Team Speed Kills - Gus Malzahn Takes Over at Auburn After the End of the Gene Chizik EraSports are just better in the SEChttps://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/52580/tsk_fav.png2012-12-04T15:33:26-05:00http://www.teamspeedkills.com/rss/stream/34537672012-12-04T15:33:26-05:002012-12-04T15:33:26-05:00And Report: Gus Malzahn Headed to Auburn
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<p>The offensive coordinator who helped guide the Tigers to their last national championship is headed back to the Plains, this team as top guy</p> <p>Because there was a chance that the SEC coaching carousel might stop spinning for a few minutes: Now we have reports that Auburn has hired its new leader. Hint: He's the guy that probably had more to do with the national championship than Gene Chizik, but less than Cam Newton.</p>
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<p>Breaking News: I have confirmed through multiple sources that Gus Malzahn will be named the next head football coach at Auburn University</p>
— AStateNation (@AStateNation) <a href="https://twitter.com/AStateNation/status/276056854919016448" data-datetime="2012-12-04T20:14:17+00:00">December 4, 2012</a>
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<p>As with all coaching reports, subscription sites should be taken with at least a little caution. But AStateNation has generally been right on these sorts of things, and would be in a position to know, given that it's the Arkansas State coach that Auburn would be nabbing here.</p>
<p>Malzahn doesn't need a lot of introduction around these parts -- we all know what he was able to do with Cam Newton a couple of years ago, though the Auburn offense was more of a mixed bag in years without Newton. But a mixed bag would have been a welcome relief from what Tigers fans had to endure in 2012.</p>
<p>If this and the Bret Bielema reports prove to be true, all the SEC head coaching vacancies outside of Knoxville will be filled. But at the rate things are going, something could break in the next 15 minutes or so. Stay tuned.</p>
https://www.teamspeedkills.com/2012/12/4/3728142/gus-malzahn-auburn-tigers-reportBrandon Larrabee2012-12-04T14:32:34-05:002012-12-04T14:32:34-05:00Auburn to Announce New Head Coach Within 24 Hours
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<p><a href="https://twitter.com/search/%23BREAKING">#BREAKING</a>: Auburn President Dr. Gogue tells CBS 8 News Reporter @<a href="https://twitter.com/jgertler_cbs8">jgertler_cbs8</a>that coach announcement to be made within 24 hours.</p>
— WAKA CBS 8 (@CBS8News) <a data-datetime="2012-12-04T19:22:15+00:00" href="https://twitter.com/CBS8News/status/276043760754909184">December 4, 2012</a>
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<p>On this day of reports with sketchy sources, this one seems legit. The rather quiet Auburn coaching search is winding down to an end.</p>
https://www.teamspeedkills.com/2012/12/4/3727798/auburn-to-announce-new-head-coach-within-24-hoursDavid Wunderlich2012-11-28T22:22:03-05:002012-11-28T22:22:03-05:00Charlie Strong Denies Interview With Auburn
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<figcaption>Al Messerschmidt</figcaption>
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<p>It's likely that Louisville's head coach talked with someone connected to Auburn. Was it an interview? He says no.</p> <p>Earlier today, AL.com's Charles Goldberg <a href="http://www.teamspeedkills.com/2012/11/28/3702034/auburn-short-list-candidates-replace-gene-chizik/in/3453767" target="_blank">reported</a> a list of names that Auburn is considering for its new head coach. One of them was Louisville's Charlie Strong.</p>
<p>This evening, Goldberg <a href="http://www.al.com/auburnfootball/index.ssf/2012/11/auburn_interviews_louisville_c.html" target="_blank">reported</a> that Strong has interviewed for the opening on the Plains:</p>
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<p>Auburn has interviewed Louisville head coach Charlie Strong in one of its first moves to find a replacement for Gene Chizik.</p>
<p>The interview took place in the last two days with a representative of Auburn, al.com has learned, according to someone familiar with the process. The conversation may have been by telephone.</p>
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<p>As you can imagine, the UL head man didn't like this report at all:</p>
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<p>Just spoke to Charlie Strong. He's angry. He says he did not interview at Auburn and has not spoken to them. "It's not true."</p>
— Pete Thamel(@SIPeteThamel) <a data-datetime="2012-11-29T02:01:11+00:00" href="https://twitter.com/SIPeteThamel/status/273969825771028480">November 29, 2012</a>
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<p>Pat Forde got <a href="https://twitter.com/YahooForde/status/273971012826185728" target="_blank">a similar reaction</a> when he called up Strong and had a <a href="https://twitter.com/YahooForde/status/273980380909031424" target="_blank">30-second conversation</a> on the matter. Phillip Marshall from Auburn's 247sports affiliate <a href="http://auburn.247sports.com/Board/42/Auburn-makes-contact-with-Strong-on-telephone-14456984/1" target="_blank">is also saying</a> no interview took place.</p>
<p>Taking this for what it is, and given how coaching searches work, the report and the reaction are not 100% incompatible. I mean sure, either Goldberg's source or Strong is wrong about the interview part. However depending on how you define the "them" in Thamel's tweet on the matter, the rest of the denial might still harmonize with the report. After all, Goldberg says that Strong spoke to a representative of Auburn. If that person isn't employed by Auburn, then technically Strong didn't speak to any "them" from Auburn.</p>
<p>I can understand why Strong would be so upset. For one thing, coaches always hate talking about other jobs. More importantly, today for Louisville is supposed to be all about <a href="http://www.teamspeedkills.com/2012/11/28/3701304/acc-louisville-conference-realignment" target="_blank">the school's move to the ACC</a>. It was for a while, but now it's also partially about him possibly looking to take another job. That doesn't reflect well on him, even if the report claims the contact happened days ago before it looked certain that UL was going anywhere this week. Not to mention the fact that a conference title is on the line with the game against Rutgers this coming weekend.</p>
<p>Now I'm not a power broker, but I do know this much. Even in this day and age, real, actual job interviews where millions of dollars are on the line happen in person. I completely expect that someone connected to the Auburn search would reach out to Strong to gauge his interest. That sort of thing could definitely happen via phone. But an interview? As in a session where the job possibly gets offered at the end? No way that happened without face-to-face contact, and <a href="https://twitter.com/jdemling/status/273970307130343424" target="_blank">Strong's</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/jdemling/status/273970450630070272" target="_blank">schedule</a> with a game coming up hasn't been conducive to him having a clandestine meeting somewhere. We always hear about contact with coaches being made through back channels, and that's almost certainly what happened here.</p>
<p>For what it's worth, Bruce Feldman has <a href="https://twitter.com/BFeldmanCBS/status/273965347105804288" target="_blank">heard</a> that Auburn is interested in Strong and is actively "researching" Bobby Petrino right now.</p>
https://www.teamspeedkills.com/2012/11/28/3704674/charlie-strong-interview-auburn-denialDavid Wunderlich2012-11-28T11:48:40-05:002012-11-28T11:48:40-05:00Auburn's Reported Short List for Replacing Chizik
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<p>Charles Goldberg of AL.com has <a href="http://www.al.com/auburnfootball/index.ssf/2012/11/auburns_search_may_focus_on_bo.html" target="_blank">compiled</a> what amounts to Auburn's short list of candidates for replacing Gene Chizik. The way he phrases it is this:</p>
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<p>Auburn's search for a new football coach may be focused on three former assistants at the school who, at least through their representatives, have not cut off potential communication with the university.</p>
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<p>Saying they "have not cut off potential communication with the university" sounds like "So you're telling me there's a chance?" territory to me, but it does mean they haven't given a firm and definite "no" just yet.</p>
<p>The three former assistants are names we've already <a href="http://www.teamspeedkills.com/2012/11/25/3689746/auburn-candidates-to-replace-chizik-petrino-jimbo-malzahn/in/3453767" target="_blank">listed as possible candidates</a>: Bobby Petrino, Jimbo Fisher, and Gus Malzahn. Petrino and Malzahn are obvious candidates for anyone paying attention, and Fisher isn't a surprise name if you've paid attention to the rumor mill.</p>
<p>Goldberg has also listed TCU's Gary Patterson as "a player in the search", which also fairly well describes him from Arkansas's standpoint as well. Other names that are on the list but about whom Goldberg doesn't report any activity around are Boise State's Chris Petersen and Louisville's Charlie Strong. In other words, it's the usual suspects for open SEC jobs.</p>
https://www.teamspeedkills.com/2012/11/28/3702034/auburn-short-list-candidates-replace-gene-chizikDavid Wunderlich2012-11-25T16:21:52-05:002012-11-25T16:21:52-05:00Potential Candidates to Replace Chizik at Auburn
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<p>Here are the names you're going to hear connected to the new opening at Auburn.</p> <p>With <a target="_blank" href="http://www.teamspeedkills.com/2012/11/25/3689288/gene-chizik-fired-auburn">Gene Chizik fired at Auburn</a>, it's time to look at a few names that are going to be connected to the job. This list may not contain the eventual new head coach, but they're guys that Jay Jacobs and his committee are likely to look at as they go through the process.</p>
<p>To start, here is what Jacobs said in his release about who they're going to look at:</p>
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<p>We will move as quickly as possible in our search for a new Head Coach, guided by the benchmarks [Auburn University] President [Jay] Gogue and I expect. Those benchmarks are a track record as a proven winner, a commitment to playing within the rules and student-athlete academic success.</p>
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<p>That's boilerplate material right there, but it does sound like it rules out guys who haven't been head coaches before. We'll see.</p>
<h4>Bobby Petrino</h4>
<p>The former Boss Hog is damaged goods at this point, but so is Auburn to a degree after firing its head coach two years after a national title and the revelation of <a target="_blank" href="http://www.teamspeedkills.com/2012/11/21/3676982/ncaa-investigating-auburn-chizik-trooper-taylor-curtis-looper-jovon-robinson">yet another ongoing NCAA investigation</a>. He has good history with the school as a former offensive coordinator, but he also has some bad history as one of the key figures in JetGate. Still, he took both of his previous two schools to the BCS, and he'd definitely take the job if offered. That can't be said right now of any of the other big names here.</p>
<h4>Jimbo Fisher</h4>
<p>There have been rumors going for a couple of weeks now that Auburn would target Fisher if the job came open. Our SBN FSU site <i>Tomahawk Nation</i> <a target="_blank" href="http://www.tomahawknation.com/2012/11/19/3667568/guide-jimbo-fisher-coach-tennessee-auburn-rumor">covered this one</a> pretty well about a week ago. There aren't a whole lot of reasons for Jimbo to leave Tallahassee for this job, so Auburn would have to give him some. As in, around 5 million reasons per year.</p>
<h4>Gus Malzahn</h4>
<p>The team won the national title with a transcendent player running Malzahn's offense, so why not try to rekindle the magic? Malzahn has done well in his year at Arkansas State, and he'll win the conference with a victory over Middle Tennessee next weekend. He's won everywhere he's been. He probably doesn't have the experience to be Auburn's first choice, though, so he'd have to wait for some others to turn it down if he truly wants the gig.</p>
<h4>Charlie Strong</h4>
<p>The Louisville head man is a great defensive mind who has only improved in each of his years with the Cardinals. He's also well known to be reluctant to leave, as he's grateful to UL for finally giving him his (overdue) chance at a head coaching job. If he's going to leave for an SEC job, it's more likely to be the one at Arkansas than at Auburn as he's a Natural State native.</p>
<h4>Butch Jones</h4>
<p>Jones has made his name as a head coach by following in Brian Kelly's footsteps. He took over for Kelly at Central Michigan, where he won a bunch of games, and then he followed Kelly at Cincinnati, where he has won a bunch of games. He's already been connected to the Kentucky job, which he's reportedly turned down. However that may be just because he thinks he can get a better job than that. He should be able to given his track record, so he'll probably be one of those guys thrown in with just about every big opening. So, here is his obligatory mention.</p>
<h4>Sonny Dykes</h4>
<p>The head man at Louisiana Tech is another one of those guys like Jones who will be connected to a lot of different jobs. Plus, he is from the Air Raid family of coaches that includes Mike Leach, Dana Holgorsen, and Kevin Sumlin. The last of those guys had a pretty good game against Nick Saban this year, as you may have heard. The thing that makes him interesting here is that his candidacy might depend on what Tommy Tuberville does. Dykes's father Spike was a legend at Texas Tech, so Sonny might be waiting to see if that job comes open this year should Tuberville jump to a place like Arkansas.</p>
<h4>Willie Taggart</h4>
<p>Taggart has quickly transformed Western Kentucky from basically a I-AA team into a solid I-A citizen. He even beat Kentucky and Malzahn's Arkansas State this year, and three of his four Sun Belt losses this year came by less than one score. Since things really got clicking for him in October of 2011, the only teams to beat him by double digits were LSU last year and Alabama this year. If AU is looking for an up-and-coming name, he could be the pick.</p>
https://www.teamspeedkills.com/2012/11/25/3689746/auburn-candidates-to-replace-chizik-petrino-jimbo-malzahnDavid Wunderlich2012-11-25T14:29:20-05:002012-11-25T14:29:20-05:00Gene Chizik Fired at Auburn
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<p>AU has fired Gene Chizik after four seasons on the Plains.</p> <p>As first reported by CBS's Bruce Feldman, it's curtains for the Gene Chizik era at Auburn:</p>
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<p>Gene Chizik has been told that he is out at Auburn as the Tigers head coach a source just told me.</p>
— Bruce Feldman (@BFeldmanCBS) <a href="https://twitter.com/BFeldmanCBS/status/272775187626344449" data-datetime="2012-11-25T18:54:07+00:00">November 25, 2012</a>
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<p>The official release is <a href="http://www.auburntigers.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/112512aab.html" target="_blank">here</a>. Current AD Jay Jacobs will lead the search committee, which will include Bo Jackson and Pat Sullivan.</p>
<p>Chizik of course won the 2010 national championship, but none of his other three teams managed to finish in the polls. It's true that his replacing of Gus Malzahn with Scot Loeffler proved to be disastrous this season, but he's a defensive guy and none of his defenses were truly elite. Even the 2010 unit <a target="_blank" href="http://www.cfbstats.com/2010/leader/911/team/defense/split01/category09/sort01.html">gave up more points</a> than you'd expect and <a target="_blank" href="http://www.cfbstats.com/2010/leader/911/team/defense/split01/category02/sort01.html">was bad against the pass</a>. Perhaps the last straw (or maybe the worst record in 60 years was enough) came last week when we found out that <a target="_blank" href="http://www.teamspeedkills.com/2012/11/21/3676982/ncaa-investigating-auburn-chizik-trooper-taylor-curtis-looper-jovon-robinson">the NCAA is investigating two of his assistant coaches</a>.</p>
<p>Chizik as a head coach is just 8-28 without Malzahn as his offensive coordinator. HIs buyout could be worth as much as $7.5 million dollars, but it <a target="_blank" href="http://www.teamspeedkills.com/2012/10/11/3490144/chiziks-buyout-might-not-be-as-big-as-you-think">won't end up costing nearly that much</a> if he gets another coaching job soon.</p>
<p>Auburn is in an interesting place as it looks for a new head coach. While Chizik's final season truly was miserable, it <a target="_blank" href="http://www.teamspeedkills.com/2012/11/14/3644892/gene-chizik-chances-not-fired-2013">could be difficult</a> to convince a big time head coach to come when the old guy only got two seasons after a national championship before getting a pink slip. Its <a target="_blank" href="http://www.teamspeedkills.com/2012/11/12/3629544/dont-try-to-beat-saban-at-his-own-game">best bet</a> is to find someone who does things unconventionally, but who knows what Auburn fans will be willing to tolerate at this point.</p>
https://www.teamspeedkills.com/2012/11/25/3689288/gene-chizik-fired-auburnDavid Wunderlich