There are few concepts more boring than continuity -- changing nothing -- and consistency -- doing the same thing over and over again. So when Gene Chizik spent much of the first part of his presentation at SEC Media Days emphasizing both, you knew it was going to be a long presentation. And so, we present to you the sum total of the interesting statements Chizik made Friday:
Okay, so perhaps that's a bit of an exaggeration. Chizik spoke about interesting things, but largely resorted to coachspeak when those topics came up. And so the solution to the defensive problems of 2009 are "to play more disciplined football and ... continue to build the depth of our offense." Cameron Netwon has "done everything we've asked him to do both on and off the field." Recruiting competition against Nick Saban? "Well, we recruit against everybody in the country."
But to return to one of the first things Chizik touched on: Continuity. In fairness, this is something new to Auburn, where Tommy Tuberville's coordinators often seemed to last as long as Urban Meyer's retirement.
I just felt like there's guys on our football team right now that for the first time in their career, and a large majority of them, for the first time in their career have the same coordinator, offense or defense, for the second year in a row. ... So it was extremely important for me to give some continuity to our football players with having the same coaching staff. So we were able to retain everybody on our coaching staff.
That level of continuity, as Chizik pointed out, is rare. And the players are grateful for it.
"Any time you have the same offense, the same coaching staff, there's a confidence there," said offensive lineman Lee Ziemba.
The only question left to answer is whether it works.