montgomeryadvertiser.com | Montgomery Advertiser | Montgomery news, community, entertainment, yellow pages and classifieds. Serving Montgomery, AL

12.07.2008

Coaching reset

We're up to Day Four of Auburn's "search" for a new football coach. Let's reset what has happened so far (with newest developments first):

12/8: Fisher will be in town speaking to the Montgomery Quarterback Club.
12/6: Georgia Tech athletic director Dan Radakovich (a candidate for Auburn's AD job in 2004) reveals plans to meet with Tech coach Paul Johnson's representatives in the coming days. The plan: Sweeten Johnson's deal after his name was discussed in connection with Auburn's vacancy.
12/6: FSU offensive coordinator Jimbo Fisher provides a lukewarm denial of interest in Auburn, saying: "Auburn has not contacted me or my agent and we have not contacted them," Fisher told ESPN.com. "I'm very happy at Florida State. I'm very content at Florida State and I'm happy to be here."
12/5: FSU president T.K. Wetherell says any school aiming to hire offensive coordinator Jimbo Fisher better be ready to pay the coach's $5 million buyout. Fisher's agent: Jimmy Sexton
12/5: Auburn requests formal permission to interview U. Buffalo coach Turner Gill.
12/5: Ole Miss coach Houston Nutt negotiates an $800,000 raise; not going to AU. Nutt's agent: Jimmy Sexton
12/3: Tommy Tuberville resigns. Tuberville's agent: Jimmy Sexton.

UNRELATED UPDATE (@6:30 p.m.): Since it's Coaching Search Time, I'm keeping a closer eye on the Auburn planes. Don Dunn flew over to Greenville, Miss., today to meet with tailback LaDarius Perkins. No word if Turner Gill was involved.

SECOND UNRELATED UPDATE (@8:45 p.m.): Hugh Nall, the Tigers' former offensive line coach, officially is out of football. He has accepted a job as COO of Southern AG Carriers out of Albany, Ga. We wish him a HOT future.

497 Comments:

FSJ said...: Let's go for 500; 11:41 AM
FSJ said...: Garner/Nix: Surely those are courtesy interviews only.; 11:42 AM
Matt W said...: I like Garner and Nix...but not as head football coach.

Hopefully, this is just part of the smokescreen.; 11:44 AM
Denny Crum said...: I think these are all 'practice' interviews for Jay Jacobs. This is the first time he has had to interview a head coach candidate with the exception of the swim coach.; 11:45 AM
Seanzie said...: Gardner I could see. Defense guy, great recruiter plus Assistant Head Coach, not bad. Nix is an average, at best, offensive coordinator. Surely that's a courtesy interview.; 11:46 AM
Seanzie said...: Garner, sorry.; 11:46 AM
Seanzie said...: That smokescreen is getting to be suffocating. Hopefully they will hire a guy before we all die of smoke inhalation.; 11:49 AM
Scott M. Brannan said...: "Smmoooookkkke on the water"; 11:49 AM
FSJ said...: I did not inhale.; 11:51 AM
KJtiger said...: I think they are working on the mosquito population. Lots and lots of smoke.; 11:52 AM
Seanzie said...: I guess Jay Jay doesn't want that West Nile.; 11:52 AM
Seanzie said...: I'm anticipating a Jay G update within the hour.; 11:55 AM
Eddie McCoy said...: I would say with Muschamp out of the picture, Turner Gill would be the leading candidate. Just my opinion there. I would be excited...despite what FSJ thinks ;).; 11:56 AM
Denny Crum said...: Funny how last year we were all just thinking, at least me and all my Auburn buddies, that if we just tweaked things here and added a few things there, then we were going to be better and challenge for an SEC championship.

THEN,,,faster than a Kodi Burns fade can be incomplete, we are in an abyss.

My point is that as bad as things seem now, they seemed pretty darn good on Jan 1, 2008. Things in college athletics can change that quick, both good and bad.; 11:57 AM
FSJ said...: Eddie did inhale the smoke.. :-); 11:58 AM
Seanzie said...: Eddie, obviously, I'm with you.; 11:58 AM
Denny Crum said...: I find it amusing to go to ITAT and rivals and read some of the people that post.. They hang on every rumor like it is the gospel. It is kind of weird. All message boards for every school are that way, some are worse than others. I understand now why we have an electoral college system and a representative republican form of government rather than a pure democracy.; 12:01 PM
Mark said...: Pat Nix as head coach. That would be interesting - NOT!!!!!

What about Rodney Garner. He could sure recruit. Can't coach. but he can recruit.

Brady Hoke. Horrible, Horrible record until this year. Let's say Mike Cavan all over again.; 12:01 PM
Seanzie said...: Pat Nix = Mike Shula hire for Auburn.; 12:02 PM
Eddie McCoy said...: FSJ- I don't think TBTB could find a smoke bomb, even if it was right in front of them. This search so far as been a joke. I don't bye any smoke in this situation. I think they threw a stink bomb instead.; 12:02 PM
Aubie said...: JJ also has interviews lined up with Carlo Cheatham, Phil Gargis, and Ken Alvis.; 12:02 PM
Scott M. Brannan said...: i can't get Deep Purple out of my head.

i admit, i inhaled.; 12:05 PM
Denny Crum said...: I hear when Jay J rolls back into town, he is coming over to Montgomery to get Doug Barfield's advice on the next head coach.; 12:06 PM
Aubie said...: Hey Mr. Nall, truck number 73 keeps running stop signs!; 12:06 PM
WarEagleRK said...: Ken Alvis would bring in Dell McGee, Brian Robinson, Fred Smith & Chris Shelling as his defensive staff.; 12:09 PM
Denny Crum said...: Mr. Nall says that he sticks with the starters, especially the ones that are highly touted coming out of Big Rig school. Mr. Nall says he doesn't care how many times Leon Hart doesn't show up for work or King Dunlap gets lost.; 12:13 PM
FSJ said...: Eddie:

Do you know Pat Nix? If so I would be interested in your thoughts on him?

He went to Etowah High up this way. I went to a rival high school (Emma Sansom) and knew him somewhat.; 12:13 PM
James in Auburn said...: If interviewing Turner Gill is a smokescreen, then interviewing Garner and Nix is akin to throwing a turd on the fire and stinking the place up.

Don't get me wrong here - I like both of these guys, as potential assistant coaches. NOT for the head job.

What happened to "money is no object" JJ?

This HAS to be misdirection of JJ's part, otherwise I think a lot of the Auburn family is going to start to feel sick our collective stomachs.; 12:17 PM
ADP said...: What I think might be going on ...

Gill - HC
Garner - DC
Nix - OC
Willis - Assistant DC; 12:17 PM
Scott M. Brannan said...: is that from your dream the other nite Phreddie?; 12:18 PM
Eddie McCoy said...: FSJ- I've only met Pat Nix in passing. His last year was 95 and my first was 96, so I didn't know him while I was there. I do know that teammates and other personnel spoke very highly of the type guy he was. I believe he was a huge FCA guy. That is my 2 cents.; 12:20 PM
ADP said...: No, that's from reading who we are interviewing and the order we are interviewing them.

I wear both of my shirts at the same time. Awesome. Thanks bro!; 12:20 PM
Scott M. Brannan said...: if he is interviewing Garner and Nix, it could be as simple as Jacobs getting ready for the coaching search after this one. consider it forward-thinking.; 12:20 PM
WarEagleRK said...: Phred, I hope you are wrong.

Rodney is a great recruiter, but there is a reason he's never been more than a position coach.

Nix is a very average OC at best.; 12:21 PM
Denny Crum said...: Phred,

DO you think they would hamstring a head coach by picking his staff for him. I just don't think that is likely, unless that it is the ultimate in insider control of the football team.; 12:21 PM
Eddie McCoy said...: Phreddie- I hope Garner is not the DC. He is strictly an assistant coach. As far as Nix being the OC, highly unlikely with Gill being defacto OC.; 12:21 PM
ADP said...: Pure speculation and completely unfounded. Just thinking out loud.

I just found the names interesting. Like some sort of family reunion. Just food for thought.; 12:23 PM
Monica said...: Eddie - You getting RT online?; 12:24 PM
Eddie McCoy said...: Denny- The main reason Jimbo Fisher is so high from within is because he has agreed to having Willis, Gardner and Searles on his staff. I think if Gill is hired, he will be strongly suggested into hiring these coaches.; 12:24 PM
Eddie McCoy said...: Yepp, sure am Mon.; 12:24 PM
barkley for governor said...: Monica, I can't pick up the roundtable online.; 12:26 PM
ADP said...: Or maybe not DC and OC, but just "hey, we want you on this staff. How about you come on back home. We are hiring Gil and he wants you."; 12:26 PM
Romberry said...: SFC, you're a funny dude. I didn't "trash" Hugh Nall. I simply said that he wasn't a very good offensive line coach and that I am glad he's gone. I stand by that.

JGT, I noted your response ("Nall is an excellent coach") to my post about Hugh Nall. I certainly appreciate your opinion, though not sure what it's based on. I base my opinion on the performance of his lines in his tenure at AU, especially on their ability to get QB's beat up and to run block with "success" only when there is a world beater at the running back position who can slip tackles in the backfield, and also on the informed opinions of other coaches who aren't afraid to speak the truth about what it is they see on the field. (Same coaches also don't have much good to say about the results of Yoxercise. Looking forward to a new S&C coach on the Plains in a big way.)

Nall may be a wonderful guy and his career as a player opening holes at UGA speaks for itself, but we'll just have to disagree on the "Nall is an excellent coach" thing. I wish him luck in his future endeavors.; 12:26 PM
ADP said...: What are they talking about on the RT?; 12:28 PM
Eddie McCoy said...: Alabama and a little of the Auburn coaching search.; 12:28 PM
Wakeriderof87 said...: If I'm not mistaken, Gill runs his own offense, doesn't have a OC, so that would seem to rule out the Gill as coach, Nix as OC talk.

I really don't see bringing in Nix as OC, much less HC, he hasn't been terrible as a coordinator, but He hasn't seemed to do anything to impressive.; 12:37 PM
Monica said...: I love you, Josh Moon.; 12:41 PM
Monica said...: Barkely, When I loaded it in IE and not Firefox, it worked.; 12:42 PM
barkley for governor said...: Neither seems to work for me, don't know what's up with it.; 12:43 PM
barkley for governor said...: Nevermind, it just started working.; 12:46 PM
Seanzie said...: Someone want to be my hero of the day and throw up some RT summations? The man blocks streaming media of just about any kind.; 12:48 PM
Eddie McCoy said...: The last guy talking Charlie Strong over Turner Gill was just insane. Doug nailed it about the elephant in the room comment.; 12:48 PM
Seanzie said...: All anyone needs to do is get on YouTube and search Turner Gill. Then you watch his old Nebraska teams and think wow why can't Auburn do this?; 12:49 PM
Will said...: I have to agree w/ Roman about Coach Yox. I admit for a few yrs there I was sipping the Kool Aid and hearing the players talk about how tough Yox's workouts were/ are. But how many players have been out or missed time due to little nagging injuries? I understand that this is going to happen from time to time at every school, but it seems like we have had MORE than our fair share each yr on both sides of the ball. Name three guys on defense who didn't miss time this year?

Then take a look at the AU guys who go on to the next level.(Caddy, Ronnie Brown, J Camp, K Irons, Rudi, Marc McNeill, Dansby, Carlos Rogers) All of these guys have been banged up or severely injured in the NFL (I realize that a few of these injuries were horrible and would have sidelined any NFL player). Is it just a coinky-dink that we have this many guys get banged up year after year? If it's not a coincidence, then I would think some of the blame has to fall on the strength and conditioning coach.

DISCLAIMER: I understand this is a violent game, but it just seems like our players have fallen victim to injury (either minor or severe) than our opponents.; 12:53 PM
Seanzie said...: Injuries happen and it's part of the game. People tend to notice injury a lot less when you're winning and that has a lot to do with it. Case and point, 2004-2006, we had barely any severe injuries. 2008 was a year where we started thin and ended with a skeleton crew. Sometimes it just happens.; 12:55 PM
Will said...: Good point Sean.; 12:57 PM
Denny Crum said...: We also tend to notice our own injuries and not other teams. I think the defensive injuries this year were related to the D having to play more snaps than before. Not only more snaps, but it seemed that everytime the D went on the field it was CRUCIAL. It seems that all teams go through the injury bug, luck and situation have the most to do with it. UK went through it in 05. They had 33 surgeries.; 1:01 PM
Seanzie said...: UGA also has a case for injury bug this year. Their offensive line and defense suffered greatly because of those injuries.; 1:08 PM
Denny Crum said...: exactly; 1:17 PM
Chris in Inverness said...: You know I heard U. Myeres comment after the SECCG that UF had SIX ACL's this year.

SIX?

Damn, how many fooball players do they have?; 1:17 PM
Unknown said...: Jay, do you think Gill is really the prime candidate, or do you think they are chasing a big name or two that won't be made public unless an agreement is reached?; 1:23 PM
Unknown said...: Injuries tend to show up when players are playing tired. This is where a lot of luck comes in because it is the positions with lack of depth that tend to get the injuries.; 1:26 PM
Unknown said...: Another pointer on the injuries. If you look at where the most injuries have been, it has been on the defense. The offense discovered a secret to reducing injuries. Just don't stay on the field that long.; 1:28 PM
Chris in Inverness said...: Interviewing R. Garner makes me very happy.

I imagine it was more to guage his interests in coming back as a DC & recruiting master!

War Damn Rodney Garner!; 1:30 PM
Unknown said...: Getting Rodney Garner back to the plains would be huge. He is one of the prime examples why Terry Bowden should be left to writing articles.; 1:34 PM
WarEagleRK said...: I'm all for Garner being back at Auburn, but not so sure as the DC, unless we hire Boom or someone defensive minded who would be running the show on D and Garner is just the DC in name only.; 1:36 PM
WarEagleRK said...: Did someone BANHAMMER Jay G?; 1:39 PM
Chris in Inverness said...: As fasr as DC - that maybe be the only way to get him. Honestly, would it not be an insult ot just assume he'd come back without some type of promotion?

And what says he can't be a good DC? He played and coached under one of the best in Wayne Hall.

Not a be all end all but I think he's earned a shot - jmo.

Anyone know if Stacy Searles' comments about going to AU as his only mistake? (he's from Ga.) and if he'd entertain coming back as OL coach?; 1:40 PM
WarEagleRK said...: Garner might be a good DC, but I know the knock against him at Auburn, Tennessee & UGA has been as good of a recruiter as he has been, he's been below average on the X's & O's as a coach.

That's why he's always been at the level that he's at despite how great he is at recruiting.; 1:43 PM
Unknown said...: I still have hope that Rhoads will remain as DC. It will be hard to replace someone like him.; 1:44 PM
mytommyd said...: I was starting to feel better then realized how bad our season was with Tar's last note; 1:45 PM
Seanzie said...: Getting ever so close to 500...will Jay G let it get there?; 1:45 PM
WarEagleRK said...: I don't think Rhodes was that great this year as DC. He was ok, but not great.

He beat up on some cupcakes early, but he couldn't make up for the lack of depth by disguising his D like other coaches would do.; 1:45 PM
Seanzie said...: RK, I agree with you. I felt like our players played "better" than they did with Muschamp but the variety and schemeing wasn't there to go along with it. So for this year it was kind of like pick your poison? Although we only gave up 30+ twice and no one hit forty.; 1:49 PM
Scott M. Brannan said...: that's funny RK. Mon, did you just go BANHAMMER crazy and get Jay G? bad girl.; 1:50 PM
Seanzie said...: Hopefully Jay G wasn't running with the Banhammer, I've heard that can lead to disasterous consequences.; 1:52 PM
wartiger said...: Hey Hotties..jsut making my contribution to the shoot for 500 mark..where you at Jay?; 1:54 PM
Monica said...: Scottie - Please address all questions to Jimmy Sexton. :); 1:55 PM
Seanzie said...: Putting out an APB for Jay G...; 1:56 PM
Scott M. Brannan said...: don't be fooled by Jay G. as Superman said in Superman Returns, "I'm always around."; 1:58 PM
Seanzie said...: I think Jay G is out getting us a story while Goldberg and Co. hang out in the hotel lobby sipping $7 coffee.; 1:59 PM
FSJ said...: Y'all take it easy on Jay...He's probably still spending quality time at home.; 1:59 PM
Scott M. Brannan said...: $7 COFFEE? i want a venti Sumatra with half & half and 2 equals. do you deliver?; 2:00 PM
wartiger said...: I guess there is no news of any relevance to speak of if our fearless leader hasn't added anything new..what a disappointment.I really would like for this coaching search to wrap up..new list from wartiger..
Cowher
Fisher
Gill...or mayber I already had it that way. Any spurrier talk out there?; 2:00 PM
Unknown said...: I may be getting a bit nuts, but I think Garner as a head coach would be intriguing. If I remember correctly, he recognized the correspondence between Terry Bowden's height and IQ. He knew when to move on.; 2:01 PM
Unknown said...: What is Gene Stallings doing these days? That guy I like and his offenses were every bit as flashy as Tuberville's.; 2:02 PM
WarEagleRK said...: From what I hear, both Bowden's staff and players realized those same things about Bowden.; 2:02 PM
wartiger said...: Gill seems like the most likely choice given his currnet job..I really do like what he has done in the past. Wikopedia Turner Gill had nothing but positives. Aside from his youth any other negatives?; 2:08 PM
mytommyd said...: Steve I think the Oliver experiment should keep former Alabama coaches out of the mix when it comes to being our Head Coach. Of course that was kind of forced on him wasn't it.; 2:12 PM
FSJ said...: Dear lord...where does Finebaum get these callers?; 2:12 PM
FSJ said...: Ok..I've got 20 minutes or so free....Who is the leading candidate at this hour?; 2:13 PM
KJtiger said...: I think oliver forced himself on them. I think he was using his squatters rights to get the job.; 2:14 PM
mytommyd said...: And what a squat it was; 2:16 PM
Seanzie said...: Creeping closer to 500...; 2:50 PM
Seanzie said...: Anything good from the sports talk crew over in AL?; 2:50 PM
Phil in NoVA said...: Any idea how many more days we may have to wait for an announcement on who they're going to hire?; 3:04 PM
Unknown said...: Phil, my guess is we hear something within the next week or two. I doubt it will be after Christmas.

As for Brother Bill, I am not certain how good he would have been as a head coach, but I suspect there are reasons a lot of folks didn't give him the opportunity.; 4:00 PM