[Carolina Knight]

Originally Posted by Mississippi Alabama Line

Auburn is going to promote Kevin Steele.

Originally Posted by Rick In Madison

Given how some of the allegations of backroom boosters working the firing of Malzahn; I wonder how long Kevin Steele will be with the program.

Originally Posted by MinivanDriver

If Harsin asks him to stay on, he'd be absolutely stupid to leave. Auburn's sputtering offense is what has kept the program down of late, and Steele is very well-compensated.

If Harsin can right the ship on offense and develop players, while Steele can tweak the defense, Auburn performs at a considerably higher level.

Who wants to agree Auburn's defense can be better without Kevin Steele?

[MinivanDriver]

Originally Posted by Mississippi Alabama Line

There are a few things in this life I actually know a few things about, and the inner workings of Auburn is one of them. The booster involvement there is one of the biggest drawbacks that program. No reason they shouldn't be doing the same things Alabama is doing - they just can't all get in line and do it the right way.

Was Gus the right guy? Maybe, maybe not. But he's pretty good. Not Saban. Beyond that is speculation. He could have been better at discipline, which makes me think he doesn't really have a backbone, which sort of 'allowed' more booster activity than normal. The old AD certainly had no spine. But a system coach like that must be allowed to pick and choose players that fit his system. That did not sit well with boosters who want to do things like they were done in 1983.

If I were Malzahn, at my next stop, I would take control of the playcalling again, and instead of hiring an OC, I'd hire a game manager or program manager type of guy, to handle general level duties of the flow of the game and running a program, because like you say, that's where he struggled.

He should have gone home to Arkansas last year, but who can blame him, I would not have walked out on that buy-out either.

You predicted earlier in this thread that Kevin Steele was going to be promoted. So, as gently as I can put this, you didn't know as much as you thought.

[MinivanDriver]

Originally Posted by Carolina Knight

Who wants to agree Auburn's defense can be better without Kevin Steele?

Actually, Kevin Steele put together some pretty good defenses over the past several years. But even the greatest defensive mind in college football (Not saying Steele is that, mind you) can help if you have a moribund and predictable offense.

[Mississippi Alabama Line]

Originally Posted by MinivanDriver

You predicted earlier in this thread that Kevin Steele was going to be promoted. So, as gently as I can put this, you didn't know as much as you thought.

You can hardly use that as a strike against me. That was absolutely the original plan, and you know it. They wanted to save signing day, and boosters supported him. Thankfully for Auburn, the AD made some moves politically and convinced them to go in a different direction.

Nobody KNEW exactly what was going to happen except the people in that room. Things change. I understand that there isn't much in my post you can argue with, so you go back to and old post that was about as accurate as 'speculation' can really be at that time.

[dijkstra]

Originally Posted by MinivanDriver

In terms of game day coaching, Malzahn was sneaky good but, again, maddeningly inconsistent. One one hand he could outfox Nick Saban with lesser talent. On the other hand, he'd blow a game against a team as dismal as South Carolina. Go figure.

That was because he thought about and practiced for the Iron Bowl year round. He actually stated that himself a time or two. A really good coach, focuses on the next game and the things he sees in practice that need work. That is how you build consistency.



So anyone want to start betting on how long Harsin lasts? He is going from his home and alma mater to probably the most stressful and difficult job to handle other than perhaps Texas. I see him quickly regretting the move.

[k7baixo]

I don’t see him regretting it at all. Most successful people only have a singular focus and he strikes me as that type. Failure isn’t in his vocabulary.

That was the thing about Gus. Great guy, loved his players but he never struck me as confident, prepared or highly focused. Competent, yes but barely so and that’s what his record reflected.

[FitnessXp]

thats an interesting thread.

[dijkstra]

Originally Posted by k7baixo

I don’t see him regretting it at all. Most successful people only have a singular focus and he strikes me as that type. Failure isn’t in his vocabulary.

When I said he will regret leaving Boise State and taking the Auburn job, I didn't mean he would regret the move to a bigger, higher profile job. I meant he would regret that it was the Auburn job he took. It is a tough place to coach. There is too much meddling in the program (think too many chiefs). You have one of, if not the toughest schedule in the nation every year and you are competing for recruits against the best of the best. It is a place where coaching dreams go to die.

Originally Posted by k7baixo

That was the thing about Gus. Great guy, loved his players but he never struck me as confident, prepared or highly focused. Competent, yes but barely so and that’s what his record reflected.

I completely agree with you on that one. He looked like a genius his first few years but after the elite coaching staffs saw his schemes a few years, they quickly caught up and prepared for his offense. Hell, I'm not a coach and don't claim to know that much about calling football plays but I could call his next plays with fairly good accuracy. He became predictable and never adapted while all the teams around him were making changes and adapting. You could see the ship sinking 3 or 4 years ago.

[Rick In Madison]

I think Malzahn is a scheme type of coach as oppose to a coach that adapts to his team's capabilities while coaching them up to match his preferred scheme. In my opinion, none of Malzahn's QBs exhibited any significant YOY improvement. Likewise his receiving corps. Malzahn is not a defensive coach so he reliant on his DC and associated coaching staff on that side of the ball to carry their load.

Hoping the Auburn nation is getting what they wanted. Time will tell.

[beach43ofus]

Originally Posted by Mississippi Alabama Line

Auburn is going to promote Kevin Steele. Neither Hugh Freeze, Mario Cristobal nor Lane Kiffin are taking that toxic job. There are many reasons for this.

They need to hire a good coach and get out of his way and let him recruit his way, and they could do just as well as Alabama. But they won't. This is the reason Malzahn failed. They spend too much time trying to beat Alabama one game per year, instead of building the best Auburn program they can.

I agree that its a toxic job. Even us UGA fans can see that a state away.

"They" are incapable of getting out of the coaches way and letting him do his job. It's not gonna happen.

I thought Malzahn was doing a good job. I know as a UGA fan, we were always very concerned about playing his Auburn teams.

Y'all made a mistake. Fire the Boosters, get Malzahn back, and hire him a "Bad Cop" to deal with the trouble makers.