I am no fan of Jay Jacobs as AD.
There is no doubt of two things at this point and one of them will not change. He is an Auburn man and he has had success as the AD. It remains to be seen whether or not he becomes the AD that many of you are heralding as the next coming. Long term results matter much more to me than short term.
just sayin'.
Ok, Kaos.
I can kind of understand the second paragraph explaining that you don't think he's the greatest AD of all time. Fair enough.
But the first sentence? How can you hate the guy? Regardless of whether his coaches end up winning 13 national championships each for their respective sports, they are
all either turning their programs around completely or sustaining the hard-to-follow success of their predecessors. Chizik, Barbee, Pawlowski, Fortner, Quick, and Hawke have all been amazing hires by that criteria. I guess my question is...what more do you want?
Look, I've heard the argument that Chizik may possibly one day prove to be a great (or even Auburn's greatest) coach, but no matter what, he will never be a great hire.
Bullshit.
He was the right hire for the right time. It may not have been the easy thing to see, but that's exactly why I think Jacobs knows more than anyone on this message board about hiring coaches. We could have hired Turner Gill, and been a flash in the pan PR stunt, but not have proven very successful on the field, as evidenced by his next coaching year by going 3-7 in the MAC (and that was the guy I wanted most). Other potential hires that year were similarly more about getting a "name of the now" rather than a coach as innovative, and with the ability to put together this stellar staff, who in turn put together a stellar recruiting class. If Chizik leaves tomorrow, it will be too soon, but he will have left us in better shape than we were in the day before his hire.
I'll leave you with this BleacherReport article I ran across the other day, which I think supports my position on this.
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/389815-chizik-much-like-pat-dye-eager-to-prove-himselfGene Chizik Much Like Pat Dye, Eager To Prove Himself
Michael Abbott
Contributor Written on May 09, 2010
If you are old enough to remember coach Dye's hiring, it was much like the hiring of Gene Chizik—Who? How is this guy going to compete against Bear Bryant? Yeah he's been in the SEC, but big deal. East Carolina, where's that at? Wyoming, they play football?
Dye wasn't a household name. He wasn't the first choice, Vince Dooley was. But he had a fire and ambition to coach and much like Gene Chizik, he had something to prove. They would never admit it in public, but the coach across the state was the one to prove it to.
The parallels of Dye and Chizik are obvious. Not many good players to work with, a strong coach at Bama, and not many in state recruits are coming to Auburn. And if you remember, Dye said one sentence that gave the Auburn people hope. When asked how long would it take him to beat Alabama, Dye said "60 minutes."
Gene Chizik has done the same. But not with words, his actions. He went head to head right away with Bama over recruits, something the former staff didn't even try too much to do. Top players from the region were thinking about Auburn for a change. Auburn lost out on many, but one could see and sense a different attitude in recruiting.
Dye paved the way, went head to head with 'Bama, got his share, and in two years was playing in the Sugar Bowl for a national title chance. Dye knew he didn't have to get all the best players, but you gotta fight for your share, not lay back and let everyone else reap the rewards.
How do you know when a Auburn coach is doing well? When the other side takes time to bash him. Coach Dye was hated by 'Bama fans, Chizik is well on his way. With a couple more good recruiting classes, he'll be the most hated man in Alabama proving to them, and the Alabama media, that yeah you can win at Auburn, something Pat Dye proved already.
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