Two years after a BCS title, could Auburn’s Chizik get fired?
Brian VanGorder (right) watches his career path take a discernible downturn. (AP photo)
Even as Auburn was en route to the BCS title, there was something unreal about the journey. Not that the 2010 Tigers weren’t the nation’s best team. But you wondered how they got that way.
This is a reference to Cam Newton, but not in the way you’d think. Nearly two years after it was reported that Newton’s dad had sought $180,000 to send his son to Mississippi State, we await the first bit of evidence that Auburn paid, or even offered, anything beyond a scholarship. The NCAA investigated at length and found nothing untoward. So far as can be discerned, Auburn won with Newton fair and square. That said …
Newton blew across the Plains in the time it takes to change, er, planes at Hartsfield-Jackson. (OK, slight exaggeration. But only slight.) He arrived from Blinn Junior College in January 2010, took his team to 14-0 the next January and, Heisman Trophy in tow, was gone. He was an Auburn student-athlete for roughly a year.
Auburn began its championship run ranked 22nd in the Associated Press preseason poll — one spot ahead of Georgia, six spots behind Georgia Tech. The Tigers were 8-5 in the season before Newton, 8-5 in the season after Newton. Today they’re 1-4, the victory coming in overtime against Louisiana-Monroe. They just lost 24-7 at home to an Arkansas team that was outscored by 100 points in its two previous SEC games. Which brings us to the other part of the disconnect.
The 2010 national championship was won by Gene Chizik’s team. Is Gene Chizik a national championship coach?
Counting two seasons at Iowa State, his career record is 36-33. His record without Cam Newton is 22-33. His record before Cam Newton was 13-24. His record since Cam Newton is 9-9.
A BCS title should buy a coach a long honeymoon, but let’s remember that Chizik works at Auburn. Where Terry Bowden resigned under pressure 11 months after he’d led the Tigers to the SEC championship game. Where school officials were moved to take a clandestine flight to Sellersburg, Ind., to woo Bobby Petrino, then of Louisville, to fill the head-coaching position occupied by Tommy Tuberville. Where Tuberville himself was gone four years after an undefeated season.
Things happen faster in the win-or-else SEC, and Auburn occupies the epicenter of Football Gone Wild. The Georgia-Georgia Tech relationship has been described as clean, old-fashioned hate. There’s nothing clean or old-fashioned about the feelings Auburn and Alabama have toward one another. Theirs is the dirtiest form of loathing, updated daily.
Alabama again reigns over college football. It has won two of the past three BCS titles and is in Position A to claim yet another. For one year, Newton and Chizik and Auburn usurped Nick Saban’s throne, but that year seems now — heck, it seemed so even then — as the one-off to end all one-offs.
So today we ask: Could the coach who claimed a national championship in January 2011 get fired before 2012 is done? Anywhere else, you’d say no. Auburn, however, is not anywhere else, and this is among the worst Auburn teams ever. It ranks 113th among 120 FBS teams in total offense, 117th in scoring, 110th in passing efficiency, 75th in total defense and dead last in turnover margin. This with a new offensive coordinator (the overmatched Scott Loeffler) and a new defensive coordinator (Brian VanGorder, of whom you’ve heard).
According to Rivals.com, Auburn’s signing classes from 2010 through 2012 ranked fourth, seventh and 10th nationally. Continuity, alas, has gone missing. Nick Fairley, who won the 2010 Lombardi Trophy, arrived as a JUCO transfer and left for the NFL after two seasons. Running back Michael Dyer was the offensive MVP of the BCS title game and was kicked off the squad 361 days later. Auburn has begun each of Chizik’s four seasons with a different quarterback; the latest, sophomore Kiehl Frazier, has thrown eight interceptions against two touchdown passes.
The Tigers’ next two games are at Ole Miss and Vanderbilt. (They’re a six-point underdog against the Rebels.) If Auburn loses both, it could well finish 0-8 in SEC play — two years after going 8-0. The SEC has seen all manner of strangeness, but such a plunge would have no precedent. Then again, Auburn’s rise to No. 1 didn’t have many antecedents, either. Yes, Herschel Walker lifted Georgia from 6-5 to an unbeaten national championship in his first collegiate season, but he stuck around a couple of more years and the Bulldogs stayed really good. And nobody wondered if Vince Dooley, who’d won three SEC titles before Herschel, could actually coach.
The former Auburn coach Pat Dye, who seldom makes a lick of sense, recently claimed he wouldn’t trade Chizik “for 10 Sabans.” If Chizik keeps losing, Auburn might soon swap him for one Bobby Petrino.
By Mark Bradley
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403 comments Add your comment
auburn grad
October 11th, 2012
11:33 am
I wish Terry Bowden would return. The overbearing Board of Trustees, Bobby Lowder in particular, forced him out.
He had more class than Pat Dye, Tommy Tuberville, or Gene Chizik plus he’s a winner.
DONNAN OF A NEW ERA
October 11th, 2012
11:55 am
“I wish Terry Bowden would return. ”
Yeah, because he’s doing so well now.
No
October 11th, 2012
11:56 am
Thanks for pointing out that there was never any proof that Cam got paid.
Our defense will be (is) improving. Offense is horrendously bad- I blame Loeffler mostly. No QB, lost our best RB, lost a 5 star QB recruit, young O-line. New scheme. Add in a tough schedule. Bad.
Ought to make Frazier a tight end. Run the ball. Screen pass, play action, draw plays.
Don’t forget, Bamma sucked for many years, dogs have had down times also.
Petrino will NOT be back.
Just hope Barkley stays out of the discussion.
"ALL IN"
October 11th, 2012
12:12 pm
Stoled Dabos “All In” Phrase which now has resulted to two straight losses to Clempson. Auburn is a Clempson with out a lake.
Auburn is 1-4, about to be 1-5
October 11th, 2012
12:20 pm
HUH?????
October 11th, 2012
8:26 am
“UGA 5-1, will finish 10-2 or 11-1″
THAT UGA won’t win a national championship….for the 33rd year in a row.
Sucks to be you.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Auburn is 1-4 and about to be 1-5. Will finish with a losing record. You respond with comments about UGA. You must be a Obama supporter.
Sucks to be in denial like you are
ATLWarEagle
October 11th, 2012
12:49 pm
I’m as disappointed with this season as any other Auburn fan is, but I hope Auburn doesn’t fire Chizik. Starting over is not the answer, at least for now. As an alumni and season ticketholder, I still believe CGC will do well for us. As part of a major transition, he has a new OC and DC, and some of the players (quarterback and some other playmakers) we have currently are not a good fit for the change in football philosophy, so this team, at best, looks like a work-in-progress. As was said earlier, Kiel Frazier was recruited by Malzahn to run that style of offense. While a young kid like Frazier is not to blame for all of this team’s woes, he also has not learned well enough the new pro-style offense, and as of last Saturday, was taken out for quarterback #2. I’m still not sure Chizik made good hires with his coordinators (jury is still out, especially on offense), but he has recruited extremely well, and this young team should get better. Next year’s team should show marked improvement and could be the decisive year for Chizik et al.
War Eagle!
Levin
October 11th, 2012
12:49 pm
Auburn will NOT hire Petrino. This will NOT happen. It could have happened before the Arkansas mess but not now. This other talk is just trash talk and pure crap that you writers use to get your article done quickly so you can play on the internet for the rest of the day!
HUH?????
October 11th, 2012
12:49 pm
“Auburn is 1-4 and about to be 1-5. Will finish with a losing record. You respond with comments about UGA. You must be a Obama supporter.”
Yes, Auburn will finish with a losing record. I never argued that with anyone. Since I’ve never voted Democrat in my life, I’m not sure where you get that I am an Obama supporter.
“Sucks to be in denial like you are”
Not sure what that is supposed to mean. What am I in denial about?
HUH?????
October 11th, 2012
12:50 pm
“Auburn is a Clempson with out a lake.”
Auburn University was founded before Clemson. Try again.
Chili Dogg
October 11th, 2012
12:51 pm
Aubarn is still 2nd-tier and will always be at best. What big-name coach would want to go there?
Cyclone5
October 11th, 2012
12:51 pm
Those posting about Iowa State strictly from a W/L perspective are the one’s who deserve Chizik.
Levin
October 11th, 2012
12:54 pm
“I think that beating has affected Aaron Murray ever since. Chizik cheered the cheap shots on.” This was said above….Why dont you UGA people listen to one of your own? Buck B said of that game “he flat our whipped us, if Nick Fairley played for UGA we would call him a superstar” Get over it,,,,,you guys have some great winning seasons with Richt, but you would trade them all for one Championship.
DawgNole
October 11th, 2012
12:56 pm
ATLWarEagle
October 11th, 2012
12:49 pm
I’m as disappointed with this season as any other Auburn fan is, but I hope Auburn doesn’t fire Chizik. Starting over is not the answer, at least for now. As an alumni and season ticketholder, I still believe CGC will do well for us. As part of a major transition, he has a new OC and DC, and some of the players (quarterback and some other playmakers) we have currently are not a good fit for the change in football philosophy, so this team, at best, looks like a work-in-progress. As was said earlier, Kiel Frazier was recruited by Malzahn to run that style of offense. While a young kid like Frazier is not to blame for all of this team’s woes, he also has not learned well enough the new pro-style offense, and as of last Saturday, was taken out for quarterback #2. I’m still not sure Chizik made good hires with his coordinators (jury is still out, especially on offense), but he has recruited extremely well, and this young team should get better. Next year’s team should show marked improvement and could be the decisive year for Chizik et al.
_______________________
An objective, measured, and calmly delivered post–and thus a valid post. A shame your school, and mine, also have fans like HUH?????, who come on here and poison the discussion thread for the rest of us.
Rebel Rebellion
October 11th, 2012
1:00 pm
I heard Houston Nutt was looking for a job. Wanna go to back-to-back Cotton Bowls?
fred
October 11th, 2012
1:04 pm
I would not want the current folks in charge making any such coaching decisions. We are such a dysfunctional “family” with Lauder or other equivalents having the power and essentially letting Pat Dye be the AD. Jacobs is just a puppet and they want puppet coaches as well. Tuberville got tired of dealing with the situation and left and I can’t blame him. The coaching search for Chizk was a circus and no one could believe we hired him. I initially thought he did a good job putting together a staff but that is quickly unraveling. It is getting hard to be a fan and have faith that it will improve.
I agree with the earlier post who was more proud of the ‘04 team than the one that actually won in ‘10.
HUH?????
October 11th, 2012
1:12 pm
“Aubarn is still 2nd-tier and will always be at best.”
Second tier teams talk big and can’t win national championships. SEE: UGA
HUH?????
October 11th, 2012
1:13 pm
“A shame your school, and mine, also have fans like HUH?????, who come on here and poison the discussion thread for the rest of us.”
Poor baby. Can’t handle the constant beat downs you receive from me so you cry to someone else about it.
Auburn is 1-4, about to be 1-5
October 11th, 2012
1:27 pm
chizik will not get fired after this year. He will be forced to look hard at his staff and I would not be surprised to see changes although the OC and DC are brand new right? He changed from the spread to pro set and deserves a chance to recruit to that offense. He really doesn’t have a QB built for that on campus.
Adopted AU Fan
October 11th, 2012
1:28 pm
I’d hate to see Chizik go for two reasons (1) I actually like the guy and (2) it would be really expensive. Still, the question before Auburn is not what has Chiz done for us lately but the trajectory of the program. Everyone knew 2011 would be a down year, and I think a lot were not expecting much from 2012. But 2012 is turning out to be much worse than anyone could have imagined (or hoped for you ‘Bama fans). If you don’t believe he can turn the corner and SOON, why stay on the train?
HUH?????
October 11th, 2012
1:44 pm
“He really doesn’t have a QB built for that on campus.”
Wallace and Mosely are. Auburn has a 4 star QB coming in next year.
AUin ATL
October 11th, 2012
1:52 pm
UGA fans crack me up…Lets see, just the facts:
Since SEC Champ Game is in place:
AU 2 SEC wins, UGA, 2 SEC wins
AU 4 SEC champ games, UGA, 3
Head to head since then, about even. UGA lately better record.
AU 1 NC UGA 0.
AU 3 undefeated seasons, UGA 0
AU is the Clemson?
Clemson is a decent yet over hyped year after year with an in NC in the early 80s and a conf title every now and then, And UGA, is…well pretty identical.
drew
October 11th, 2012
1:58 pm
I agree…it’s Karma for the AU football program. I lived in Auburn when Tuberville “resigned” with no pressure from the university. Uh huh….right! Auburn football has no sense of morality or common sense for that matter. It’s 100% about winning – long gone are the days of ‘ just do your best son’. Very, very sad.
Tony The Tiger
October 11th, 2012
1:58 pm
Gene does have a few things to list on his resume but what has he done for us lately? And by the way, I never liked that yankee name.
DawgNole
October 11th, 2012
2:06 pm
HUH?????
October 11th, 2012
1:13 pm
“A shame your school, and mine, also have fans like HUH?????, who come on here and poison the discussion thread for the rest of us.”
Poor baby. Can’t handle the constant beat downs you receive from me so you cry to someone else about it.
_____________________
No crying. No beatdowns either. I see you’re still on here telling lies. Plenty of those in your posts.
Jay T.
October 11th, 2012
2:41 pm
I think Pat Dye always makes a helluva lot more sense than Mark Bradley.
Hamad Meander
October 11th, 2012
3:07 pm
Auburn is re-building now – look at their recruiting class coming in. They will be competitive again soon. All SEC teams go through this at one time or another. Having said that, Auburn would have never won a National Championship without Cam Newton and Nick Fairley and a complete melt down by Alabama.
Ed
October 11th, 2012
3:17 pm
Good point about Dooley. He went 10-1 (won SEC) 8-1-2 (won SEC), 11-1, 10-2 (won SEC), and 10-1-1 in years without Herschel, ranging from 1966 to 1983. His last two seasons were 9-3, kept from back-to-back SEC titles only by Pat Dye’s best Auburn teams.
The guy could coach a little bit, as Spurrier acknowledged not long ago on Sirius Ch. 91.
There’s nothing in Chizik’s record to suggest that he can coach a team to great heights that doesn’t include a rare dominant defensive player (Fairley) and a once-in-a-generation offensive star (Newton). Nothing against the guy, but his one great year has also been his only GOOD year.
Ed
October 11th, 2012
3:18 pm
Oh, and Dooley’s 1978 “Wonderdogs” team went 9-2-1 when everyone expected us to be awful. Like I said, the guy could coach a bit. And did so in an era when D-1 teams played similar competition week in and week out. No cupcakes outside of weak conference foes like Vandy.
Doug
October 11th, 2012
4:01 pm
How soon we forget that we turned down by Jimbo Fisher and Will Muschamp during the last search. They were both merely coordinators at the time. We settled (too soon, maybe) on Chizik. It would seem that being the Auburn coach is not as desirable as we think and we are not as likely to make a splash hire as we would like.
drsoul
October 11th, 2012
5:43 pm
Auburn went a long time with the womanizing of Bowden and Dye…. why would Petrino be such a downgrade for them????
DONNAN OF A NEW ERA
October 11th, 2012
5:52 pm
“How soon we forget that we turned down by Jimbo Fisher and Will Muschamp during the last search.”
And neither of those two coaches has a national championship and it will be a while before either of them plays for one. FSU can’t seem to beat crappy teams like NCState and Muschamp will have his hands full in the SEC.
Doug
October 11th, 2012
6:07 pm
“And neither of those two coaches has a national championship and it will be a while before either of them plays for one. FSU can’t seem to beat crappy teams like NCState and Muschamp will have his hands full in the SEC”
And yet they still both turned us down. I’m not saying they would have been better, but that most coaches aren’t interested in the job. Mike Leach wanted the job, but AU wouldn’t return the call. That would have been even worse than what we have.
If they do fire Chizik, they better have a top notch guy lined up beforehand.
Mark Richt
October 11th, 2012
6:56 pm
Please keep Chizik. He is one of the few coaches I can still beat on a regular basis.
Dave Cutler
October 11th, 2012
7:09 pm
Chizk is just a product of a really bad hire in Scott Leoffler. That dude is over his head. He had really good hires in Malzahn and Van Gorder, but missed the boat with Leoffler. You guys have no clue. If Chizik would have hired a better offensive coordinator Auburn would be undefeated right now. The talent is there. We just have no offensive identity. Here, in week 5, I have no idea what kind of offense we are suppose to be. Frazier cannot run a pro, never has. If Auburn had a better offensive identity we would have beat Clemson and the whole year would have been different. The kids just don’t care at the moment. I say Chizik stays, keeps Van Gorder, hires new offensive coordinator, and you people will have to eat your words.
And Bradley, shut your hole about Auburn. Everyone knows you dislike them. Auburn has gone undefeated 3 times in the past 19 years. Guess what? No team in American has done that. Don’t act like Cam’s year was just some fluke. Auburn has been a top SEC program the past 30 years. Since the early 80’s, Auburn has had 6 SEC titles, 3 undefeated season,s two heismans, a fantastic bowl record, and a winning head to head records against every team in the conference except Florida. Go play with yourself. If we let Chizik go, you can bet we will aim high this time. How about Tressel or Carroll? Tresell is there and Carroll is doing nothing with the Seahawks.
DONNAN OF A NEW ERA
October 11th, 2012
8:15 pm
Doug
Who cares if they turned Auburn down. No Chizik, no national title. It’s pretty simple really. Chizik recruited Cam, Dyer, Fairly etc. If Jumbo or Muschamp come to Auburn in 2009 they’d be looking at about the same record as Chizik did. We can play guessing games all day but that won’t change the fact that Auburn HAS a national championship under Gene Chizik.
Deal with it, live with it and move on.
DONNAN OF A NEW ERA
October 11th, 2012
8:16 pm
Doug,
BTW, what has Jimbo Fisher done since he’s been at FSU?
Answer: Nothing.
What has Muschamp done? Not much but UF is having a good year so far. Still, no championship.
DONNAN OF A NEW ERA
October 11th, 2012
8:17 pm
Doug,
Here you go.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aC4P4F-F8-k
You’re welcome.
billydawg
October 11th, 2012
8:48 pm
what was his record at iowa state?
nobodyyouknow
October 11th, 2012
9:00 pm
Could he be fired? Are you kidding me? Football fans are the most impatent people in the WORLD. No matter how many SEC conf. he won. No matter how many national championships he won, with the fans its”what have you done for us lately”? Like the last 2 seasons. But they make the big bucks and it comes with the job.
Phil
October 11th, 2012
9:00 pm
Chizik won a National Championship in a short amount of time while Richt is no closer now than he was 10 years ago. If anybody deserves the axe, it’s Richt! Chizik deserves a little more time. Richt is out of time!
buck
October 12th, 2012
12:58 am
Thanks a bunch for picking up my trash and taking it to the landfill: not to mention paying the dumping fee.
Sincerely,
Iowa State
Petrino!
October 12th, 2012
1:35 am
Get rid of chizik next year and hire petrino. by then, the heat will die down. He can recruit QBs and win big at auburn—time to make the move!!
Wade Todd 2001
October 12th, 2012
10:36 am
Gene Chizik is Larry Coker. Period. It’s that simple.
Consider this….. WITH the best player college football has ever seen or known, Chizik was able to beat Nick Saban by only a single point.
I rest my case.
tony
October 12th, 2012
11:35 am
Gene Chizik’s record(5-19) prior to accepting the job @Auburn speaks for itself. Cam Newton made him look like a coach who had success for many years.
ui | jimmythageek.com
October 12th, 2012
11:53 am
[...] Gus Malzahn & Heisman trophy winner Cam Newton. Consider these facts from Mark Bradley’s article in the Atlanta Journal Constitution: Counting two seasons at Iowa State, his career record is [...]
Cobb Dawg
October 12th, 2012
12:30 pm
Old Dawg, I couldn’t agree more. College football is no more. Basketball’s the same. Just minor leagues for the NFL and NBA to most players. They have no loyalty to their schools, don’t contribute after they leave. They’re hired guns and we sit in the stands and cheer for them, probably caring about the outcomes much more than they do. Cam Newton was paid. So are most of the other high-profile players. When wealthy men have a real interest in something, and it stokes their egos, they’ll throw money at it……..lots. It’s only getting worse. Kids from single-parent (moms of course) homes with horrible grades taking classroom seats away from actual scholars is sickening. I know student with 4.0 GPA’s who struggle to get into UGA while others with 2.5’s are welcomed with open arms because they can run fast, jump high, or stand 7 ft tall with a 3 ft wingspan and put a ball into a 10ft goal…..duh! I think most fans will get tired of the system before long and college athletics will be forced to be performed by real college student-athletes.
Atlanta AU Grad
October 12th, 2012
9:51 pm
Good job Mark in taking the attention off the REAL story in the Atlanta area. Richt loses ” another” big game! 10, 11, 12? years of same ole, same ole??? I would trade this year in a minute for the 2010 Championship run. Our trip to Glendale and pictures / memories will forever be there for many an AU fan / supporter. Something that UGA as long as Richt is there will NEVER have the opportunity to experience. And this year the Gator Chomp starts back…..
Give it a rest on Auburn. 33 players from 2010 were seniors /. left early for pros. Took a hard hit last year and this year but will be back in the top portion of SEC next year ans youngsters groow up and then on regular basis again in 2014+. My bet is that AU will win ANOHTER NC before UGA gets a a sniff of won….
War Eagle Every Day!
Defense wins Championships
October 12th, 2012
10:58 pm
Yes Chisik can be fired. He has a title with an asterisk. Auburn bought and paid for that trophy. Chisik cant win without buying it.
Scott85
October 13th, 2012
4:49 pm
All I can say is mike Shula. Things have a way of coming in cycles. One thing I am sure of is that, unlike bama fans, auburn fans will not throw a brick through chizik’s window. WDE
Zach Mettenburger
October 14th, 2012
12:22 am
Hey I just did what Aaron Murray has never done, beat a top ranked team and Beat South Carolina…. Miss me yet bulldog fans?