Auburn and their “coaching search”

[stolitonic]

I dunno, but it seems like old Joey Freshwater is making googly eyes at Auburn. They might be just crazy enough to do it as they hate Saban so bad.

 

[Gladiator1]

If he is smart, no comment, he should stay at old miss based on the Girls Of threads

 

[Volfan8282]

And Auburn will ever win the West or the SEC?

Stoops is maxed out on day one at Auburn if he jumps.

Umm, yes?

 

[BowlBrother85]

And Auburn will ever win the West or the SEC?

They last won the SEC West in 2017. They last won the SEC in 2013. They last won the National Championship in 2010. Those are not exactly the Dark Ages.

 

[05_never_again]

I mean, he’d still be getting paid a ridiculous amount of money to leave Auburn if it doesn’t work out.

He’s maxed out at Kentucky. They’ll never win the East nor the SEC.

He's getting paid a ridiculous amount of money to leave UK if it doesn't work out there either. TV money has been a big equalizer over the last few years.

The risk/reward is just not there. If Stoops was making $2m/year at UK then it would be, but he's making $6m. Stoops makes more money than Harsin and Heupel and just as much as Sam Pittman, and has a fraction of the pressure/microscope. Granted, Stoops's ceiling is lower at UK than those other guys, but his floor is way higher too.

 

[SayUWantAreVOLution]

They last won the SEC West in 2017. They last won the SEC in 2013. They last won the National Championship in 2010. Those are not exactly the Dark Ages.

The problem with Auburn was summed up when they axed Gus. The boosters took him out without a guy they had in their pocket, without a plan.

Now they've taken out the AD and they're likely to take out Harsin, and again without any semblance of replacements at the ready.

Sound familiar? Did that kind of meddling and drama help UT?

Auburn can't seem to hire an AD strong enough to straighten things out and shut up the Yellaman and his friends. The football coaching hire at Auburn is irrelevant until they hire an AD who can and will tell the boosters to pound sand and let him do his job.

 

[05_never_again]

The problem with Auburn was summed up when they axed Gus. The boosters took him out without a guy they had in their pocket, without a plan.

Now they've taken out the AD and they're likely to take out Harsin, and again without any semblance of replacements at the ready.

Sound familiar? Did that kind of meddling and drama help UT?

Auburn can't seem to hire an AD strong enough to straighten things out and shut up the Yellaman and his friends. The football coaching hire at Auburn is irrelevant until they hire an AD who can and will tell the boosters to pound sand and let him do his job.

The real question is what needs to happen behind the scenes in order to allow Auburn to hire an AD who could do what you mentioned.

At Tennessee, the impression I got is that Haslam lost influence after Schiano Sunday, and the Fulmerites lost influence after Pruitt/Fulmer were fired. Neither faction was in a position to dictate the process after that. That seemed to allow White, who is an outsider, to be able to come in and start to clean up the mess.

At Auburn, the impression I get is that the Yella Fella runs Auburn's athletic department like his own personal fiefdom. It isn't like there is another faction of boosters to challenge him or who can present other ideas. When he was able to finally run Gus off, his "plan" was to install Kevin Steele, who he is personal friends with. Greene didn't want to go along with that, and it sounds like he hired Harsin over Yella Fella and others' objections. Which of course sealed his own fate.

If that is true, it seems almost impossible for Auburn to get an AD that can tell the boosters to shut up, because Yella Fella has so much control. At Tennessee, we had/have a toxic booster culture, but there wasn't a single booster that exercised dictatorial control. Not even Haslam, as powerful as he is.

 

[SayUWantAreVOLution]

The real question is what needs to happen behind the scenes in order to allow Auburn to hire an AD who could do what you mentioned.

At Tennessee, the impression I got is that Haslam lost influence after Schiano Sunday, and the Fulmerites lost influence after Pruitt/Fulmer were fired. Neither faction was in a position to dictate the process after that. That seemed to allow White, who is an outsider, to be able to come in and start to clean up the mess.

At Auburn, the impression I get is that the Yella Fella runs Auburn's athletic department like his own personal fiefdom. It isn't like there is another faction of boosters to challenge him or who can present other ideas. When he was able to finally run Gus off, his "plan" was to install Kevin Steele, who he is personal friends with. Greene didn't want to go along with that, and it sounds like he hired Harsin over Yella Fella and others' objections. Which of course sealed his own fate.

If that is true, it seems almost impossible for Auburn to get an AD that can tell the boosters to shut up, because Yella Fella has so much control. At Tennessee, we had/have a toxic booster culture, but there wasn't a single booster that exercised dictatorial control. Not even Haslam, as powerful as he is.

You call it correctly. Auburn remains toxic until someone in the Auburn administration tells Yella it's over.

When Fulmer was shown the door, the UT admins FINALLY flexed a little to make their own hire. It could've gone terribly but they took a chance on Danny White and it has paid off. With success, White has enough power to run the program.

The Auburn admins are going to have to take a chance, risk pissing off Yella and "the boys," and hire a real AD and stand behind him...... risking their own jobs via the trustees/reagents if they fail and piss off a major donor to the school.

It won't bother me in the least if they continue to tailspin and let Yella burn it completely down. I hope the admins are cowards to the bone.

 

[05_never_again]

You call it correctly. Auburn remains toxic until someone in the Auburn administration tells Yella it's over.

When Fulmer was shown the door, the UT admins FINALLY flexed a little to make their own hire. It could've gone terribly but they took a chance on Danny White and it has paid off. With success, White has enough power to run the program.

The Auburn admins are going to have to take a chance, risk pissing off Yella and "the boys," and hire a real AD and stand behind him...... risking their own jobs via the trustees/reagents if they fail and piss off a major donor to the school.

It won't bother me in the least if they continue to tailspin and let Yella burn it completely down. I hope the admins are cowards to the bone.

Auburn needs some combination of admin + BoT + other boosters besides YF to stand up to him. YF is very powerful, but he isn't more powerful than everybody else at Auburn combined. He needs other people to go along with it.

Auburn can't do what Tennessee did and play the booster factions off against one another because YF is so powerful, but if they can get all the admin people on board combined with some non-YF boosters, the combined power of that group exceeds YF, and they could hire an AD who will act independently. YF could bitch and moan all he wanted, but that new AD wouldn't have to worry immediately about his job security because he'd have the support of everyone else.

They need to create a situation like what happened here, but they'l have to do it differently than how it occurred here because their power dynamics are different.

 

[DaddyChad]

Either of them would be a fool to take that job

Why? The bar is low at Kentucky. Hell Stoops could retire there. He will if he’s smart. The difference in pay isn’t worth the amount of BS that goes with the Auburn job.

Kiffin or Freeze would be perfect choices for Auburn.

 

[KnoxRealtorVOL]

Why? The bar is low at Kentucky. Hell Stoops could retire there. He will if he’s smart. The difference in pay isn’t worth the amount of BS that goes with the Auburn job.

Kiffin or Freeze would be perfect choices for Auburn.

I don’t disagree, but both of them could hold out for a much bigger P5 job.

 

[Jeff Clark]

Why? The bar is low at Kentucky. Hell Stoops could retire there. He will if he’s smart. The difference in pay isn’t worth the amount of BS that goes with the Auburn job.

Kiffin or Freeze would be perfect choices for Auburn.

I could see Mark Stoops going to Auburn and Hugh Freeze,Jamie Chadwell or Jason Candle being the next Kentucky head football coach.

 

[05_never_again]

I don’t disagree, but both of them could hold out for a much bigger P5 job.

Bigger? A job bigger than Auburn (like Alabama or Ohio St) isn't going to hire Freeze or Kiffin, and that's a very small list of schools. Auburn passed on a chance to hire Freeze last time.

Auburn is a big P5 job. Despite their perpetual dysfunction they've won a national title, played for another, and played for 3 SEC titles (won 2) since 2010. All with the greatest coach of all time as their in-state rival. You can win at the highest levels there. It's actually amazing how successful they've been given their dysfunction plus the fact that Saban wins almost every game he plays at Alabama and gets all the top players.

 

[KnoxRealtorVOL]

Bigger? A job bigger than Auburn (like Alabama or Ohio St) isn't going to hire Freeze or Kiffin, and that's a very small list of schools. Auburn passed on a chance to hire Freeze last time.

Auburn is a big P5 job. Despite their perpetual dysfunction they've won a national title, played for another, and played for 3 SEC titles (won 2) since 2010. All with the greatest coach of all time as their in-state rival. You can win at the highest levels there. It's actually amazing how successful they've been given their dysfunction plus the fact that Saban wins almost every game he plays at Alabama and gets all the top players.

Sorry our wires got crossed a bit and I didn’t read the whole post before responding. I was saying Freeze or Chadwell could hold off for a bigger P5 job than KY.

 

[Jeff Clark]

Sorry our wires got crossed a bit and I didn’t read the whole post before responding. I was saying Freeze or Chadwell could hold off for a bigger P5 job than KY.

Jason Candle of Toledo is another up and coming Mid-Major head football coach who would probably be a candidate for the Kentucky head football coaching job.

 

[SpookyAction]

Jason Candle of Toledo is another up and coming Mid-Major head football coach who would probably be a candidate for the Kentucky head football coaching job.

UK has had better coaches the last 15 years than any other stretch in modern history, even with Joker Phillips factored in. Rich Brooks really should get some credit for making the program more repectable.

 

[Jeff Clark]

UK has had better coaches the last 15 years than any other stretch in modern history, even with Joker Phillips factored in. Rich Brooks really should get some credit for making the program more repectable.

I think the head coach who will replace Mark Stoops will be a Retread head football coach,an up and coming Mid-Major head football Coach or a well thought of Assistant Coach.

 

[VOLINVONORE]

Why? The bar is low at Kentucky. Hell Stoops could retire there. He will if he’s smart. The difference in pay isn’t worth the amount of BS that goes with the Auburn job.

Kiffin or Freeze would be perfect choices for Auburn.

I agree with the first sentence. However, I can not agree that Tiffin or Freeze would be perfect for Auburn as long as Saban is still at Alabama, but who knows how long that will be. I just know I do not want either of them to ever coach at Tennessee in the future.

 

[VOLnMiami]

I could see Mark Stoops going to Auburn and Hugh Freeze,Jamie Chadwell or Jason Candle being the next Kentucky head football coach.

Kentucky wouldn't go after those guys, They tend to go after touted assistant coaches they can hire on the cheap...Stoops was one of them but he did work out, It normally doesn't.

 

[Dudleys87]

There’s only one choice here:

Les Miles.

 

[VolunteerHillbilly]

Bigger? A job bigger than Auburn (like Alabama or Ohio St) isn't going to hire Freeze or Kiffin, and that's a very small list of schools. Auburn passed on a chance to hire Freeze last time.

Auburn is a big P5 job. Despite their perpetual dysfunction they've won a national title, played for another, and played for 3 SEC titles (won 2) since 2010. All with the greatest coach of all time as their in-state rival. You can win at the highest levels there. It's actually amazing how successful they've been given their dysfunction plus the fact that Saban wins almost every game he plays at Alabama and gets all the top players.

In fairness, Greene passed on Freeze against the wishes of many of his biggest boosters. He did not want to be the guy who brought Freeze back to the SEC so he took a huge gamble that failed and it cost him his job.

 

[05_never_again]

In fairness, Greene passed on Freeze against the wishes of many of his biggest boosters. He did not want to be the guy who brought Freeze back to the SEC so he took a huge gamble that failed and it cost him his job.

The boosters wanted Steele, not Freeze. Or at least that's what was reported. Yella Fella, et al wanted a quick and easy firing of Gus + hiring of Steele, while Greene and the Auburn President wanted a legitimate coaching search.

That search never seriously considered Freeze - they had it down to Napier, Bill Clark, Cristobal, and Harsin.

 

[RDU VOL#14]

The boosters wanted Steele, not Freeze. Or at least that's what was reported. Yella Fella, et al wanted a quick and easy firing of Gus + hiring of Steele, while Greene and the Auburn President wanted a legitimate coaching search.

That search never seriously considered Freeze - they had it down to Napier, Bill Clark, Cristobal, and Harsin.

I was under the impression that Sankey had kind of black balled Freeze for a period of time. I do think he would get the go ahead this time around though.

 

[05_never_again]

I was under the impression that Sankey had kind of black balled Freeze for a period of time. I do think he would get the go ahead this time around though.

He was black balled when Saban tried to hire him as his OC in 2018. By the time Auburn was doing the coaching search to replace Gus, I think that had worn off. Auburn hiring Freeze this time would be a horrible look after trying to get Harsin fired for, among other things, banging an assistant.

As long as YF is calling the shots there, I don't think he'd want Freeze. Freeze has a name/reputation of his own, knows what he is doing, and wouldn't do something just because a booster told him to. Everything I heard out of Auburn was that YF wanted Steele, and nobody else, to have the job because he's close personal friends with him. Auburn is really between a rock and a hard place because he appears to have dictatorial-level powers among their booster base; they can't play off various factions of boosters like Danny White could when he took the job. Danny could come in and plausibly claim "We've tried all the boosters' ways, and they have failed. Let me pick a coach" and got people to go along with it. I'm not sure Auburn can do that right now.

 

[Vols1891]

Stoops probably wants to be somewhere he might be able to win big. He knows there’s limits at Ky. Plus, it will be a huge payday so who cares if he bombs out. He’d be set for life at that point

The Auburn job is toxic. If he really wants to leave Kentucky in order to have a better chance at winning big, he will get better opportunities than Auburn. I don’t think he’s the kind of coach that will be able to completely turn things around in a year or two. He needs several years to build up the program in his vision, and Auburn is just too impatient for that to work imo.