Alert: Failed Coaching Search Leads AU to Chizik

Ten days after Auburn decided to part ways with Tubs, we decide to hire...wait for it...wait for it...Gene Chizik!?!? Yes, I am perplexed too. Amidst my confusion of the new hire for the AU football coaching job, I tried to take a couple of different approaches to rationalize this hire. Here are my approaches at conclusions:

1. The Family Tree Approach - My first thought was that this was due to an AU Family bond. Being a coach from 2002-2004, gives Chizik a little street cred on Samford Ave. His old house is probably up for sale due to home foreclosure, and his old office probably still has the nail holes from his old pictures. It will be just like the old times. All comforting thoughts about the hire, but then I start to rationlize a little more, and pose this question...So AU you are telling me this guy is better than the following family members?...Muschamp, Fisher, Nix, Gardner, Dooley, hell even the Bobby "The Weasel" Petrino? I find it very hard to believe that list is inferior to Chizik. I firmly believe this was the only guy on the AU list that Bobby Lowder could get along with. Thanks for screwing things up again my friend.

2. The Numbers Approach - So let's give credit where credit is due...Chizik did have some dominating defenses at AU and UT during his tenure. He even had a two year streak where he won 26ish games in a row. (someone please check my math) In 2004 and 2005 you could cherry pick your defensive statistics and make a great argument that he directed the best defenses two years in a row. Now let's flip the coin and look at his Head Coaching experience. Again, Ames, IA is no Auburn, AL, but numbers generally don't lie. 5-19 over two years, 2-10 in 2008 with 0 wins over Big 12 opponents, of which none were named Texas/Texas Tech/Oklahoma. Both wins were over perennial powerhouses named South Dakota State and Kent State. If my math is correct, Tubs win total in 2008 (I believe 2nd worst record over 10 years) equalled Chizik's win total over two years. Let's put this in business terms...I have a salesman that sells 5,000 sweatbands this year. I tell him to hit the road b/c I don't like his production. I hire a search firm to hit up Monster and Career Builder to find me a new guy. I interview a couple of guys that sold 8,000 sweatbands this year, but I turn them down for the guy that sold 2,000 sweatbands this year, and only 5,000 over two years. I believe a pink slip would be coming to the person who did the hiring and firing.

In summary, I don't like the hire that AU made. It's not because I don't like Gene Chizik...I just don't like his numbers over the past couple of years. I know he has AU family connections, but take a look at the overall picture. In my mind, I think Chizik can win at Auburn. It might take 3 years, and we need to be patient. In my opinion the number one person that needs to go is Jay Jacobs. He couldn't manage a Burger King. He botched this from the start by not sticking his neck out and telling everyone that he fired Tubs. Face it Jacobs...your next and I hope that the President releases a statement saying you resigned instead of got fired. Oh and don't expect a buyout like the one that Tubs deserved...OUT!!!