Why I Am Glad We Have Orsini
Posted: Wed Dec 10, 2008 3:09 amhttp://blog.al.com/goldmine/2008/12/aub ... ulsas.html
Auburn interviewed Todd Graham today.
--I am in no way bashing Todd Graham. Good coach, and I know lots of people here thought we should have looked at him too. I'm not even saying he isn't the right guy for the job. However, this is Auburn we are talking about. Not a school trying to buy its way out of the abyss, and here are the people they have interviewed PUBLICLY!
Tulsa's Todd Graham, Buffalo coach Turner Gill, Louisiana Tech coach Derek Dooley, Ball State coach Brady Hoke, Georgia assistant Rodney Garner and University of Miami offensive coordinator Patrick Nix.
SERIOUSLY! This is Auburn's coaching list! Not that there aren't some guys on there that deserve consideration.......but for Auburn, you would think there would be some bigger names than a bunch of semi-successful coaches from the MAC, CUSA, and the WAC. Apparently Dooley was even trying to deny he was interviewed, but later broke down and confirmed it!
Perhaps this is all smoke screen--like Leach at UW--(coincidentally, the Omaha papers are reporting that Paul Johnson and Jimbo Fischer may have interviewed behind the scenes.) But still, the way Orsini handled the public side of the coaching search was far better. Orsini very well may have interviewed Todd Graham and even a couple other guys on this list, but we were hearing names like Barnett, Paul Johnson, Bowden, etc.--and we land June Jones. To me, the Auburn list looks more like what most people would have expected SMU to be looking at, and SMU's list looked more like what I would expect Auburn to be looking at (minus Bowden, of course!)
I guess it still remains to be seen if the interminable search was worth it and Jones can turn this ship around, but Orsini definitely did a bang-up job as far as raising our public image and landing a huge name. I am really glad he didn't want to take on the Charlie Weis mess and leave to take over ND!
Funny enough, I just checked out the Auburn boards, and they are having the EXACT same discussions we were last year (all the same names, the same discussions about Turner Gill, with some knuckleheads throwing out things like "we should be going after Gruden!") I do have to say, if the public list is accurate, Turner Gill is by far the best guy they have interviewed. And Kevin Steele would jump ship from team Saban to join him. (There is starting to be some chatter up here that this may actually happen, but as always, don't believe a word until you see a press conference!)
Auburn interviewed Todd Graham today.
--I am in no way bashing Todd Graham. Good coach, and I know lots of people here thought we should have looked at him too. I'm not even saying he isn't the right guy for the job. However, this is Auburn we are talking about. Not a school trying to buy its way out of the abyss, and here are the people they have interviewed PUBLICLY!
Tulsa's Todd Graham, Buffalo coach Turner Gill, Louisiana Tech coach Derek Dooley, Ball State coach Brady Hoke, Georgia assistant Rodney Garner and University of Miami offensive coordinator Patrick Nix.
SERIOUSLY! This is Auburn's coaching list! Not that there aren't some guys on there that deserve consideration.......but for Auburn, you would think there would be some bigger names than a bunch of semi-successful coaches from the MAC, CUSA, and the WAC. Apparently Dooley was even trying to deny he was interviewed, but later broke down and confirmed it!
Perhaps this is all smoke screen--like Leach at UW--(coincidentally, the Omaha papers are reporting that Paul Johnson and Jimbo Fischer may have interviewed behind the scenes.) But still, the way Orsini handled the public side of the coaching search was far better. Orsini very well may have interviewed Todd Graham and even a couple other guys on this list, but we were hearing names like Barnett, Paul Johnson, Bowden, etc.--and we land June Jones. To me, the Auburn list looks more like what most people would have expected SMU to be looking at, and SMU's list looked more like what I would expect Auburn to be looking at (minus Bowden, of course!)
I guess it still remains to be seen if the interminable search was worth it and Jones can turn this ship around, but Orsini definitely did a bang-up job as far as raising our public image and landing a huge name. I am really glad he didn't want to take on the Charlie Weis mess and leave to take over ND!
Funny enough, I just checked out the Auburn boards, and they are having the EXACT same discussions we were last year (all the same names, the same discussions about Turner Gill, with some knuckleheads throwing out things like "we should be going after Gruden!") I do have to say, if the public list is accurate, Turner Gill is by far the best guy they have interviewed. And Kevin Steele would jump ship from team Saban to join him. (There is starting to be some chatter up here that this may actually happen, but as always, don't believe a word until you see a press conference!)
