Chizik: I am blessed

AUBURN — The orange and blue diagonal striped tie over Gene Chizik’s white shirt was still crisp.
The jerseys and hats on his identical twin daughters, Landry Grace and Kennedy Danielle, and son, Cally, might as well have had the tags still on them.

And the orange top with navy blue pants worn by his wife, Jonna, was stylish enough to be on a display rack this holiday season.

On the surface, everything about Gene Chizik’s return to the Plains was fresh, a chance to move on from the Tommy Tuberville era.

In the back of Chizik’s head, though, Monday’s introduction to a bevy of media outlets, former players and highly vested alums has been in the works for years.

“I have been to a lot of different places and different venues, but not one matches the passion, energy, and the excitement of Auburn University and these people,” said Chizik, who has coached at seven different colleges over the past 21 years. “I am blessed because I am standing up here, four years after I left, at the best place I have ever been.”

Chizik spoke glowingly about Auburn during his 32-minute press conference Monday afternoon at the Auburn Athletic Complex. He also confidently and repeatedly defended athletic director Jay Jacobs’ highly debated decision to make him Auburn’s 26th head coach.

At the conclusion of his roughly 10-minute opening statement, Chizik looked at Jacobs and said “Jay, you have the right guy.”

“I don’t even know who else was in the mix,” Chizik said, “but I knew I was the best guy.”

Plenty of coaches were reportedly in the mix during Auburn’s 10-day coaching search. Chizik’s name did not emerge until Friday afternoon, when it was reported that Jacobs and his team of advisers met Thursday with Chizik in Fort Worth, Texas.

The process wasn’t going to come to an end without an interview with Chizik, Jacobs said. He was on the list, which Jacobs has for all of Auburn’s sports just in case, before Tuberville’s departure.

“We knew that there were certain candidates that we wanted to get to,” Jacobs said, “and he was one of them.”

The offer came to fruition Friday afternoon, when Jacobs, his team and Chizik met for a second time. Chizik was the only candidate to be interviewed twice, Jacobs said.

Chizik’s deal was finalized Saturday in Memphis with Chizik’s agent Jimmy Sexton, Jacobs, associate athletic directors Tim Jackson and Mark Richard and President Dr. Jay Gogue in attendance.

The terms of Chizik’s contract are still up in the air, Jacobs said, as Chizik has only agreed in principle. It promises, Jacobs said, to be highly incentive based with a base salary around $1.9 million per season for five years — making Chizik one of the lowest paid coaches in the SEC.

Not that it was a problem to Chizik. He was so excited to be back in Auburn that Jacobs had to instigate discussions regarding his yearly earnings.

“I’m already making more money than I thought I would make in my entire lifetime. That doesn’t mean anything to me,” Chizik said. “What was important to me was the job.”

Chizik, who spent three seasons as defensive coordinator at Auburn from 2002-2004, left for Texas, for the same position, following the Tigers’ undefeated 2004 season. Chizik’s goal was to become a head coach some day and Texas had a better track record than Auburn of making that happen for its assistants, Chizik said.

The desired result happened after the 2006 season, when Chizik took his first head coaching job, a complete rebuilding project at Iowa State.

Two years later, Chizik had no other choice but to abandon what he had just gotten started in Ames for what he described as his ideal “final destination.”

“If you go back four years right now, and I didn’t make that move, I don’t know, maybe I wouldn’t be standing here in front of you today,” Chizik said. “Would I do it again the exact same way? Yes, I would. Not because I wanted to leave Auburn, but ultimately, if you really look at it, it’s because I wanted to get back to Auburn.”