OT: Auburn fans unhappy with OC Scot Loeffler

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October 21st, 2012 at 11:09 PM
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markusr2007
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OT: Auburn fans unhappy with OC Scot Loeffler

Following 13-17 loss to Vanderbilt and 1-6 start, Auburn OC Scot Loeffler is under fire by Auburn fans for his play calling.  Loeffler's post game interview and Auburn fan comments here.

Auburn has lost it's starting QB (5-star So. Kiehl Frazier) to injury, and the replacements Jr Clint Moseley and Fr. Jonathan Wallace are both playing very poorly.   Loeffler was hired by Chizik to install a pro-style, power run offense, scrapping the spread option shotgun offense of recent years.

Here was an interesting media interview with Loeffler earlier in the Auburn preseason - comparing Tim Tebow and Tom Brady - an usual question by the media, but anyway.

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October 21st, 2012 at 11:14 PM | Auburn fans unhappy? (Score:3 Normal)
MGoneBlue
Joined: 05/30/2011
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Stop. The. Presses.

October 22nd, 2012 at 9:31 AM | I think this would be much (Score:5 Normal)
MGoSteelers
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I think this would be much more noteworthy if Auburn was 6-1 and their OC was under fire.  Or alternatively, at 1-6 they are in fact happy with his performance.

 

1-6 and the fans aren't happy?  I'm with you, stop the presses...

October 21st, 2012 at 11:17 PM | They have every reason.. (Score:2 Normal)
mcz13
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Loeffler has been terrible and is ruining that offense. Chizik needs to fire him and move on with the program. If he doesn't fire him, he will lose his own job.

October 21st, 2012 at 11:21 PM | Sorry to be the one to break (Score:5 Normal)
Clarence Beeks
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Sorry to be the one to break the news on this one, but it's Chizek own doing. Every Auburn fan I know has come to the realization that the Newton era was a total fluke and that Chizek just flat out cannot develop players.

October 21st, 2012 at 11:23 PM | I understand the Cam era (Score:1 Normal)
mcz13
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But whatever offense they had has only become worse this year. Last year's team was average, but at least they could compete. This year's offense is simply pathetic. I agree Chizik capitalized off of a gift in the form of Cam Newton, but I just think this was a poor hire on his part.

October 22nd, 2012 at 7:22 AM | Did anybody expect a seamless (Score:3 Normal)
FreddieMercuryHayes
Joined: 12/29/2010
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Did anybody expect a seamless transition when going to Malzahn's super spread to a pro-style offense? Auburn has had issues every year even in the year they lucked into Newton and Fairley; those players just masked the issues. Blaming a first year coordinator is as ridiculous as when RR laid 2008 at the feet of Schafer. The only consistent in all of Auburn's sub-par years is Chizik.

October 22nd, 2012 at 9:54 AM | It's not a gift if you pay (Score:5 Normal)
oldcityblue
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It's not a gift if you pay for it.

"He stood there like the house by the side of the road, and watched that one go by"

October 21st, 2012 at 11:26 PM | And, by "fluke" (Score:5 Normal)
jblaze
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you mean Cam (or his dad) being paid a lot of money to play for Auburn and Chizek being hired to say nothing and accept it.

"They're stuck with that quarterback (sophomore Braxton Miller) for the next two or three years, that's fine with me. He throws worse than (Tim) Tebow. - Steve Everitt

October 22nd, 2012 at 12:57 AM | Now now, jblaze, this board (Score:5 Normal)
stephenrjking
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Now now, jblaze, this board is not a place to throw around unfounded accusations of unethical behavior about other football programs.

Your comment in no way violates this premise. Carry on.

Servant. Pastor. Husband. Michigan fan in Duluth. 

October 22nd, 2012 at 9:29 AM | It's not unfounded. His (Score:-1 Overrated)
October 21st, 2012 at 11:22 PM | That's just SEC idiocy (Score:5 Normal)
clarkiefromcanada
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Scot Loeffler was a popular coordinator last winter after leading Temple's (Temple!) offense under Steve Addazio to reasonable success in the MAC and a bowl win. Temple's teams last year ran the hell out of the ball...passed when absolutely necessary, sometimes...and ran the ball some more.

They also had a good defense.

Last year, Scot Loeffler had Bernard Pierce doing the running for him and the mostly reliable and Tebow like Chris Coyer at QB at Temple. Pierce is doing okay in the NFL now and Coyer is seeking his 'inner Tebow' each week (with on and off success).

I doubt that Loeffler has lost his ability to call a game or that the SEC is so overwhelming...but he doesn't have the RB/QB combo he had at Temple...

Auburn fans delude themselves that National Championships are theirs (when they don't compensate the QB at $200k per year).

If the haters don't hate you then you're doing something wrong. - David Cone

October 22nd, 2012 at 8:49 AM | This whole Leoffler fracas (Score:5 Normal)
saveferris
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Sounds a lot like the hullabaloo going on in East Lansing, where Spartan fans want Dan Rouchar's head.  The Spartan fans next to me in the stands on Saturday kept bitching about Rouchar's play-calling.  Eventually I turned to him and the conversation went something like this:

Me:  "You keep criticizing Rouchar, but didn't he coach offenses the past few seasons that performed pretty well?  He didn't get stupid in just one season didn't he?"

Sparty Fan:  "Yeah, but he had Cousins and Cunningham to bail him out."

Me:  "So your real issue is that your offensive talent this season has dropped off a cliff, which is really a recruiting issue, which really falls back in Dantonio's lap, doesn't it?"

Sparty Fan:  "I still think Rouchar sucks and want him gone."

I shrugged my shoulders at that point and went back to watching the game at that point.

 

"...what do you say, is it the new Bluesmobile or what?"

"Fix the cigarette lighter."

October 22nd, 2012 at 9:16 AM | I love that you tried to have (Score:4 Normal)
Johnny Blood
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I love that you tried to have a rational conversation with them.

Third generation Michigan alum

October 22nd, 2012 at 9:44 AM | I think it was cute and very (Score:5 Normal)
UMichYank11
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I think it was cute and very touching that he tried to reach out to the handicapped

October 22nd, 2012 at 11:22 AM | I mean every Spartan fan to a (Score:2)
saveferris
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I mean every Spartan fan to a man seems to want to pin this whole disaster of a season on Rouchar and not acknowledge that the past 4 years were an aberration and that the rivalry is slipping back to the old pattern of the past.  The Spartan fans I've talked to literally think that they begin another 4 year win streak starting next season and that Dantonio is going to own Hoke in the long run.  You point out how their past success had more to do with coaching chaos and a huge experience gap created by player attrition and that the massive recruiting deficit that MSU is facing against U of M and Ohio is about to assert itself and they just think we're rationalizing.  It's hilarious.

It should be fun to see how stupid Dantonio gets over the next 5 years in the eyes of the fanbase.

 

"...what do you say, is it the new Bluesmobile or what?"

"Fix the cigarette lighter."

October 21st, 2012 at 11:24 PM | It's an f'in shame that they (Score:5 Normal)
nikj
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It's an f'in shame that they spent all that money and they're only 1-6.  I guess Pro-style players who can run a power offense cost too much these days.  

October 21st, 2012 at 11:26 PM | Following Gus Malzahn is not (Score:5 Normal)
Cromulent
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Following Gus Malzahn is not the best of career moves. Following Gus Malzahn and trying to install an offense diametrically opposed to the traits that Gus Malzahn selected for in his recruits is *really* not a good career move.

And finally, running Gus Malzahn out of town and replacing him with an OC that will need at least two years to get some suitable talent to run an offense is legally actionable malpractice.

The only thing you learn from history is that you never learn from history.

October 21st, 2012 at 11:29 PM | And trying to get suitable (Score:2 Normal)
Yeoman
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And trying to get suitable talent to run an offense now that Colonial Bank has failed? Probably impossible even given two years.

October 22nd, 2012 at 8:35 AM | Yep.  They're struggling (Score:2)
Magnus
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Yep.  They're struggling right now for the same reason that Rich Rodriguez struggled in 2008.  He's got the personnel for a totally different offense.  Frazier, McCalebb, etc. are guys who should be playing in a zone spread offense.

Twitter - Recruiting Update: May 13

October 22nd, 2012 at 10:00 AM | So who replaces Chizik? (Score:1)
Mr. Yost
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Does Kirby Smart flip sides?

“True loyalty is that quality of service that grows under adversity and expands in defeat. Any street urchin can shout applause in victory, but it takes character to stand fast in defeat. One is noise — the other, loyalty.”

October 22nd, 2012 at 10:02 AM | If he's smart, he will. Get (Score:2)
Magnus
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If he's smart, he will.

Get it?  Get it?

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October 21st, 2012 at 11:27 PM | QB coach for Shane next year. (Score:3 Normal)
jblaze
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Book it and awesome!

"They're stuck with that quarterback (sophomore Braxton Miller) for the next two or three years, that's fine with me. He throws worse than (Tim) Tebow. - Steve Everitt

October 21st, 2012 at 11:32 PM | Loeffler (Score:3 Normal)
EGD
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If you want to start giving people nightmares around here, suggest that Hoke will start bringing back Carr-era position coaches...

"You will suffer humiliation when the team from my area defeats the team from your area." -- The Onion

October 22nd, 2012 at 12:07 AM | You mean like Brady Hoke? (Score:5 Normal)
Michael Scarn
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You mean like Brady Hoke?

October 22nd, 2012 at 12:23 AM | Or... (Score:5 Normal)
justingoblue
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That total failure of a coach, 1992-94 DL coach, 1995-96 DC Greg Mattison. How awful would things be if he got anywhere near Ann Arbor?

Go Blue!

October 22nd, 2012 at 12:31 AM | Mattison (Score:3 Normal)
EGD
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Okay, so I had a brain fart and forgot Hoke was a position coach under Carr.  But your Mattison point is invalid.  

"You will suffer humiliation when the team from my area defeats the team from your area." -- The Onion

October 22nd, 2012 at 12:55 AM | Just a joke, didn't mean (Score:3 Normal)
justingoblue
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Just a joke, didn't mean anything by it.

Go Blue!

October 22nd, 2012 at 7:33 AM | Hoke coached under Moeller (Score:0 Overrated)
October 22nd, 2012 at 7:50 AM | I'm guessing you mean (Score:2)
joeyb
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I'm guessing you mean Mattison. He DCd a year under Carr.

October 22nd, 2012 at 8:27 AM | Two years (Score:3 Normal)
jmblue
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He was our DC in both 1995 and '96. 

As for the above comment, I don't remember people being too upset with Carr's position coaches (aside from perhaps Andy Moeller on the OL).  It was the coordinators who got a lot more flak.

October 22nd, 2012 at 12:21 AM | Ha! (Score:3 Normal)
EGD
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Yeah, there really needs to be a "delete" button.

"You will suffer humiliation when the team from my area defeats the team from your area." -- The Onion

October 21st, 2012 at 11:29 PM | All hell breaking loose with (Score:3 Normal)
ckersh74
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All hell breaking loose with a Chizik-coached team. Wow. Will wonders ever cease?

October 21st, 2012 at 11:35 PM | Gus Malzahn's decision to go to Jonesboro (Score:1)
markusr2007
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was probably a very good one.  

Arkansas State is 4-3 and their offense is already ranked 35th in YPG.

Malzahn could never have foreseen this situation, but next year he could get consideration for not only the Auburn job (Chizik may be toast, but can  the Auburn AD even afford to fire him?), but perhaps the Arkansas HC job in Fayetteville too after John L. Smith leaves. Malzahn first major coaching stint was for Houston Nutt at Arkansas.

As for Loeffler, he is a proven QB coach and would probably get a nice job someplace else.

 

 

October 21st, 2012 at 11:48 PM | I liked EDSBS' take on Gus (Score:5 Normal)
Lionsfan
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I liked EDSBS' take on Gus Malzahn:

Bailing: He lived. In comparison, what Gus Malzahn has survived is piddling, but comparable in terms of timing. Malzahn was hired in a cheap recruiting ploy at Arkansas, then thrown clear into the arms of Todd Graham at Tulsa. Malzahn's offenses thrived, but fate intervened again as Malzahn opted to move to Auburn, and thus both missed the Todd Graham Pitt disaster and met up with Cam Newton. After one non-Cam season at Auburn, Malzahn then took the oddball move of going to Arkansas State. This looked very strange until Auburn imploded this year and Arkansas got Petrino'd, and now Gus Malzahn is 3-3 at Arkansas State, comfortable and in line for interviews as a head coach in the offseason.

Corollary: If Gus Malzahn suddenly leaves a bus you are riding, you leave with him. That bus is about to explode.

From the Alphabetical, http://www.sbnation.com/college-football/2012/10/9/3480156/college-footb...

If you're doing nothing, how do you know when you're finished?

StraightDave owes me a steak dinner

October 21st, 2012 at 11:48 PM | Chizik is simply in the wrong role (Score:2 Informative)
markusr2007
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He's a coordinator, not an HC.

He was co-DC with Duane Akina for Texas' national title team in 2005, but as HC at Iowa State Chizik went 5-19 in 2 years.  For Iowa State football, Chizik was actually a step down from Dan McCarney. That says it all right there.  

I'll NEVER understand what the hell Auburn's AD saw in Chizik as an HC. The NC season with Newton and a good defense seemed to justify the case that Auburn had struck gold with the hire.

But in 2012 I don't see Auburn winning any more SEC contests..  They should beat New Mexico State and Alabama A&M, but no guarantees man, Auburn is that bad.

Hard not to call a 3-9 finish for Auburn already (worst since 1998).

I can't believe it may cost Auburn something like $7 million to get rid of Chizik.

 

October 22nd, 2012 at 12:55 AM | Auburn defense (Score:2 Insightful)
Michigan4Life
Joined: 07/29/2010
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Was actually ranked in the 60s which is the lowest ranked defense by a national champion. If it weren't for Nick Fairley, Auburn defense would be even worse. He single handily dominated Oregon offense. They tried to option off Fairley and he was too quick for the read.

October 22nd, 2012 at 7:44 AM | Cam Newton won that national (Score:1)
russale2012
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Cam Newton won that national title, not Gene Chizik. Newton had that unique ability of making everyone around him better. Without his transfer to Auburn, they don't get anywhere remotely close to a national title.

It's been a lot. Its been a roller coaster that for some reason seemed like it would never get good. But you know what? We kept fighting. It's like that old saying goes, "Those Who Stay Will Be Champions." -David Molk

October 22nd, 2012 at 8:37 AM | Newton didn't make everyone (Score:4 Normal)
Magnus
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Newton didn't make everyone better at Florida, and I think the Panthers are 1-6 right now...  He was great for that one year, but I don't think he made everyone better.  He was just good.

Twitter - Recruiting Update: May 13

October 22nd, 2012 at 9:22 AM | I believe he was the Auburn (Score:2)
Johnny Blood
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I believe he was the Auburn DC under Tuberville for a period (including their undefeated season where they were left out of the BCS championship)... so they saw him as "coming home".

I'm not saying he's a good coach (he's absolutely not), but just answering why they were willing to take a chance on him after his awful Iowa State performance.

Third generation Michigan alum

October 22nd, 2012 at 10:36 AM | The epic Tiger Droppings thread (Score:1)
Yeoman
Joined: 06/08/2011
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had a pretty concise theory about the Chizik hiring and no one else has proffered an explanation that even makes sense to me.

"Keep it down home, cuz."

It's incomprehensible otherwise.

October 22nd, 2012 at 12:08 AM | Blame the Head Coach for (Score:1)
Swazi
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Blame the Head Coach for hiring said coordinator.  Chizik and Loeffler both will be gone at the end of this season odds are.

If you need drugs to be a good writer, you're not a good writer.

-Rod Serling

October 22nd, 2012 at 12:12 AM | I bet Malzahn ends up at Arkansas (Score:3 Normal)
Don
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where they will put up crazy numbers on offense and struggle on defense.


October 22nd, 2012 at 1:02 AM | Depends on who he hires. It (Score:4 Normal)
stephenrjking
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Depends on who he hires. It has always been true, but it has become more and more apparent that a head coach's success is a direct function of the staff he associates himself with. Chizik (who must be credited with bringing Malzahn on board) is a textbook example of this. So are the most recent two head coaches at Michigan.

Offensive guys do well if they get a good defensive coach to give their offense time to come together. Urban Meyer didn't exactly set the world on fire when he went to Florida, but he had great coordinators (cough, cough) and great talent on defense that allowed his early Gator teams to win when the offense didn't perform up to snuff.

Frankly, that's exactly what is happening in South Bend this year.

Servant. Pastor. Husband. Michigan fan in Duluth. 

October 22nd, 2012 at 8:57 AM | Direct Function (Score:-1 Flamebait)
October 22nd, 2012 at 11:18 AM | ? (Score:3 Normal)
TyrannousLex
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So your position is that when UM fired RR, it should have hired a staff based on the talent of the current players to succeed within the system that the new staff uses?

Now clearly Borges is not running a zone read spread, but i'm seeing a few more zone read plays called than is normal in a WCO. So i think what you're trying to say is that if RR had to go, then he should have been replaced with another spread coach or at least one that would hire a spread OC? And this is because Denard had two more years of eligibility?

It's not just coachspeak, but having an OC run a new system is a lot like forcing your players into a system for which they're not suited. So as an administration you have to make a decision; changing the system may see a few years of subpar performance as players matriculate and/or learn the new system. RR probably didn't get that chance, but he probably would have if he had managed to win a few more games during the transition.

BTW, the first QB Hoke/Borges recruited was classified as a tweener that has the skill set to potentially succeed in either a pro-style or a spread offense.

October 22nd, 2012 at 11:59 AM | NSFMF (Score:0 Overrated)
October 22nd, 2012 at 2:35 PM | Yeah (Score:2)
M-Wolverine
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Wasn't the complaint this weekend that we ran the zone read too many times, and too predictably? Not sure how much of anything Saturday was West Coast Offense, but whatever.

"I love him, he's a great coach, he's a great mentor, he's a great friend. He's every single thing you want a college coach to be, and he does it flawlessly." -David Molk

October 22nd, 2012 at 1:29 AM | Malzahn at Arkansas? (Score:1)
BlueinLansing
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as I recall there were some issues with Malzahn and players parents and their kids' playing time or something like that.  I kind of doubt he gets that job.

 

October 22nd, 2012 at 4:55 AM | RichRod in reverse at Auburn; after Cam (Score:1)
MGlobules
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they decided to go all manball but do not have the personnel. Just dumb to think anyone turns it around in a year, even two. 

Of course fans call for the OC's head; that's what fans do. Fans are fickle and impatient. 

October 22nd, 2012 at 7:09 AM | I'm a bit confused. (Score:3 Normal)
Mr Miggle
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Are you suggesting their fans should be patient because it takes time to turn around a 14-0 team? Or that wanting to get rid of the new OC, (who's led them to the #121st ranked offense), makes them fickle?

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