Once again, we revisit the sage wisdom of this thread, now 12 years in life. And what has changed since we last visited here, 'round this all-too-familiar campfire.
We fired Gus. Paid the buyout. Bit the bullet.
We got an internal power struggle that led to a hot tub time machine hiring of a guy who saw one thing at Auburn - $.
We paid that douche canoe to go back to drag racing with his train wreck posse, watched a beloved legend rally the players and fans only to succumb to the power of the P (who among us can't relate?), and now he's in Vegas waiting to be NFL fired.
We wined and dined the Carpetbagger of all Carpetbaggers until, according to ESPN proctologist, Chris Low, his daughter and a group of sorority sisters changed his mind.
So, we landed on Bucky the Righteous Beav. He of many levels of ill-repute and ego mania. Oh, he seems changed. Maybe he has. Not my problem, really. It's the pattern he is repeating that, well, would be troubling, if I could muster the energy to care at all anymore. Huge Beav puts on a good show, says words people want to hear, even talks a few well-regarded players to join the fold. But he fails in the same ways every time. Stubborn adherence to system over players, sticking with "his guys" and surrounding the staff with "Yes people" to keep his ego afloat. It's never his fault. It's always someone else's. He burned so many media that only the truly Dye-Hard AU media left lap up the continual stream of memberberries juice he specializes in while the rest just write the same, tired, mantra - "Just Auburn Being Auburn."
Just Auburn Being Auburn
That once meant something quite different. Now it means exactly what the talking head turned Athletics Director meant it as. A group that can't manage success to build to more success. A group hungry for winning no matter the cost. A group that absolutely learns the wrong lessons from every uptick and ignores the warnings of the downturns.
Just Auburn Being Auburn
Caught in a perpetual cycle of looking for the quick fix never realizing the infrastructure necessary for sustained success. I am now firmly in the camp that it will take a "nuclear" option for Auburn to ever get back to the top end of the sports. Aside from the ever-shifting landscape of college football, there's still a pattern for how that is done. It will now take someone who can turn away every unnecessary element to focus on foundational change that leads to long-term success. I don't know who that is anymore. I don't know who it was the last time the job was open. And I don't know why they'd come to Auburn over any number of programs that offer less resistance and have better alignment. The fans? We will be there, to a fault, because there is something uniquely special about the place, in spite of how bad a shape it is in currently. And the fans will always come for a winner.
What happens next? I expect not much different than what's been on rinse-repeat for more than a decade. Win some. Lose some. Two steps forward. Three steps back.
I find myself drawn to other interests. My days are shorter now. Certainly shorter than they were when I was much younger and all of this seemed to matter so much more. Things I thought I'd never be able to live without, I now barely think of unless I force myself to. It really doesn't matter. It's just a nice distraction from *waves everywhere.* But there are other distractions that require less suspension of disbelief, less acceptance of things I do not trust.
Just Auburn Being Auburn...until it is no more.
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