December 13th, 2020 at 2:40 PM ^
To go after ... maybe Hugh Freeze?
Gus had a relatively high win pct against Alabama. Freeze is one of the very few (along with Dabo) who has been more competitive against Saban.
December 13th, 2020 at 2:52 PM ^
That was my intial though. Freeze is back
December 13th, 2020 at 3:08 PM ^
Could they be angling to poach the recuperated Steve Sarkisian from Bama?
December 13th, 2020 at 4:18 PM ^
Whoever is responsible for the messaging on Sarkisian is absolutely killing it. "Sark" has a significant personal red flag and wasn't that great as a head coach.
December 13th, 2020 at 2:40 PM ^
Can't spell Auburn without U R B A N
December 13th, 2020 at 2:58 PM ^
What about AHBERN?
December 13th, 2020 at 2:40 PM ^
Be careful what you wish for Auburn
December 13th, 2020 at 2:43 PM ^
$21.45 million to never play Alabama again? Where do I sign to be canned by Auburn too?
December 13th, 2020 at 2:45 PM ^
Exactly. Go get a nice MAC or Big East job now.
December 13th, 2020 at 3:23 PM ^
Nah. Big 12 is where it’s at. Power 5 where Oklahoma is the dominant team?...
I’m thinking Texas wishes they waited before extending Herman. Malzahn could have run the Big 12 with SEC style recruiting
December 13th, 2020 at 4:06 PM ^
I'm sure there's a nice announcing job that will puff up his ego for him to fall back on. Take your millions and ride off into the sunset.
December 13th, 2020 at 4:48 PM ^
That's $21.45M to buy him out. They may also have to pay the buyout of his replacement as well as his assistants. I was reading in an article the buyout for Herman at Texas was $15M for Herman, another $10M for his assistants, and then if they hired say Cristobal, they might be obligated to pay out his buyout of $5.7M - they named someone else to with a buyout of $9M. Thus - to get rid of Herman potentially could cost Texas over $30M.
That's crazy!
December 13th, 2020 at 2:45 PM ^
He's been dodging the ax for a couple of years now; sorta crazy he didn't survive this year.
December 13th, 2020 at 2:46 PM ^
Close to blowing this thing wide open.
December 13th, 2020 at 2:48 PM ^
That has been coming. Auburn is an awesome job so they will hire a good one. Meanwhile, Michigan remains committed to the mythological concept of the Michigan man
December 13th, 2020 at 4:05 PM ^
As the years go by, more and more young people will have less and less of an idea of what a "Michigan Man" really is. It's an antiquated concept from years ago that lives on in the minds of folks 35-40 years old and over...
Eventually, someone will come to power who will see the folly of being so married to the "Michigan Man" -- hopefully it will be from a visionary sooner rather than later, instead of from a young person that we need to wait for to grow up, gain position and power, and finally pull us away from our old time ways...
December 13th, 2020 at 4:39 PM ^
Nobody was ever marrried to the Michigan Man concept. It didn’t stop us from hiring anybody.
30 years ago someone asked Bo who was going to coach the BB team in the NCAA tournament, & he said “A Michigan Man”. That meant this time, not every time, & I can’t remember, but it was probably on an interim basis.
There is no folly, there is no error of our old time ways. So sick of that narrrative.
December 14th, 2020 at 9:26 AM ^
Except perhaps the biggest error of all. Canonizing a coach who was by any objective measure pretty much mediocre. Then letting his every word and even his personal concept of football as it “should” be played permeate the minds of our fans. Like it or not we have a strong contingent, including our current HC that evaluates everything football thru Bo colored glasses. A dead man has undue and undeserved influence on M football and it can be witnessed by the statue in front of the building that bears his name. We canonized mediocrity so here we are. Wondering why we’re stuck in mediocrity.
December 13th, 2020 at 4:39 PM ^
Nobody was ever marrried to the Michigan Man concept. It didn’t stop us from hiring anybody.
30 years ago someone asked Bo who was going to coach the BB team in the NCAA tournament, & he said “A Michigan Man”. That meant this time, not every time, & I can’t remember, but it was probably on an interim basis.
There is no folly, there is no error of our old time ways. So sick of that narrrative.
December 13th, 2020 at 5:08 PM ^
Not sure why you're so certain that "Auburn...will hire a good one" when their last three hires before Malzahn were Gene Chizik, Tommy Tuberville, and Terry Bowden.
December 13th, 2020 at 11:49 PM ^
And everyone of these coaches managed to beat their rival Alabama including Malzahn who beat Saban 3 times. Has your coach beat your rival since coming into town? Auburn has also won a national championship in MODERN times and did not share it. It is a great job and is highly coveted being an SEC program.
December 13th, 2020 at 2:48 PM ^
Hire Him as OC!
December 13th, 2020 at 2:50 PM ^
Would be a great option.
December 13th, 2020 at 3:59 PM ^
His offenses have been pretty ass for the last couple of years though. Kevin steele was carrying that team for a while.
December 13th, 2020 at 2:51 PM ^
Auburn will probably hire the ever so shady so perfect for SEC Hugh Freeze
December 13th, 2020 at 3:24 PM ^
Jesus Saves!
Freezus pays!
December 13th, 2020 at 3:38 PM ^
Not so fast. Freeze's return to the SEC would have to be approved by commissioner Sankey first:
A Freeze hire would still require a conversation with Sankey, who through SEC bylaws has additional oversight of any prospective hire that has “engaged in unethical conduct as defined under NCAA Bylaws or who has participated in activity that resulted, or may result, in a Level I, Level II or major infraction.”
https://www.al.com/alabamafootball/2020/11/could-hugh-freeze-soon-be-back-in-the-sec.html
Oh hell, who am I kidding? Welcome back to the SEC Hugh!
December 13th, 2020 at 2:54 PM ^
Is it a pipe dream to dream of him coming in as an OC?
December 13th, 2020 at 4:36 PM ^
He was the hottest OC in America before he got his head coaching gig, where he has frankly been pretty mediocre. With that said, his offense was more of a running spread than a passing spread. He may be outdated. Then again, I suppose Harbaugh may be drawn to a modern running spread (if he stays).
December 13th, 2020 at 6:16 PM ^
Auburns offensive rankings under Gus: 28, 48, 25, 49, 74, 27, 12. Average ranking 38.
Michigan under Harbaugh: 49, 11, 91, 21, 44, 69. Average ranking 48. Harbaugh finished higher in his best season and Gus never got down to his third string QB. So you could potentially call that season an outlier. If you even assume a little closer to average if 2 QBs hadn’t gotten hurt that season, Harbaugh’s offenses on average have been much closer to Gus than you would think.
In case your wondering, the average defensive ranking for teams that Gus and Harbaugh faced is in Harbaugh’s favor. He has faced tougher defense on average. So essentially what would Gus bring to Michigan that would make their offense better? Basically Gus rode Cam Newton to a National Championship. If Michigan could get an elite QB, Harbaugh would have made two playoffs as well. I understand it falls on Harbaugh to get an elite QB. But Harbaugh is a better coach than Gus. A pipe dream would be hiring Lincoln Riley away from Oklahoma to be OC. Gus isn’t a better offensive minded coach than Harbaugh, at least not enough to make a difference.
December 13th, 2020 at 6:44 PM ^
Since Malzahn's offense is heavily run-favored and therefore burns a ton of clock, SP+ is probably a more useful metric. Here's where he has been there:
2013: #5
2014: #3
2015: #28 (Mich #34)
2016: #49 (Mich #35)
2017: #26 (Mich #49)
2018: #19 (Mich #25)
2019: #34 (Mich #21)
December 13th, 2020 at 7:19 PM ^
So basically since Harbaugh has been at Michigan, Gus average ranking is 31 based on S&P and Harbaugh is 32. Again not the guy we’re looking for.
December 13th, 2020 at 2:58 PM ^
Wow ...surprised by this one! Step up warde!
December 13th, 2020 at 3:03 PM ^
He wasn't taking that program anywhere.
December 13th, 2020 at 3:14 PM ^
This could be Harbaugh’s tagline
December 13th, 2020 at 4:20 PM ^
And yet it’s still farther than Harbaugh will ever take this program...
December 13th, 2020 at 3:05 PM ^
College football coaches are so lucky you can fail at your job and get paid millions to leave and get another job paying you millions. Then these colleges raise prices for classes and try to justify it with some BS explanation. It sucks that this is normal and people just accept it. Most people who get fired have to fight to get unemployment while trying to get another job. Just disgusting!
December 13th, 2020 at 3:13 PM ^
Not disgusting, quite normal as it is called laws of supply and demand. Works for any job where there are few positions and many candidates, and candidates have a negotiated an employment contract - like many professional athletes and business people.
December 13th, 2020 at 3:16 PM ^
It is messed up and is what is wrong with college sports and if you don't see that then you are blind. The players don't get alot and coaches get millions for Failing at there job. Now if he got fired and no money that is how most jobs work for most people. Though it is normal for college coaches it still is disgusting and fckd up. Colleges then try to justify raising prices for classes to pay for all these sports and coaches. When they have millions in endowments. That is where it is messed up and in turn most students have to get loans to pay for school. So yes I find it disturbing.
December 13th, 2020 at 3:20 PM ^
But it would be good to have His be our OC but he won't be looking for work long.
December 13th, 2020 at 3:15 PM ^
December 13th, 2020 at 3:22 PM ^
Coaches are worth what the market says they’re worth. That’s capitalism, my friend.
Are they inherently that much better, more important and valuable to society than, say, teachers, cops and firemen? No, of course not. And sure, it’s probably not fair. But hey, that is what the market says they’re worth. So it is what it is.
December 13th, 2020 at 3:37 PM ^
I mean, yes and no. Is it capitalism that the athletes don't get paid beyond scholarship etc? By contrast, In the NFL (which also isn't pure capitalism, as there are salary caps and a players' union) the best players get paid ~$40 million a year, about 3-4x times what the highest paid coaches are paid.
December 13th, 2020 at 3:55 PM ^
Joe Thuney ($14.7m) makes more money per year than Bill Belichick ($12m) and Thuney's salary is limited by a salary cap in a way that Belichick's isn't.
December 13th, 2020 at 5:06 PM ^
well, yeah, i guess. i'd only say that coach's salaries are in some part affected by the amount of dollars brought in by cable tv contracts like BTN. i'd say that those are a bubble, but the SEC just signed another huge contract, so maybe the bubble isn't quite ready to pop. seems like it will, though.
December 13th, 2020 at 3:24 PM ^
the coaching salaries and tuition are unrelated
December 13th, 2020 at 3:49 PM ^
Universities are just as corrupt as governments
December 13th, 2020 at 3:20 PM ^
Other schools getting ahead in their coaching searches when we should've started ours after MSU. Looks like it's gonna be a Harbaugh extension or leftovers. Harbaugh knows since Michigan is too gutless to fire him, it is to his advantage to stretch out the negotiations for as long as possible.
December 13th, 2020 at 5:11 PM ^
i promise you that warde manuel has a list. every bcs athletic director has a list - they have to, not because you want to fire someone, but you never know when a coach might jump (beilein), or retire (chris peterson, urbs), or get hit by a bus (uhhhh...).
just because *you* don't know who they might consider doesn't mean they haven't been considered already.
December 13th, 2020 at 3:21 PM ^
Freeze would be a very good hire for Auburn