus and the team my full support, get a great DC and let him run with it, I hope we are done with the micro managing. We have great recruits coming in and need to get the current team, back in the weight room

I totally agree with this statement. It is widely known that Nutt meddled with him and that Chiz told him to "slow it down to help the defense," which absolutely contradicts his philosophy, but he never said a word about his displeasure publicly that I heard. Even whatever feelings he may disclosed behind closed doors was told and obviously held in such confidence that only vague rumors of his displeasure surfaced to my knowledge, and in today's world of social media, that means he kept it very quiet.

I remained neutral throughout the search and tried to keep an open mind, but I am man enough to admit that from where I sit, he would likely not have been my first choice. However, I have no reason to believe that he would not have became my first choice if I had been one of the men responsible for his hiring because I would have had some very specific questions for him; i.e. his opinion of how our program got into the state it is in (since he was in the best position to know of almost anyone), what he would do to rectify the situation, what his disciplinary policy entails and proof that it has been rigidly applied to all players at Ark St, what it would take to get us back to where we expect to be in the shortest time frame, and ultimately how would he plan to keep us there year in and year out.

I believe he has the answers to these questions and I doubt very seriously that he would have taken the job if he didn't believe he can correct the problems within our program and return us to the top within a time-frame that is acceptable to the Auburn fans, a time-frame that he knows is not one of great duration. He has proven in the past that he doesn't take jobs that are not the right fit, he is not overly concerned with how much he is paid, and to that point, I think his pay at AU is relatively low for any major program, especially in the SEC.

I reduced my criteria for a new coach to one element shortly after Chiz was fired: I want to be excited about Auburn Football again. I am satisfied with Gus because I know I will be excited when we take the field next fall... I'm only trying not to be too excited at this point because it is a long time until August.

WDE!

The primary reason I'm happy with the Malzahn hiring is I believe football will be fun again. Plus, Malzahn's schemes will give us a chance to win even if we don't have the best talent on the field. One never feels like the game is out of reach because points can come in bunches.

Philip, like you, I saw behavior from Auburn fans that I never thought I would. I think it may have been a perfect storm of frustration over Bama's success, our team's ineptness, the off-field discipline problems, the lack of information coming from the Athletic Department, and who knows what else. I'm just glad it's over.

Whether the decision turns out to be a good one or not I'll never second guess it, because having considered it I agree with it, and think the committee did a good job.

It is difficult to see how reason or self-control will ever be regained in what we now call social media. Thanks again for being a calming, reasoned influence in that chaos which is regretably present at Auburn as well.