Auburn hire a mystery; patience will be key

Somebody please wake me up. Surely this isn’t real.

But wait, I saw the shocking crawl across the television screen Saturday afternoon announcing Gene Chizik had been hired as Auburn’s new football coach. Then lo and behold, Monday afternoon there was a press conference confirming it. Wow, so that’s what it’s like to experience one of those out-of-life ordeals people sometimes relate.

Auburn, as at times only Auburn can do, left the college football world speechless as it made perhaps the most bizarre hire in amateur sports history. Chizik comes on board riding a 10-game losing streak at Iowa State, fresh off a 2-10 campaign that followed up his initial 3-9 season in Ames. If you’re scoring at home, that’s a combined 5-19. Mercifully, this year’s 0-8 showing in Big 12 play didn’t include thrashings at the hands of Texas, Texas Tech and Oklahoma because the
Cyclones didn’t play them.

Obviously, Chizik got this job based on his reputation and track record as a defensive coordinator. It was his unit that led the nation in scoring defense while Auburn was going 13-0 in 2004. But right after that magical run, it was also Chizik who bolted for Texas because he said “it’s easier to get a head coaching job” there and because “you can win a national championship at Texas.”

Apparently, Jay Jacobs and Company have short memories. But, this is Jacobs’ baby, and basically, his alone.

And it remains to be seen how patient the Auburn family will be with this regime. In fairness to Chizik and his yet-to-be-named staff, Tommy Tuberville didn’t exactly leave him with a horde of talented play-makers, especially on the offensive side of the ball. A schedule in 2009 that features games with vastly-improved Louisiana Tech, West Virginia, a 12-1 Ball State outfit plus conference wars at Tennessee, Arkansas, LSU, Georgia and a home game with Alabama is a potential murderer’s row.

Hopefully, wise minds will realize the state of things currently, a plight that one insider suggested “can’t be fixed in a week or a year or maybe even two years.” If it does indeed take that long, can you imagine the pressure that will have mounted?

Frankly, I agree with yet another Auburn shaker who admitted the painful truth in the aftermath of the Chizik hire. If the school had carried out its plan to fire Tuberville in 2003, the Tigers wouldn’t be in this situation. They’d be five years down the road, likely stable, likely winning. For certain, the Auburn people wouldn’t be split like never before.

But as former coach Pat Dye — who reportedly enthusiastically endorsed Chizik for the post — once told me, Auburn was born out of controversy and it will always be a constant. At the moment, he couldn’t possibly have been more right.

Phil Paramore’s column appears Tuesday and Saturday in the Dothan Eagle. He can be heard weekday mornings from 7-9 on AM 560 WOOF. He can be reached at http://www.woofradio.com.