The loss to South Carolina should be the final straw in the Gus Malzahn era at Auburn.
There are no ifs, ands or buts about it after Saturday’s embarrassing loss to South Carolina in Columbia: Gus Malzahn has got to go, and for the sake of Auburn football, that decision needs to happen sooner than later.
Listen, Malzahn has brought some good times to the Plains over the past eight years but those are extremely few and far between. He was the talk of college football in 2013 as he led the Tigers to the BCS National Championship Game but has yet to lose less than four games in a season less. His offense, which was what he built his reputation on, became so stale that even he realized it was time for a change. Enter Chad Morris and the Tigers look even more pathetic offensively.
Quarterback who have entered the system as true freshman have rarely succeeded. Bo Nix, a 5-star quarterback who somehow won the SEC Freshman of the Year last year despite an up-and-down season, has regressed in his second season. Joey Gatewood transferred to Kentucky. Malik Willis has looked like the playmaker he should have been for the Tigers while playing for Liberty.
Jarrett Stidham even took a step back in his second season under Malzahn, going from a sure-fire first-round pick to the fourth round. Nick Marshall, possibly sent from the heavens above to make Malzahn’s career take off, wasn’t a true quarterback so not even Gus’ tutelage could screw him up.
Jeremy Johnson. Sean White. The names start to pile up.
Yet Malzahn will never admit that maybe he isn’t the right person for the job. He’s still the smartest man in the room despite opposing defensive coordinators and coaches now laughing at him. Heck, the Tigers realistically should be 1-3 at best.
And it’s not like he doesn’t have the talent to work with. Despite bringing in some top-10 recruiting classes during his time, the Tigers have stayed mediocre. It would be nice to see a real coach — maybe a Billy Napier, Hugh Freeze, or anyone other than Malzahn — have a shot coaching these players. It has become tiresome watching the same things happen over and over on the field.
This might be Malzahn’s worst team yet. There are absolutely no strengths to this team besides maybe the leg of Anders Carlson and the running ability of Tank Bigsby. In a moment that we haven’t seen much on Auburn sidelines in a some time, two of the top offensive players, Nix and Seth Williams, got into a heated argument that Chad Morris tried his best to stop but, like his play-calling, was awful at doing.
For all the Malzahn supporters out there, I ask this simple question: do you think he is going to make this program any better than it is right now? My answer comes in the form of two words: heck no.
But the buyout, you say? What about the $21 million that Auburn must pay for Malzahn to be fired? One, we have the alumni ready to donate that money to get rid of him. Two, the hottest coaches on the market are going to be hired soon in this weird year. Three, do you really want to watch THIS for another season or, possibly, another two seasons?
So let’s thank Malzahn for what he has accomplished at Auburn. He brought us the Kick Six and the Miracle at Jordan-Hare, a SEC championship and three wins over Alabama. Yet he has also brought a 7-16 record against the school’s three biggest rivals, losses against mediocre teams in bowl games and the fact that no one realistically expects Auburn to compete for a SEC championship anymore.
Let that last line sink in. Let it sink in that while Malzahn has been watching, a lot of other SEC teams have improved in strides. Let it sink in that once defenses caught on to his system, Malzahn refused to adjust until completely giving up control to a coach who led Arkansas to exactly zero wins in two seasons as a head coach.
Writing all of this has sickened me as much as the Tigers play on the field the past three weeks. That says a lot.
Time for the Gus Bus to leave Auburn. That departure shouldn’t be delayed any longer.
