A year in transition.
(Photo by Acid Reign.)
War Eagle, everybody. What a strange year it has been! Normally, one would expect that a football season at Auburn, that will likely end in a Sugar Bowl bid would be considered a successful year. This year, that does not appear to be the case. Entering this season, I think most fans were hoping for a return to a ten-win season, but more or less just hoped that the decline in recent years did not continue. Back in August, I think most fans would have been pretty happy to know that Auburn was going to manage an 8-4 record, and a second-place finish in the SEC.
This is the time of year that I normally look back and try to assess the season. I celebrate what went right, and lament what went wrong. I’m really at a loss, this year. Auburn entered this season with a proven defensive line, and a veteran secondary. Everything else was pretty much a mystery. The Tigers limped through September with a dysfunctional offense, and won 2 games, and lost 2 games. Fortunately, the defense hung tough, or the month could have been truly disastrous.
October arrived. Auburn was already down to it’s 4th tailback of the year, Kerryon Johnson. Peyton Barber had left early for the NFL. Roc Thomas had transferred to Jax State. Jovon Robinson had been booted from the team. Against Mississippi State, Kerryon Johnson sprained his ankle. In desperation, Auburn turned to H-back Kamryn Pettway, and incredibly, the offense took off! Auburn scorched MSU for 38 points, then put a near-historic 56-3 beating on Arkansas, and finished the month with a 40-29 win over Ole Miss. In just a handful of games, Pettway was atop the SEC rushing statistics, and all was well at Auburn!
October proved to be a mirage. November arrived, and saw the Tigers struggle against lowly Vanderbilt. Pettway appeared to finally put that game away, but was injured instead. Auburn survived Vanderbilt 23-16, but anemic losses to a mediocre Georgia team, and to Alabama followed. Auburn managed just a single offensive touchdown in November, after Pettway’s injury.
Aside from Alabama this season, the SEC does not have a team with fewer than 4 losses. This has prompted some writers to dub the league “Alabama and the 13 dwarves.” It is true that coaching stability is near-gone, in this league. It is very strange to me that Nick Saban and Dan Mullen are the deans of the league, at this point. No other SEC coach has been at his school for a full 5 years. At Ole Miss, Hugh Freeze is getting close, but one could hardly call his situation secure, with the NCAA looming over that program. The past year or so has seen the end of Steve Spurrier, Gary Pinkel, Mark Richt, and Les Miles, in this league.
I read with amusement this morning former Auburn offensive coordinator Jack Crowe’s assessment of several programs where he had worked in the past, and those schools’ supposed commitment to excellence. In that assessment, Crowe writes that “Auburn’s leadership cannot get past Pat Dye and allow any coach to have this (UA) kind of sovereignty.” Folks, sovereignty is a mirage, especially in the coaching business. Pat Dye never had sovereignty. Neither does Nick Saban. It is all about winning. When Pat Dye had a couple of mediocre seasons in the mid 1980s, changes were forced upon him. Coordinators Jack Crowe and Frank Orgel were shown the door.
I can guarantee you that the Alabama power-brokers would demand change, as well, if their norm became an 8-4 season. Saban’s sovereignty would disappear, after 2 or 3 seasons like that. Pat Dye regrouped after the coordinator changes, and won 3 SEC titles. Then, evidence of cheating took him down. There was no sovereignty. Dye’s conduct was unacceptable, and a change was made. In the conclusion of Crowe’s assessment of the Auburn is this statement: “Auburn needs to let its marketing mentality on sustaining a Head Football Coach with every authority to win.”
Let its marketing mentality do what? This statement works about as well as Auburn’s offenses did, the year Crowe was removed. The Tigers were blown out in Knoxville, could only manage 10 points against Florida, lost to a mediocre Alabama team, and were blown out in the Cotton Bowl by a Jackie Sherrill squad, under Crowe’s watch.
Does head coach Gus Malzahn need to be removed, or someone on his staff? I’m not convinced. I think a coach should get 5 years to show what he can do. Dye did get that. Changes were forced on him after 5 years. Terry Bowden was called out at the end of year 4 by then athletic director David Housel, who said that the 1996 record of 7-4 was unacceptable. Tommy Tuberville was forced into coordinator changes after his 3rd season, and a disastrous 31-7 loss to Alabama at home. Gene Chizik did not make it to year 5, after the football program plunged to its doom in 2012.
Auburn was very young in several spots, in 2015, and has a lot of talented components returning next year. Lots of folks point to the quarterback position, but one has to remember that at one juncture this past season, Auburn had the most efficient passing game in the league. I say that we should let the head coach run the program. If 2017 is less than successful, then it will be time to make a change. Coach Malzahn will have recruited the entire roster, and had 5 years to develop a team. The proof will be on the field, at that point.
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