Franklin happy Todd won QB job at Auburn
Our phone conversation took place in the early hours of Friday morning, but Tony Franklin could barely contain his happiness for Chris Todd, who was named the starting quarterback at Auburn on Thursday.
“There are very few people who really know how much that kid went through last year,” said Franklin, the former offensive coordinator at Auburn who now holds the same job at Middle Tennessee State. “We talked last night and I told him I was more proud of him than any other football player I’ve coached. A lot of people in his situation would have quit and moved on.”
It was one of the most difficult periods in Auburn football history. Head coach Tommy Tuberville, trying to juice up his offense and jump start recruiting, hired Franklin, a free-spirited guy who believed in the throwing version of the spread offense.
Franklin had known Todd as a high school player and felt he was perfect to run the new offense. Todd started at Texas Tech, went to junior college, and eventually followed Franklin to Auburn.
But there were a couple of problems.
No. 1: Nobody admitted how bad it was, but Todd had a dead arm. He tried to fix it with rest but it didn’t work. So Todd could never get the velocity on his throws that were necessary to run Franklin’s offense the way it is intended.
No. 2: Franklin’s personality and that of the rest of the offensive staff at Auburn, who had been with Tuberville a long time, simply did not mix. It was too much of a culture change. After nothing less than a staff revolt, head coach Tommy Tuberville resolved the conflict by letting Franklin go at midseason. At the end of the 2008 season Tuberville was gone as well.
Todd had won the quarterback job but when the offense struggled, the fans turned on him and Franklin. And when Franklin was gone, Todd immediately lost the job and Kodi Burns became the starter. It looked like Todd’s career at Auburn was over.
Todd decided to stay at Auburn when it hired a new head coach in Gene Chizik, who brought in Gus Malzahn as offensive coordinator. Todd also got surgery in December to fix his weakened arm. He didn’t throw in the spring but is throwing well enough now to be named the starter. And this is telling: When Todd was named the starter yesterday his main competitor, Burns, was moved to receiver, where there is a need for more athleticism.
“I’m excited about the opportunity here,” Todd told the Birmingham News yesterday. “I have the utmost respect for the other quarterbacks. They made me better every single day.”
“Chris has already gotten his undergraduate degree so he could have gone on with his life,” said Franklin. “But he decided he wanted to stay and compete. And when you look at Gus’s offense, Chris looks like the perfect fit.”
Franklin’s offense is a pass-first, run-second spread that focuses on getting fast athletes in space against slower athletes. Malzahn also spreads the field but does it to first create running lanes. Tulsa, where Malzahn has resided the past two seasons, led the nation in total offense in 2008 with 569.81 yards per game. If that total 268.0 was rushing and 301.86 was passing.
“I like the offensive staff that Auburn has put together and they are going to have a good year if they stay patient with Chris,” said Franklin.
Ah, patience. Franklin learned the hard way that the commodity is in very short supply in the SEC. But, like Todd, Franklin said he is a better coach having gone through the tough experience.
“What Chris went through at Auburn prepared him to face the rest of his life,” said Franklin. “It ain’t fun when you’re going through it. But it does make you stronger.”
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70 comments Add your comment
George G.
August 14th, 2009
5:34 pm
Auburn was in virtually every game last season with the exception of the Iron Bowl. A little better luck, and the Tigers were EASILY an 8-4 team. Contrarily, they easily could have been 3-9 too.
Mitch Cumstein
August 14th, 2009
9:48 pm
Aubbie fans, you are going to love Malzahn. If you watched any of Tulsa’s games last year you saw what he can do. With the talent you guys have, it will be an exciting year. WDE
Rabo Karabekian
August 15th, 2009
12:01 am
First, Tuberville ran Auburn into the ground. He tried to run a college football team like a chief executive officer runs a company and he lost touch with his assistants and players. He lost his nerve, he lost the drive, he lost the ability to adjust and bounce back. He was always good for at least one and most of the times two blow-out losses each because he prepared a certain way and then was unable to adjust. The 31-7 loss to Bama is indicative of what I am talking about. Tuberville loves the glitz and gloss and flash of the game but he was an average coach at best. He talks about going to a Pac-10 team because to him 7-5 was good enough year in and year out with a 10-2 or 13-0 thrown in every 5 or six years for good measure. It would have been good enough at Auburn too had he been competitive in the losses rather than embarrassing.
Second, no matter what anyone says Auburn as a university and as a fan base is in the minority in Alabama and always will be. The sooner they accept this and embrace it the better off they will be. There will never be equal press coverage, equal air time, balanced opinions, etc. The media in Alabama are currently in love with Nick Saban and that adds fuel to the fire that Auburn cannot put out. Tuberville had multiple opportunities to crush Alabama when it was down and he blew every single one. He lost the upper hand almost overnight and was never going to be able to get it back. The best thing Auburn can do right now is sit tight and endure until the Saban marriage goes sour, which it will do in the next 3 seasons. Auburn is in dire straits and it’s going to take time to see if they can right the ship without compromising and ending up back on probation.
Third, Auburn has to stop being its own worst enemy. Ghosts from the past need to let go and let the University and the football program mutate and advance. Football is a trendy game and they’re now following the trend on offense, which will not succeed in the SEC.
This season: 4-8 is a real probability, starting with Louisiana Tech
Spike
August 15th, 2009
9:39 am
ROswell Ed, where are you ?
Not Disappointed
August 15th, 2009
10:11 am
Best of Luck Todd! Ramblin Wreck!
» SEC links: Elizabethtown’s Todd is a comeback story John Clay’s Sidelines
August 15th, 2009
10:35 am
[...] Tony Barnhart of the AJC reports that Tony Franklin is happy that Todd won the quarterback job at Auburn. [...]
Atlanta Gator
August 15th, 2009
12:18 pm
Rabo Karabekian—-I both agree and disagree with your list of points.
Yes, Tommy Tuberville was ultimately responsible for the condition of the program. To say that he “ran it into the ground” is a gross exaggeration. Tuberville’s biggest mistake was to allow dissension to fester among his subordinates; this ultimately destroyed the sense of family within the team on which Auburn has historically based its own sense of self. Tuberville’s detached management style no doubt played a role, just as Bobby Lowder’s constant ham-handed intervention in Auburn football and athletics did, too, over time.
Let’s be somewhat generous to Tuberville, though, who is certainly a fine coach on his good days, and say that he was out of steam at Auburn. The last two three seasons of the Tigers’ offense is all the evidence that you need of that.
Auburn, as a football team and as a university, does best when it sticks to the “Auburn way” of doing things. The Auburn community has an amazing sense of loyalty, pride and family that I have known among very few college alumni groups. I have numerous friends who are AU alumni, and some of them can’t articulate the “Auburn way,” but they all take great pride in their sense of being different . . . different from Alabama alumni, certainly, but different from anyone else in the sports world, too. From my personal observations, AU alumni and fans generally do a better job of policing their own obnoxious fans, braggarts and drunks than most other SEC schools . . . just don’t poke them about the Tide.
My point is this: that sense of Auburn family is what makes AU special. That sense of family and the “Auburn way” of doing things can be used to successfully rebuild the football program relatively quickly. AU may not be for every 5-star recruit, but many kids will be attracted to that AU way if it is properly employed (and not over sold) by AU recruiters. I think Gene Chizik’s hiring was an attempt to reach back to AU’s own sense of self, to someone who knew and understood the AU way from being a significant part of its coaching fraternity in the past.
With the players he has now, Chizik’s 2009 defense will be respectable and competitive. If Gus Malzahn can generate some improvement on offense, the Tigers may be competitive more quickly than any one guessed. I think AU finishes the 2009 season either 6-6 or 7-5. It is more important that they play competitively in 2009 than racking up big wins this year. They need to look credible; not like they did in the second half of 2008, when the wheels had clearly fallen off, and confidence in the coaches and system had failed. They need credibility to recruit and to believe in themselves as a program again.
Atlanta Gator
August 15th, 2009
12:30 pm
BTW, do anyone know why Gene Chizik only played for one year (1981) for the Gators when he was a student? He graduated from Florida in 1985, but I can’t find any explanation anywhere for why he only played one season . . . I’m curious if he had a career-ending injury, or perhaps some sort of falling out with Charley Pell & Co.
Marc
August 15th, 2009
3:10 pm
Here is some information I thought was interesting that you might want to look at. SI has GT ranked 12th and UGA ranked 15th. They say both will go 9-3. They say GT will be 6-2 in the ACC and UGA will be 5-3 in the SEC which means they think UGA will beat GT. Do you really think if UGA wins the game and has a much tougher schedule than GT and both are 9-3 UGA will be ranked lower than GT.
dan
August 15th, 2009
3:18 pm
Enter your comments here
Rafey El Savier
August 15th, 2009
8:25 pm
Who will be the 1st SEC coach fired? Chit-n-gritz, Mr. P-Nutt, or The Evil Genius in the SC?
Chris F
August 15th, 2009
10:50 pm
Rafey, I say the first coach to get fired is: Les Miles.
I know I am gonna get flamed hard for that but I know it’s coming soon.
Dawg Props
August 16th, 2009
2:02 am
Auburn will be terrible again–they may finish last in the SEC West. Dawgs beat them easy–mark it down. Is bobby lowder in jail yet??
bamabone
August 16th, 2009
9:54 am
this reminds me of my Tebow stance: i hate FL with unabashed passion, but i love Tebow and root for him to win the game for his team (my nightmare came true in the SEC championship last year when he single-handedly won the game over the Tide). same situation here: Todd seems like a good kid and cheering for the underdog / come-from-behind guy is the right thing to do. but could i ever want to see allbarn successful? how about this concession: he throws for 250-300 yards per game; is voted 2nd team All-SEC at year’s end; and allbarn loses every game by San Diego Charger / Dan Fouts type scores (50-48). RTR!!!!
truth-serum
August 16th, 2009
12:08 pm
Any furor over Vick’s signing has not stopped the NFL marketing machine. Vick’s new Eagles’ jersey — available in white, black or midnight green — was available on the league’s Web site for $259.99.
Helluva Engineer
August 16th, 2009
4:06 pm
36-0
dan
August 16th, 2009
6:40 pm
I think Auburn will be improved this year. Their defense was pretty good last year, but their offense was horrendous. I think they’ll go 7-5, maybe upset an Arkansas or Georgia, and play Alabama closer than folks think. I can see them in the Peach Bowl.
Shug
August 16th, 2009
7:29 pm
Aurburn gets rid of a winning coach,— for a losing coach,— what a bunch idiots.
Ryan
August 17th, 2009
12:23 am
Shug, what was Saban’s record at Miami? Chizik lost at ISU. Who would win there? Look at his entire resume. Me thinks you are the idiot!!
cbass
August 31st, 2009
12:04 pm
What ought to concern Auburn fans more than anything is that Middle Tennessee actually has the skill players to run Franklin’s offense. It begs the question why Auburn has had such a difficult time recruiting offensive skill talent being so close to Georgia and Florida?
Also, expect Middle Tennessee to have a big season if not this year maybe next year. For the first time since they moved to I-A they broke the 80 scholarship barrier (although I think they’re below that with some fall camp injuries). Point being they’re deeper now than they’ve ever been and this is a team that dominated Maryland physically last year on both sides of the ball…was at that game.