Well, at first I said, we would go after Gus and the end result would be he would get a huge raise from Auburn.
Guess, I was right.
But I got on the train and started to think we might be able to pull it off.
I’m going to see my Auburn booster friends this weekend at a social event — I’ll be anxious to hear what they think about the huge raise and buyout they had to give Gus thanks to Arkansas. Something tells me they won’t be too enthused.
Gus made the wrong choice. Mid-season, he was done at Auburn and looking for a way out, and his big money friends made it happen for him – and he stiffed them.
Here’s how this will play out since she does not lose your forwarding address, she always finds you.
Remember how Hog fans turned on HDN when he had his annual flirtation with other programs, the Nebraska jet sitting at Drake Field waiting on him? He lost the Hog fans, and some came to outright despise him – it was never the same again. Whenever people talk about it all going bad for HDN, they always focus on 2006, but truth be told, it happened in the year(s) preceding.
If Gus goes 10-2 or 9-3 at Auburn in the next two years, his world is going to be one full of hate. He’s going to wish he took the job that his powerful friends got for him.
Look, I get it. When you build something, it’s hard to leave it. But some times there is a time to go – and it was his time to move on and come home. He made the wrong choice.
I think Auburn felt backed against the wall and even though the opinions are varied in their camp regarding Gus, their ego would not let him walk out on them at this time and to a division rival that they look down on. When that wears off, look out Gussie.
Really good post! And so very true about Nutt. Gus will look back on today as a mistake. He obviously really didn’t want to come home, or he would have. The money we offered him was more than enough to make the change if he really wanted to be in NW AR. His agent played us to perfection.
You may be right. I wanted Malzahn 5 years ago and again today. It didn’t work out. I don’t understand one thing…he let it be known he wanted to leave because he was just always close to being fired. We offered him
If he had come, it would not have been easy here, either, He would have had the biggest target on his back of any Arkansas HC ever. The huge salary and the obvious fact that there would have been a lot of people waiting to pounce at the first missed step would have made this a tough gig for Gus. You don’t hire an HC away from a national contender with the expectation that he will win 8 games a year, so he would have had to be real good, real fast just to hold things together.
An up and comer, or probably even Lane K, on the other hand will have more breathing room, which is probably a good thing for both the coach and the mental health of the fan base.
Gus made the best choice and I don’t blame him for staying at Auburn. Too many Arkansas fans didn’t want Gus and would be attempting to undermine him from day one. He is better off to avoid that type of a situation.