AUBURN -- The key to any program's breakthrough success, anything from Pop Warner ball through the Super Bowl, begins and ends with unity.

Players, coaches and organizational people must have a similar vision. Exactly the same vision is preferred, of course, but simply pushing the same way toward the same goal generally is the threshold. Anything short of that creates friction, which impede progress and wrecks plans from the inside out.

Now we come to Day Eight of the Tigers' search for a new football coach. Resistance abounds - and the job hasn't yet been offered.

That's bad news for Auburn. Harmony seems like a pipe dream at this point.

Bobby Petrino, widely considered one of the nation's top coaches prior to an ill-conceived motorcycle ride earlier this year, hasn't yet been contacted for an official interview. Sure, Auburn reached out to him two weeks ago with the promise of a more meaningful chat in the immediate future.

That promise satisfied both Petrino and his determined bloc of supporters who inhabit all corners of the Auburn world. It's fair to say that his supporters easily outnumber and outspend those of any other candidate. They haven't been quiet about discussing either superlative.

Jay Jacobs, Mac Crawford, Pat Sullivan and Bo Jackson are in a remarkably difficult situation right now. Watching the Southeastern Conference championship game, which included two outstanding programs and didn't include several more on approximately the same level, provided a stark reminder of just how far Auburn has fallen behind the league's top half.

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