Gus is in his seventh season at Auburn. He’s never had a recruiting class worse than 18th in the country during that time if you believe Phil Steele. He had Top Ten classes in 2014-16, and then 17, 18, and 10 the last three years. You would think that would translate into some really big win numbers. The reality is why so many Auburn fans don’t love him.
2014 8-5
2015 7-6
2016 8-5
2017 10-4
2018 8-5
2019 7-2 with games left against Bama and Georgia
His record vs. the West since 2014:
LSU 2-4
Bama 1-4
A & M 4-2
MSU 3-3
Ole Miss 5-1
Arkansas 5-1
He’s had good to great defenses the last four years with Kevin Steele for a DC, and Auburn has had a bunch of guys drafted during Gus’s tenure.
So the book on Gus is that he has produced a middle of the pack SEC West team despite having a lot of success with recruiting. If he has a big talent advantage his teams will put up flashy wins against the dregs of the division. But Gus is not out-coaching any body in the SEC West to win games.
All of which brings me to my basic objection to Gus, setting aside all of the drama around him and Arkansas the last fifteen years or so. He’s just not that good a coach. He also would be playing against a division and conference that has seen his system for many years, and he would be doing it with less talent, probably a lot less. I just don’t see him as anything better than a long-term mediocrity.
I object to him for too many reasons to put into a post. However, I don’t think it matters. I’m confident we’re not going to even start down that road.
I’ve never seen a coach do so little with so much since Faust at Notre Dame.
His offense makes me sick to my stomach! Just 7 on 7 type stuff that “dumbs down” the talent he has.
Gus is a good coach…certainly one of the Top 20 in the country. His team has won the SEC, played for a National Championship and beaten Alabama a couple of times. He is a very good recruiter.
However, he burned his bridge back to Arkansas 2 years ago. I was a Gus supporter then, but no longer. He didn’t do us right. He should not be considered, in my view. He probably doesn’t even think about coming back here now. That opportunity is probably long gone.
Actually, coaches at schools like Georgia, Alabama, LSU and Auburn present day do not have to be great recruiters. The highly rated kids want to go to those winning schools, very little is needed except an offer. The other school coaches must recruit with much effort. And some times sadly offer a few “extras”
I must say that I find some of you just simply amazing. Some of you have hatred so strong that you’d more than happily turn your nose up at Gus and call him long term mediocrity!! SO WHAT if he pissed some of you off? Are your feelings more important than what might be good for the program?
I cannot stand the man. Detest him, but by god I’d take him in a heart beat if he would give us of a 6 year run in the SEC like he had at Auburn. I am not so conceded that I’d place my butt-hurt above what could be beneficial to our program. My feelings and angst are a far far second place when it comes to the program. If you cannot say that then your putting yourself above the program and you are part of the problem. PERIOD.
Do I want Gus… nope. Would I take and accept him as our coach if we could get him… You bet your ass!! We are the cellar dwellers… have been for several years. Let that sink in. Some of you have what I can only liken to Trump Derangement Syndrome when it comes to Gus. I understand, I don’t like him either, but unless your just a total idiot that refuses to get past his own feelings, then you can admit he would be good for the program. An Instant Impact on the national level. Try not to make this about you and lets consider what might be good for the players and the program if only in the short term.
I repeat, I dislike him tremendously, but I’d take him in a New York minute because I can see beyond my own butt-hurt. Can the rest of you?
I can barely remember much about Terry Bowden. I think he had Auburn at 12-0 at one point sometime around 93 I think if I remember right. Thats a long time to be out of coaching, not sure he has coached in over 20 years. So I don’t know, I’d have to look at it more to really tell you how I feel. I think from a name perspective he would be a splash, but I’d not see him as much more than a temp solution. I’d prefer someone more current and working now. More in touch with how things are now.
I don’t think his win level at Auburn translates to anything close to that at Arkansas. It’s not a matter of conceit or hatred, it’s my assessment of his record and how he has done with lot more to work with than he is likely to have here for the next few years.
I am not willing to grasp at any straw out of desperation, and I sure as hell am not putting myself above the program. I expect more out of our program than mediocrity, and that has not changed based on the fact we are terrible right now.
So do I, but its all about how you look at it. Compared to Bama… yes it is. Compared to Arkansas… its elite. Basically what I’m saying in the SEC West it may be mediocre, but when you consider the SEC is possibly the toughest division in ALL of college football, then compared to the rest of the nation, its Elite. Hell we are not just the cellar dweller in the SEC West, but close if not bottom of ALL power 5 teams. I’d take some SEC West Mediocrity for a few years to build our brand back to respectability.
Gus has shown himself to be nothing more than a career minded opportunist. Who would screw over anybody who gets in his way of a big payday. He also constantly gets top ten classes and underperforms with them. He’s hated by at least half the fans of Auburn and Arkansas. I’d rather bring back Petrino than bring in Gus. With Petrino, what you see is what you get. With Gus, he’d hug you while looking for a good place to stick a knife.
I understand the yearning not to suck, I’m right there with you. But I think there are any number of guys out there not named Gus who can take us back to that same middling level, and who… at hiring… have a bigger upside. I don’t think it takes a miracle or elite coaching ability to get Arkansas back to the middle of the pack, we’ve been there often enough in the not-too distant past. It does take good coaching and work in recruiting, and a lot of the candidates have shown those qualities.
I say more upside than Gus simply because most of the guys being mentioned have not coached in the SEC, so we really don’t know what their ceiling will be. Gus, on the other hand, has had time, lots of resources, and the raw material in recruits to show what he can do under the best of circumstances.
Most of us cannot stand Malzahn now after the past episodes, and those that point out his coaching performances (marginal) with the yearly top-20 recruiting classes are absolutely correct. He would be no better at Arkansas as HC than HDN was as he wouldn’t be getting the type of athletes that want to go to AU