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Auburn fires Gus Malzahn

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dcar00

dcar00 14210

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20 minutes ago, Aqua Buddha said:

Is Auburn really that good of a job?  I know they have facilities and a recruiting region and whatnot but it's been open multiple times and the best they've gotten are Chiz, Malzhan, and evidently Kevin Steele.  Those are awful and none of them would get a serious look at any other major program.

yet 2 of them played in an NCG more recently than we have.

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AUinHsv

AUinHsv 579

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AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   Kinda figured this would turn out badly.  However a couple of glass half full thoughts. The last 2 coaches Lowder pushed turned out pretty good until their last year or two. Bowden and Tubbs were very successful for a while. I was also thinking what Auburn really needs is two items and neither is head coach territory. First is a decent OC who can develop talent - There is a decent amount of offensive talent there. Second is a good recruiter to get talent ( legally - just to stop the automatic bagman replies). I know of a couple of very good ones that would come probably come back to Auburn if the situation was good. The head coach would have to figure this out. However I am stunned that Steele is thought that highly off - but I really liked his defense so there is that. On the other hand this is Auburn and we could mess up anything.

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J.R. Juniors Junior Jr.

J.R. Juniors Junior Jr. 1084

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3 hours ago, The Dog said:

Lowder?

 

Here's a good start on Lowder for those of you who don't know about this guy:

https://www.espn.com/college-football/news/story?id=2285976

Is this bad?  this sounds bad:

Quote

 

Just two years ago, Lowder's prints were on the infamous tarmac caper that nearly saw Tuberville canned in favor of Bobby Petrino. Then-president William Walker, Housel and two trustees -- Byron Franklin, a former Tiger receiver, and Earlon McWhorter -- flew on Lowder's corporate jet to secretly meet with the Louisville coach.

Not long after the failed coup, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS), the regional accrediting agency, placed the university on probation. The agency cited the micromanagement by Lowder and the board of trustees, saying Auburn failed to prove that the university president has "ultimate control over the athletics program" as well as failing to prove that the board isn't controlled by "a minority of board members."

 

 

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DFW Horn

DFW Horn 6124

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37 minutes ago, J.R. Juniors Junior Jr. said:

Forde-Yard Dash: Auburn's Coaching Search is Already Off to a Comical Start

https://www.si.com/college/2020/12/15/college-football-auburn-head-coach-search-comical-start?utm_source=reddit.com

 

I've always wondered why experienced D1 athletic directors hire executive search firms to assist with coaching hires. I guess it's to do thorough background checks and preliminary ground work, because shouldn't these ADs be able to come up with a short list on their own? Don't they network with coaches and their agents multiple times a year at conventions?

I just don't see the value here.

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J.R. Juniors Junior Jr.

J.R. Juniors Junior Jr. 1084

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12 hours ago, longhornmatt said:

“Lowder is arguably the most powerful person in the state of Alabama, let alone on the Auburn campus. According to published reports, Lowder is paid $1.8 million in salary and, as of Oct. 31, held more than 6 million shares of CNB stock, worth approximately $145 million. Rane, another Auburn trustee, has more than $2.4 million worth of the company's stock.”

Lowder is always who I think of when I ponder the absurdity of the SEC schools dominating college football over so much wealthier schools in bigger markets.   The most powerful BMD in the state of Alabama, and the most notorious mover and shaker in college football, was a dude whose net worth at his peak was  “only” around $145,000,000, and that was a massively inflated valuation before his shady fraud of a bank completely collapsed.   The other guy the article brags about as a big timer has $2,400,000.

The Deep South (sans Atlanta metro) is just such a different world from the states with oil and/or major metro areas.  Big money donors at Texas, USC, Michigan, A&M, Tech, and plenty of other programs that have sputtered along for years have billions (plural).  They could buy guys like Bobby Lowder at his cooking the books peak with their pocket change. But schools from Alabama, South Carolina and Louisiana nonetheless continue to dominate college football with guys like Lowder running the show.  It’s really kind of crazy.  

The big difference is that in the coastal areas and the upper Midwest, the true rich daddies can legitimately buy a sports team, like Steve Ballmer who bought the Clippers for $2 Billion bucks--which was roughly how much he earned between February and May of 2014, the year he bought the team!   Compared to the likes of the pro sports owners, the Auburn drama is basically some minor country bumpkin intrigue.

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Aqua Buddha

Aqua Buddha 14597

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There was a podcast last year from Bomani Jones about college football boosters.  Very most excellent.  It covers the booster culture at a number of schools and goes deep into Lowder and Auburn.  He makes the point that these boosters throw around $10M or $20M but for some of them, they're billionaires and that's pocket change.  But yes, the boosters at some of these schools are guys who own a car lot, small bank or something.  

It's called "The Right Time x Banner Society Collab: Sideline."  It was on November 26, 2019.  Highly recommend

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The Dog

The Dog 44056

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13 hours ago, longhornmatt said:

Lowder is always who I think of when I ponder the absurdity of the SEC schools dominating college football over so much wealthier schools in bigger markets.   The most powerful BMD in the state of Alabama, and the most notorious mover and shaker in college football, was a dude whose net worth at his peak was  “only” around $145,000,000, and that was a massively inflated valuation before his shady fraud of a bank completely collapsed.   The other guy the article brags about as a big timer has $2,400,000.

The other big booster is Jimmy Rane (yellawood dude) and he's worth $900 million. It was his private jet they used to try to get Petrino. He owned $2.4 million in Colonial stock at the time of the article. 

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Beau Vine

Beau Vine 54230

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16 hours ago, DFW Horn said:

I've always wondered why experienced D1 athletic directors hire executive search firms to assist with coaching hires. I guess it's to do thorough background checks and preliminary ground work, because shouldn't these ADs be able to come up with a short list on their own? Don't they network with coaches and their agents multiple times a year at conventions?

I just don't see the value here.

It's a way to avoid open records requests.

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ButtFumble

ButtFumble 5180

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16 hours ago, longhornmatt said:

“Lowder is arguably the most powerful person in the state of Alabama, let alone on the Auburn campus. According to published reports, Lowder is paid $1.8 million in salary and, as of Oct. 31, held more than 6 million shares of CNB stock, worth approximately $145 million. Rane, another Auburn trustee, has more than $2.4 million worth of the company's stock.”

Lowder is always who I think of when I ponder the absurdity of the SEC schools dominating college football over so much wealthier schools in bigger markets.   The most powerful BMD in the state of Alabama, and the most notorious mover and shaker in college football, was a dude whose net worth at his peak was  “only” around $145,000,000, and that was a massively inflated valuation before his shady fraud of a bank completely collapsed.   The other guy the article brags about as a big timer has $2,400,000.

The Deep South (sans Atlanta metro) is just such a different world from the states with oil and/or major metro areas.  Big money donors at Texas, USC, Michigan, A&M, Tech, and plenty of other programs that have sputtered along for years have billions (plural).  They could buy guys like Bobby Lowder at his cooking the books peak with their pocket change. But schools from Alabama, South Carolina and Louisiana nonetheless continue to dominate college football with guys like Lowder running the show.  It’s really kind of crazy.  

 

you are reading those numbers as if they are the only assets of those individuals

as someone already pointed out Rane owns Yellawood and is worth over $900 million they only mentioned his small holdings in the Colonial Bank to tie him closer to Lowder

 

and even with Lowder I doubt 100% of his net worth was tied up in the bank and the bank stock and I would bet even if he held on to his shares in the company as it went down he was using options to protect his net worth while the shares fell and only continuing to hold the shares to keep the voting control of the company and a place in any BK filing

even then there is a difference between having a more "liquid" net worth vs having a net worth that is highly tied to the value of a company and your holdings in that company that you cannot divest from because you need to hold those shares to hold control of the company

Elon Musk said in his court case when the diver rescue guy (rightfully) sued him for calling him a pedo that he was "cash poor" and that is because most all of his net worth is tied up in the stocks of his company and he is not selling much of any of those shares especially right now

and to be clear I am not saying that Tilly Fertie the Rockets owner and Landrys owner is personally going broke or hurting, but he has a tonne of his wealth tied up in his company and his company is not publicly traded thus he has no method to use options or anything else to protect his net worth when the shares fall because a global pandemic is crushing sit down restaurant sales, casino gambling, and pro sports

in the case of Tilly he did take a large amount of cash out of the company (and into his personal control) with the approval of his lenders just before all this hit, but he has put a chunk of that back into the company already and he needs the rest of it in case things go bad and he needs to buy back in to prevent a BK or after a BK to get a major or controlling share of the company back

I do not know if Lowder had a lot of free cash or what was tied to a single company holding, but a lot of wealthy people even today are "cash poor' as Muck stated he was (even though Musk was probably not nearly as cash poor as he was trying to claim) and it is not like Mush or others can just drop billions and billions all over the place because they need to hold those shares of the companys they run so they can retain control of those companies (and in the case of Musk manipulate the stock)

or another example would be Jerry......he can't just go dropping hundreds of millions on things all over the place because a lot of his 5 billion net worth is tied up in the value of The Cowboys....BUT Jerry has wisely leveraged a lot of that into other things like land development so he does have some free cash, but not a billion here and there he can drop on Arkansas tomorrow if he wanted to

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jdhorn92

jdhorn92 1550

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Posted (edited)
On 12/17/2020 at 1:12 PM, Aqua Buddha said:

Is Auburn really that good of a job?  I know they have facilities and a recruiting region and whatnot but it's been open multiple times and the best they've gotten are Chiz, Malzhan, and evidently Kevin Steele.  Those are awful and none of them would get a serious look at any other major program.

Its a good job, not a great job. They can draw from premium rich states like FL, GA, TX (to a degree), AL and MS.  Between those 4-5 states they can fill a roster of dudes and frisbie catching dogs .  Add in the fact that the road grader lineman come from the deep south and you can win big as Chizik, Tubs, Malzahan have done.  After Bama, LSU, FL and GA its next in line imo.  Lay over the obesity map of country and all the SEC states are represented, hence the huge DL and OL that come with the SEC poaching grounds. 

If they were in the current b12, it would easily be the 3rd best job.  Auburn is a quaint little college town a couple hours from ATL and close to Bham.  You can get to the beach (Panama City, 30A)fairly easily, makes it  decent draw for fans.  I went to the AU UGA game last year and had a blast, great tailgate scene.

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sheeeit

sheeeit 129

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I’d say Auburn is a top 20 job.  Maybe around 15 but obviously subjective.  I did a little checking and during GMs tenure the ranking of Alabama at the time of the game was 1,2,2,1,1,1,5,1. He did manage to win 3 times.  
My guess is Sark, Fickle or Napier.   
 

 

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ButtFumble

ButtFumble 5180

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I would say they might be a top 10 job or higher with the exception being the massive unrealistic expectations as far as being fired....but then other jobs come with that

I would say they are above all in the Big 10 other than tOSU

over all in the PAC 12 other than USC and USC comes with issues like being in the PAC 12 and the same issues with expectations coupled now with athletics administration instability and academic administration instability and a possible desire to throttle back on athletics focus with the admissions issues, budgets in the PAC 12 and the turnover in athletics and academic administration

I would say they are just below UT and OU because of the willingness of both to spend and the larger budgets

that leaves other SEC SEC SEC schools and so far Auburn has more recent hardware other than LSU and Alabama with Georgia having done nothing on decades other than under performing and FLA willing, but flailing around like UT for a while

then Clemson in the ACC and the rest are not even close and ND

Edited by ButtFumble
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DeadArmadillo

DeadArmadillo 907

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This is what I'm thinking.  It's a lot of money, plus pay a new coach plus potential buyout for that coach.  All the while they may hire a slight upgrade.  But it ain't my money, so don't care. 

Yessir

Unless Auburn has someone ready and willing to take over who is clearly better than Malzahn, it was a dumb move. $21 million is ALOT of dough unless your sure you’re going to improve your situation. Who the hell is out there that they’re sure is better?? Gus wasn’t horrible, was he? And Urban isn’t going to Auburn
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LTtxfan

LTtxfan 49194

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Auburn sets interviews, including 2 prominent OCs

By John Brice -    December 18, 2020

Auburn’s search for Gus Malzahn’s replacement appears destined to stretch at least through the weekend.

That’s because the school’s leadership, as well as its search committee and the firm it is using to aid in the search, Parker Executive Search, have scheduled interviews throughout the weekend.

In addition to in-house candidate Kevin Steele, multiple sources confirm to FootballScoop that Alabama offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian, Clemson offensive coordinator Tony Elliott and Louisiana head coach Billy Napier are slated to speak this weekend to Tigers’ officials.

Elliott is a new name among the mix of candidates for the Auburn job, vacant since the school’s decision to eat Malzahn’s $21.45 million buyout and begin anew last Sunday.  A former Clemson player and 2017 Broyles Award winner, Elliott’s long been considered a top coaching candidate who could have jumped to another opportunity in previous seasons. However, Elliott has been in the role of Clemson’s offensive coordinator – sharing the title from 2015-19 and outright since the onset of this season – for six consecutive years.

The No. 3 Tigers face No. 2 Notre Dame Saturday in the ACC Championship game in Charlotte, N.C. Elliott’s interview is set for Sunday.

Alabama’s replacement for Lane Kiffin as offensive coordinator, Sarkisian is a former head coach who’s engineering the greatest offensive this season in college football. Among teams with more than five games, Alabama leads the nation with its 49.5 point-per-game scoring average. Quarterback Mac Jones also has gone from Tua Tagovailoa’s backup to possible Heisman Trophy front-runner in less than a full season. Sarkisian also had measured success as head coach at both Southern Cal and Washington.

The Cajuns’ Napier has been among the hottest names in college football in each of the past two cycles. The former Furman University quarterback and Tennessee native interviewed earlier this month for the vacancy at South Carolina, before pulling out of consideration for that position. A year ago multiple Power-5 teams expressed interest in Napier, who this season guided Louisiana to a 9-1 regular season that included a win at Big 12 North Division champion Iowa State and a berth in what was scheduled to be Saturday’s SunBelt Conference championship.

That game was cancelled for COVID-19 reasons, which sources familiar with the contest said were linked to a single positive test among the Coastal Carolina defensive staff. The Cajuns and Chanticleers were declared co-champions, though Napier on social media asked for the contest to be rescheduled and still played at a later date.

Steele’s the in-house candidate who’s been the talk of SEC coaches this week in conversations with FootballScoop. Steele immediately went to work in trying to secure the Auburn job as Malzahn was being fired, lining up key support from both Auburn boosters and members of the Tigers’ search committee.

https://footballscoop.com/news/auburn-sets-interviews-including-2-prominent-ocs/

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MaybeACoordinator

MaybeACoordinator 8349

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On 12/18/2020 at 5:52 PM, Clintonaldo said:

Freeze is waiting on Tennessee  

 

1 hour ago, Bama Chick said:

Oh my goodness.

How have I never seen his basement??

3122f0ea3e43dd2836bd4a0323c0b0f5.jpg

I remember Mrs Malzahn came out guns blazing with some craziness but they seemed to muzzle her pretty quick, which was a bummer, because she was very entertaining. 

I'd take Auburn over Tennessee in a heartbeat. Tennessee doesn't produce that much talent, and most of what it does comes out of Memphis, which is closer to about 1/3 of the other schools in the conference than it is to Knoxville. Hell, Appalachia itself doesn't produce much of anything, and so Tennessee has to go fighting for the scraps left behind by GA, the Alabama schools, and now Mack too.

It's hard or me to figure out now how they were as good as they were for as long as they were, as they would seem to have been more in line to have been a basketball power like Kentucky or the Carolina schools, but they seemed to have left that to the women there. I grew up dividing time between Nashville and Houston and another thing that's odd is that Tennessee doesn't seem to have any more alumni, as opposed to t-shirt fans, in Nashville than there are alums of Bama, Auburn, UK, or Ole Miss. Almost none of my friends were Vol fans...It's nothing like Texas where it's almost all us, ags, the other Texas schools and just some LSU bleeding in around Houston and gooners in DFW. It's like that all over Tennessee, and with several more schools. 

As for Alabama, it's all the big two for the most part. 

For college football purposes, they fucked up when they laid Tennessee out all long and skinny like they did and then stuck the big state school way off in one corner...I've often thought there might be a groundswell to move the whole school somewhere near Memphis just to improve their football program but that idea is a little extreme even for SECSECSEC country. 

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