Forty names, games, teams, and details that make news in college football, where hires and layoffs and autograph day and conference championships all try to coexist in the same week – which doesn’t help with Christmas shopping:
MORE DASH: Texas, Auburn Diverge | Everything Florida Lost | Championship week
FOURTH QUARTER: THE AUBURN SEARCH IS ALREADY HILARIOUS
In the first 30 hours after Auburn fired Gus Malzahn (32), winner of two-thirds of his games and the only coach not named Nick Saban, who has conquered the SEC West twice in the past decade, has shown the athletic department why it leads the nation in palace intrigues. (Make it a barn plot, this is Auburn.)
Athletic director Allen Greene (33) sent a letter to donors on Monday stating that a replacement for Malzahn is being sought. Lord only knows how many drivers in the backseat Greene will have for this ride. This has always been Empowered Booster Central and it is good to know that some things are not changing.
One comment heard several times Monday from industry sources: “Lots of cooks in the kitchen.”
Another comment was heard: “People are divided into camps.”
What a surprise.
Auburn has hired a search company, Parker Executive Search of Atlanta, and President Jay Gogue has formed a search committee. These developments indicate that this will not be a quick process. But 247 Sports reported that Gogue is “being urged to act quickly.”
A camp likes Liberty coach Hugh Freeze, and a source says Freeze could get an interview this week. But another camp says Greene doesn’t want him because of the NCAA troubles on Freeze’s watch in Mississippi, and he won’t be running.
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Another side likes a defensive coordinator Kevin Steele (34). That quickly gained traction on Monday afternoon, and that would also be the most Auburn rental imaginable. Would a school pay more than $ 21 million to buy out a coach and hire only its assistant? A man with a record of 9-36 as head coach at Baylor – including a record of 1-31 at the conference? Maybe one school.
This is actually an old page from the Auburn booster playbook. In the late 1990s, there were reports of boosters pushing Terry Bowden out in an attempt to get defensive coordinator Bill “Brother” Oliver to work. Oliver was the interim after Bowden stepped down during the 1998 season, but he only went 2-3 after taking over and the school hired Tommy Tuberville instead.
Tuberville had the foreknowledge to hire Bobby Petrino as his offensive coordinator in 2002, and after a strong season, Petrino got the job as head coach at Louisville. Once again, boosters got a shine on someone other than their current coach – power broker Bobby Lowder flew the school president and athletics director to Greater Louisville to interview Petrino behind Tuberville’s back for the ’03 Iron Bowl. When the plot was published, Auburn had to go back and keep Tubs.
In Steele, Auburn would theoretically hope for Ed Orgeron (35) lightning to strike twice. Orgeron got the job as head coach at LSU after the school fired Les Miles and sniffed at Jimbo Fisher, despite doubts after his failed tenure as head coach at Mississippi. Orgeron, of course, ended up winning the 2019 national title in an all-time Second Act redemption story.
There could be another appeal to Steele – he would be cheap, and there is no redemption fee to pay at any other school. There was a wave of speculation about the Oregon coach Mario Cristobal (36), but his buyout was in the $ 8 million range. And, damn, one problem with paying $ 21 million to get off a coach is that there may not be a stash of cash to buy out the next guy you want.
(Of course, Cristobal might have just played in the marketplace to give some urgency to talks about an extension in Oregon. All the talk about the pandemic that slowed spending on college football? Yes, no.)
All this means: who knows? Auburn is a good job and can bring in a good coach, as has so often been the case in the past. But this thing has a classic Auburn start, with everyone and no one in charge. An industry source summarized it Monday evening as follows: “The search company doesn’t even know exactly where it stands.”
STATE OF THE WEEK
Wyoming (37) played six games this season. Wyoming took 134 passes. Wyoming threw one touchdown pass.
The blessed moment came in the season opener, at 1:13 p.m. Q4 against Nevada. That’s when Levi Williams hooked up with Gunner Gentry for a 22-yard score in a game the Cowboys would lose in overtime, 37-34.
From then on, Wyoming threw another 116 passes without either of them ending each in a completion reaching the end zone. In 2021, when transient offenses are all-powerful. Josh Allen don’t walk through that door, Pokes fans.
COACH WHO EARNED HIS COMP CAR THIS WEEK
Greg Schiano (38)Rutgers. The Scarlet Knights’ victory over Maryland on Saturday left Schiano ecstatic chopping wood in the post-game dressing room surrounded by partying players, while Rutgers completed the best season with three wins in recent memory. Schiano took over a tire fire, put out the flames and brushed off the stench, rekindling the hopes and struggles of his previous tenure at the school. For the first time in a long time, the “R” on the helmet stands for Respectable.
COACH WHO HAS TO TAKE THE BUS TO WORK
Scott Frost (39), Nebraska. The Big Ten’s anti-Schiano is Frost, who in year three shows no sign of being the savior he should be. The Cornhuskers fell to 2-5 by being transported home by a Minnesota team that was missing 33 players, perhaps a new lung in a tenure that was really a continuous walk in a ditch. Frost is now 11-20 and the program is worse than it has been in 60 years.
POINT AFTER
The Dash kept it local for the past week which meant you had to try a new local beer. If you’re thirsty in Louisville, pick one of the creative picks Monk Beer Co. (40), Try a Still Not Dead IPA Rye and thank The Dash later.
MORE DASH: Texas, Auburn Diverge | Everything Florida Lost | Championship week