The Bodda Getta

I didn't remember Tubbs winning 23 of 26 or anything close to that. Auburn was the to team in the league for a good stretch back then! It's hard to imagine the lack of patience we had with him, now.

The SEC is getting stronger in it's top ten teams, to the point that Alabama's "greatest teams in history" each year still lose a game.

I still expect Gus to win the SEC and then lose three or four the next year. In the SEC now it's almost like nine of your games are against the top twenty each year. So results may vary.

I am hoping Malzhan will have the recruiting success of Chizik and the coaching abilities of Shug, Dye and Tubbs.

Chizik did have the right idea of going for quality recruits. However, these kids have to receive proper coaching and guidance off the field. Discipline has to be a mainstay at Auburn to achieve the success and consistency we want. I believe CGM has this as a priority.

It is not particularly hard to be negative with any coach that fields a team as badly managed as the mess of 2008. Perhaps I should say coached as well as managed. But, how could coaching penetrate the mis-leadership of Tuberville in 2008. That and his inattention to recruiting in the preceding years simply could not be unseen by even the most disinterested fan. Yes, his banner years earned him something and my opinion that was the something paid at the end. Of course, that was criticized to beat the band by JJ's supporters when it may be the thing that caused T to not start a riot by his more than shy support. At least Coach Chizik did note in passing the value of intense and everlasting efforts to recruit players to Auburn. Malzahn may have more to start with than most new coaches at Auburn except Dye's successor. Tuberville and Chizik were not canned impatiently. Their canning was earned in spades. By the way, Malzahn's regime has started with smooth moves avoiding much of Chizik's failing.

Hello Phillip,

Thanks for the great recap and insightful analysis. As you know better than most, Auburn, more than any of the historically elite SEC programs, must always earn everything it accomplishes and fight harder than any to stay competitive. I think CGM is well on his way, building a coaching staff which will install effective schemes on both sides of the ball and recruit and develop the players needed to compete successfully in the SEC in the years to come.

The daunting challenge for CGM, staff and players will be to develop and improve in the face of the stiffest SEC competition ever. More teams, quality coaching staffs and solid athletes at every school will be the unprecedented obstacles they will face every year. Neither Dye, Bowden nor Tuberville faced the "murderer's row" of the current western division of the SEC. Add ga to the list along with another rotating east opponent and it's easy to see CGM and co. have their work cut out for them to bring Auburn back up to the level needed to compete consistently again in the SEC.

I'm optimistic about our future, mainly due to the high performance offense CGM will bring to the table which should make us tougher to beat and so far, looking at the defensive coaches who have been brought on board, it looks like the defense should be improved significantly under CEJ's direction.

Will CGM be able to bring Auburn back to the level of consistent excellence seen in the 9 year run ('82-'90) CPD had in the 80s? Will he be able to take our program beyond that level and up to unprecedented heights not seen even in the CPD years? Again, with 14 teams and every school having quality coaching and players it will be a much greater challenge. But it certainly is doable. Can he? Will he? We'll all have a front row seat to watch the Malzahn era unfold. For now, relax everyone. Our football program is in capable hands and it will take about 3 years to find out what trajectory we'll be able to achieve. Until then we all need to let CGM and staff make the decisions, do their work and be supportive of their efforts.

"Brick by brick, my citizens. Brick by brick."

Bingo. Tuberville had us so close but the ongoing flip flop of coordinators really made it unsustainable. Tubs recruiting was very good up until those last two years. It was time for him to go but I really appreciate what he did to turn us around and how long he maintained it.

Beat Alabama at the end of 2003. Went 9-0 (counting SECCG) in 2004. Went 7-1 in 2005. Went 6-2 in 2006. Add it up. That's 23-3.