Hi, friends.
Well we're back here again — just a few short hours since the last time we spoke. Some new things have occurred, some older things have come to light and the thorny relationship between Gus Malzahn and Auburn's administration has become downright frosty.
So in other words: It's another offseason at Auburn.
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The news this afternoon was former Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops rather emphatically denying the notion that he's spoken with anyone from Auburn. He also said he's not "set to talk to anybody" from Auburn.
You may read the entire quote below:
Of note here is ... nothing. I've been chronicling coaches' words for most of my adult life and very little of what they say is provably true or false. I don't know Stoops personally. I have no reason to believe he's a liar, though I'm relatively sure he's spoken with someone connected with Auburn — even if the basis of that visit wasn't a job at Auburn or the team or even football in a general sense. There's always plausible deniability.
You know what? I'm not even sure Stoops matters right now. Why not? Because the people who want Gus Malzahn fired yesterday and the day before and the week before and the month before are moving to Plan C.
Plan A was to remove university president Steven Leath and have his successor fire Malzahn.
Plan B was to strike a deal with Leath, who is fighting his own battle for his own job, to ensure his safety in exchange for a promise to fire Malzahn. Now we're in the midst of a third approach — this one designed to make the head coach so uncomfortable that he becomes willing to negotiate a departure.
Enter Stoops. His name being dropped as a possible successor to Malzahn creates frenzy in the anti-Malzahn corners of the Auburn sphere and creates a tantalizing possibility for people who remain on the fence about Malzahn. Can Auburn really land Big Game Bob? Some important figures believe it's entirely possible and they're letting Leath and athletic director Allen Greene know.
(One interesting side note is that the Stoops quotes linked above were gathered by a reporter named George Schroeder, who is perhaps the only reporter on Earth whom Malzahn at least vaguely trusts.)
Malzahn has been told that the football facility unofficially green-lighted earlier this year, reportedly kicked off by a $2 million donation from Malzahn and his wife, Kristi, may be on hold. He's been told that offseason coaching changes must earn prior approval. Malzahn's power is receding. His autonomy is dwindling. Is this simply a function of Auburn covering its bases in the face of a difficult 7-5 season? Or has Plan C actually taken hold?
Some view this all as an extreme over-reaction. Auburn rewarded Malzahn almost exactly one year ago with a seven-year contract worth $49 million that included remarkable buyout protection. If fired today, Malzahn would be owed $16 million within one month and would receive $4 million per year for the next four years. Jimmy Sexton didn't become the biggest and best college agent by accident, you know.
Yet this relationship never was ideal. Auburn is known for its aw-shucks persona, a place where family always comes first, and Malzahn often comes across as a joyless bookworm who wants nothing more than to be left alone sketching plays on a blackboard. He doesn't connect well with people. He doesn't 'get' people. That lack of congeniality either directly or indirectly prevented him from ever establishing meaningful relationships with people beyond the athletic complex. Malzahn's entire value to Auburn was concentrated in his ability to win football games. And when the team goes 7-5 with bad losses to Georgia and Alabama, well, there's no goodwill to brace the fall. Things get ugly in a hurry.
Which is to say that at least some of this latest hubbub could have been avoided. Malzahn could have found value in getting to know people, giving certain people access to his world and his ear, but that never felt right to him. So he never did much of that. That made people who should have felt like insiders instead feel like outsiders. Nobody learned to trust him.
Of course, Malzahn has trust issues of his own. He even jokes about it when the mood strikes him during the offseason. Remember when Nick Saban recruited Bret Bielema to carry his water during The Great Player Safety Scare of 2014? Alabama had ascended to the forefront of college football with a more traditional, run-heavy system and was being challenged by these new-fangled, space-seeking offenses. What did Saban do? He hired offensive assistants who updated the Crimson Tide's offense and now look at them. They're one of the most dynamic offenses in college ball these days and their quarterback, Tua Tagovailoa, is considered a shoo-in for the Heisman Trophy.
Adaptation is a key to football life.
Malzahn hasn't adapted. Auburn's attack regressed at an alarming rate this fall. Insiders insist that offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey regularly was being ignored because Malzahn considered his own ideas superior. There's nothing wrong with the boss making decisions. Nobody respects a passive leader. Still, the Tigers' offense was in a state of malfunction and nobody at Auburn — possibly nobody anywhere — had the ability to change Malzahn's mind about his own strategic failures. Yes, a circle of trust can get too small.
It's becoming clear that Malzahn's time at Auburn, regardless of how long it lasts, will be acrimonious. This feels just like 2003. That's when Auburn officials flew to Louisville to meet with Bobby Petrino regarding the Auburn job when Tommy Tuberville still was employed by Auburn. The university is a bit wiser these days, the envoys far less official, yet the whole relationship reeks of treachery and duplicity just as it did 15 years ago.
Malzahn will want to fight this fight. His determination isn't rooted in pugnacity. Malzahn genuinely believes the Tigers' problems can be solved in short order and this miserable season can be expunged, so to speak, with a big season in 2019.
Can this relationship be saved? That's the intriguing thing. I don't see how it'll ever be anything more than simmering resentment from Malzahn's perspective, but Malzahn probably isn't the right person to judge that for reasons discussed earlier. That's where Sexton is so valuable. He's making his own judgments about Malzahn's viability at Auburn. He'd probably be wise to search for possible landing spots for his client — somewhere that will appreciate Malzahn a bit more, a school that won't be affected by his social quirks, a place where Malzahn can find peace and a steady paycheck while Auburn (once again) pays a deposed head coach wheelbarrows of money to leave campus for good.
If that program exists and finds itself pining for a new coach, well, this story may have a happy ending after all. If the massive buyout clause keeps this marriage together into 2019, this may be a grind that ultimately leaves everyone exhausted and mostly dissatisfied.
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