I have no words to express my disappointment and sadness from this weekend. UT was somewhat embarrassed last year when the locker room video surfaced of Derek Dooley and the team celebrating after their Vandy win and Dooley said, "One thing we always do is kick the shit out of Vandy" (or something to that effect). Auburn would probably kill for the opportunity to make a similar video at this point, but unfortunately that's not in the cards. And that's all I'm going to say about that.
Sadly, our loss to Vandy wasn't the worst Auburn news I received all weekend. After the game, Coach Chizik announced that my beloved Lutzie is out for the rest of the season with a hip injury that has been bothering him all year. Lutz is a Senior, so his career at Auburn is over. He has given us so much, including choosing to stay for his Senior season and risk jeopardizing an NFL career (as he may have done) by being injured this year. Lutzie is a true Auburn Man, and he'll always be one of my favorites.
This week's Weagles: Two to Cassanova McKinzy, a true freshman making his first start, who racked up 12 tackles (including a huge hit on a 4th-down stop), a fumble, and a fumble recovery (on separate plays). One to Demetruce McNeil, who also had 12 tackles. These young guys, and a couple of others, gave me lots of hope for the next couple of years. One Weagle to Cody Parkey, who is about as consistent you can get making field goals for us. Last but not least, One Hundred Weagles to Lutzie for being everything these other guys should strive to be.
I want to say a little something this week about coaching "hot seats." Obviously there is talk everywhere about Derek Dooley and Gene Chizik being fired at the end of the season (if not before). There is speculation as to which team will be the first to nab Bobby Petrino. I really hope that's neither one of them. Petrino is a good coach, but he is not at all a good person, and these young men need role models. I want to win, but I don't want to do it at the expense of class and dignity. For the sake of your daughters who may go to either of these schools, keep Petrino out!
I'm sticking with Chizik, and I'm sticking with Dooley, and let me tell you why. Chizik essentially started over this season with a young team and with new defensive and offensive coordinators. The players Auburn has recruited in the past few years were recruited for our old offensive and defensive schemes. We have no players who were recruited to fit in these new schemes, but so far the defense is adapting pretty nicely. The offense still has a long way to go, but that's a process. I expect it to get better over the next couple of years (I mean, it has to, right?).
Secondly, Coach Chizik won a national title TWO YEARS AGO. I know a lot of people say that was only because of Cam Newton, but there were SEVERAL good players on that team who were no longer there after the 2010 season. Y'all know I love Cam Newton, and I don't in any way disagree that he was a large part of our success in 2010. However, we also had one of the best offensive lines in the country protecting him and an Outland Trophy-winning defensive tackle who was consistently able to make opposing offenses' tenures on the field short ones. We were big; we were strong; we were experienced. We beat Oregon with our defense, not with Cam. And even if the championship WERE only because of Cam, the coaching staff had to find him, recognize his potential, and recruit him (and don't even comment to me about a "bag man," because Auburn withstood a 13-month NCAA investigation with NO skeletons turning up - I'm tired of that crap). That's a huge part of a coach's job - recruiting good players. So don't tell me Chizik had nothing to do with the national championship - we owe him at least a few years of gratitude.
As for Dooley, you know how Obama supporters always say that Obama "inherited a mess" and can't possibly be expected to clean it up in four years? Well, talk about a mess. Look what Dooley inherited. UT fires Fulmer (which I thought was a huge mistake even at that time), hires a child who behaves childishly (who would've thought?!) and who runs off dozens of good recruits (Tajh Boyd, anyone?) before making his own exit, leaving the program in shambles. Rome wasn't built in a day, and you can't fix that damage quickly, either. I don't think there's any question that Dooley's team has improved each year. No, they haven't won any marquee games yet, but they have come very close several times, and in case you haven't noticed, they're playing in a really tough conference. I think Dooley needs at least one more year.
What both of these situations have in common are impatient fans who put a lot of pressure on the athletic department to make a change when that might not be in the best interests of the program. The people who are calling for Dooley's head now are most likely the same people who were calling for Fulmer to be fired a few years ago. And look how well that turned out. Here's the thing. I'm not a coaching expert. I'm not an athletics administration expert. I've never played football, much less SEC football (and neither has 99% of the "lunatic fringe" that is so vocal about getting rid of coaches). So I'm going to leave these difficult decisions to the experts, and I'm just going to be a FAN and support my team and my coach, whoever that may be. I'm not comfortable with all of the "armchair quarterbacks" who have never taken a snap in their lives making that decision for my team.
More importantly, these people are KILLING recruiting. Do you think a recruit wants to commit to a school when he doesn't even know who the coach will be next year? Don't think the recruits don't know about the dissatisfied fans. They watch ESPN; they listen to the stupid call-in shows. I certainly wouldn't want to go somewhere where the fans are so obviously down on their team. Instead, I would pick a school whose fans show support no matter what the team's situation. Sure, we all want to win, but let's not tear down the coaches and players when they're struggling. I mean, do you think they WANT to lose? It's all cyclical. Tennessee and Auburn will both bounce back. And one day Nick Saban will retire and Alabama will be human again. Hopefully sooner rather than later.
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