Auburn & Tenn

[dreammachine]

Looking at traditional power schools like Auburn and Tenn, how can they go so quickly from being a National Champion or Powerhouse to being what they have become now. I know the slide at Tenn began with Phil Fulmer but even Phil had good teams at the end of his tenure. Auburn went from the penthouse to the outhouse in two years. What happens to the winning tradition at these schools and could this happen as quickly at South Carolina or is our program being built upon a rock hard foundation with what Coach Spurrier has put into place?

[CockyCyclone]

You get coaches like Chizik and Kiffen/Dooley and yeah it can happen anywhere

[sc455]

tennesee has well documented problems that have zero to do with coaching.

auburn has saban too fight. chizik was also a bad hire. he just isnt that savvy.

[MWard]

Auburn and Tennessee...BURN BABY BURN!!!!

[uscsandstorm85]

Auburn never had anything to begin with. They won the NC by riding squarely on the shoulders of Cam Newton. Take him away and nobody would care about their problems right now.

[DawginCola]

Auburn got screwed in '04, but their downward trend correlates directly to Saban's arrival in Tuscaloosa. Tuberville seemingly gave up recruiting in-state once Saban showed up; Chiz caught lighting in a bottle with Cam, but in reality his staff was horrible at developing talent. Auburn will rebound because they can still grab a few quality players to go along with a good recruiting base in Georgia and Florida. Tennessee has a much harder road back to prominence.

[CockOla]

Originally Posted by MWard

Auburn and Tennessee...BURN BABY BURN!!!!

+1

[Acockolypse Now]

Don't count on those programs being down forever. Remember, 'Bama was pretty bad right up to Saban coming in.

Things go in cycles. We're as high as we've ever been, how we handle the transition after Spurrier is critical.

[CockOla]

Did SOS announce that he's retiring?

[DiamondGamecock]

Originally Posted by CockOla

Did SOS announce that he;s retiring?

No, he is actually going to stick around until 2017. Although it is never official and he could retire at any given moment, it is a good sign he is extending his contract until then.

[RD1]

could this happen as quickly at South Carolina or is our program being built upon a rock hard foundation with what Coach Spurrier has put into place?

It can happen anywhere, and anything can be wrecked, but I believe the rock hard foundation is in place here. The combination of talent, depth, assistant coaches/player development, recruiting the right kind of kids, and the often overlooked player attitude/integrity (ties back to recruiting the right kind of kids) makes the foundation that SOS has built a pretty solid one.

[dreammachine]

Coach Turbeville would have been a great hire at Tenn if he had waited before he took the Texas Tech job. I don't know if he grew tired of fighting the Administration at Auburn or he just got tired of being there????? Of course the hiring of Nick Saban could have had a lot to do with it also???

Who would have ever thought Tenn would have to go through four coaches before they could get someone to take the job? I hear that the True Tenn Fans are not happy about this hire? Maybe this new coach will take them back to being a force to contend with, but will the Vol Nation wait on him long enough to make this happen?

I believe that Auburn will get back to having a good team quicker than Tenn due to where they can recruit from. Tenn has to recruit on a national basis and in the past they could do this. I don't see this happening for a long time now and high school football in Tenn does not produce enough Div 1 Players to keep Tenn at the top of the SEC East Division.

[cockymac]

Tennessee started going down as soon as Rodney Gardner went to Georgia. As previous posters said, Tenn has to recruit nationally. Gardner did that as their recruiting coordinator. He is the best recruiter out there, bar none. When he left, Tenn couldn't pull in the guys that they used to. I can't understand for the life of me why Gardner doesn't get a head coaching gig somewhere. He must be a horrible x and o coach.

[Jleo]

Originally Posted by cockymac

Tennessee started going down as soon as Rodney Gardner went to Georgia. As previous posters said, Tenn has to recruit nationally. Gardner did that as their recruiting coordinator. He is the best recruiter out there, bar none. When he left, Tenn couldn't pull in the guys that they used to. I can't understand for the life of me why Gardner doesn't get a head coaching gig somewhere. He must be a horrible x and o coach.

He was at UT from 96-97. I don't think that explains it.

Fulmer won the SEC east the year before he was fired and won 10 games. I think the problem was the fans, alum, etc got greedy and didn't recognize that the SEC east was getting stronger all around. Firing Fulmer created a landslide of instability furthered by bad hires.

UT won't win next season either. If they give this new guy a chance to build something, they might start winning again.

[MBGCock]

Originally Posted by Acockolypse Now

Don't count on those programs being down forever. Remember, 'Bama was pretty bad right up to Saban coming in.

Things go in cycles. We're as high as we've ever been, how we handle the transition after Spurrier is critical.

could not agree anymore.

[GamecockInHell]

I really think auburn looked at Bama and made a committment to do whatever it took to win. Why else would they hire a coach that was 2-10 at his former school? They bought a championship and now those guys are gone. The ncaa and Bama are watching them pretty close now so they pretty much have to play it straight which did not work out so well with a coaching genius like Chizik there. I really don't think Malzahn will have much success there either unless he lucks into another Scam Newton.
UTs problem will probably come down to recruiting problems. I can remember someone saying the year they won the championship that they had several players from SC on the team as well as from other states. In the past few years they are not getting those out-of -state players and now Franklin is even getting what good in-state players there are. And to be honest, I always wondered how it was that Phat Phil got all those Southern California players to come to UT.

[Barry_gamecock]

Auburn will be fine with Malzahn back. He was the real brains of the team. Their skid this year is from him leaving. Think Clemson before Chad Morris. Not pretty.

[Legalman72]

And us being up is NOT helping TN. They now have a loss when they play us that used to be a win, and they no longer come here and get 2-3 primo recruits per year. Between us and Bama, and their bad hires, they've taken a tumble.

[dreammachine]

I agree with Jleo about what he said about Tenn! Made some great pointers about what happen there during Phil's last year.

[go garnet]

Auburn is getting ready to get better. Their coaching hire and DC hire are very good. Scary even. I think Tennessee had a couple of guys turn them down and paniced and made a mistake in their hire. We'll see...