AuburnSports.com - Chizik speaks with ESPN

July 23, 2012

Jay G. Tate
AuburnSports.com Senior Writer

Coach Gene Chizik spent some time talking with ESPN's host Chris Fowler this morning in Bistol, Conn.

Here's a transcript of what he said:

Thoughts on how PSU coach Bill O'Brien progresses from here: "This is where your leadership skills are really going to be put to the test. It's crisis mode, there's no question about it. He's going to have to have a plan. He's going to have to sit down with his staff, which I'm sure he's already done today, and said: Ok, where are we going from here? He has to get in that team meeting and he's going to have to re-recruit his team to stay there. Then he'll have to go and re-recruit his recruits that he's been recruiting. This isn't going to be a plan for four years and five years down the road. This is going to have to be a plan that says: Hey, this is what it's going to look like tomorrow. This is what it's going to look like a week from now. They're going to have to have a good leadership plan."

Thoughts on the NCAA's sanctions: "We don't have all the facts. The NCAA and Mark Emmert - they do have all the facts. It's unprecedented action for a really unprecedented situation. There's going to be a lot of rhetoric and talk about the sanctions handed down - whether they were too little or too much. You know they did all their work, you know they did all their homework, they spent a lot of time evaluating all the information. We don't have that. That's one thing I learned going through what we went through is that there is a lot of outside opinion and a lot of things that look one way - but until you have all the information, you don't know."

Thoughts on Auburn's defense: "We're one year older. There's some valuable experience gain in our league, no doubt about it. Bringing in Brian and just kind of changing the mindset and the culture of defense at Auburn, he's done a fantastic job. His resume speaks for itself; he's very credible. He came from the NFL, where he did a great job with the Atlanta Falcons. His body of work tells his story. Our kids have bought into it whole-heartedly. Our kids are one year older. We whole-heartedly expect to play much better defense at Auburn this year."

Thoughts on Auburn's offense: "Conceptually, as the head coach at Auburn, I want to run the football. We've found different ways to do that over the years. That's kind of where Scot Loeffler came from. He came from Michigan. He played at Michigan. He was with Lloyd Carr. That was kind of their mindset back then. He's got a different flavor of different offenses in his experience. He was Tim Tebow's coach at Florida for a couple of years, so he's got a little bit of what we've done the previous three years in his background as well. We're going to take our players and we're going to say: Look, this is what we want to do. You also have to understand that you have to adapt to the players you have. We're going to do a little bit of everything, but we do have a very concise concept and a very tight-knit idea of what we really want to do."

Thoughts on the SEC West: "It's real simple -- the last four of five national champions have come from the SEC West, so that pretty much tells the story. Every week is a great challenge. That's what's great about the whole league, but particularly in the west. Every week, it's great players. Every week, it's great coaching. Every week, it's the passion and pageantry of the game. That's what makes the whole league great. We're just blessed to be able to play in it."