Auburn fans aren’t expecting a national title every year. That would be an insane expectation from a fan base that has only seen the Tigers win the ultimate prize twice, and for many of us, once in their lifetime.
Yet the fact that Gus Malzahn admitted that a four-loss season would be “solid” on Saturday after the Tigers’ loss to Texas A&M is too much to take even for the most loyal of Malzahn supporters.
Let’s look at the whole exchange provided by Justin Ferguson of The Auburn Observer:
6-4. 6 and frigging 4. That is what Auburn’s head coach considers a solid year. That means a few things:
- Auburn is going to lose to at least two of its two rivals.
- Under Malzahn, the Tigers HAVE to depend on those non-conference games, many of which are against way overmatched opponents, to pad their win count.
- Malzahn thinks less of himself and the Auburn program that he runs than anyone ever thought.
How, exactly, is that what Malzahn has become? Four losses as a solid season. I can’t say it enough to myself and the people currently around me are probably thinking I am starting to go insane.
A four-loss season is solid for the likes of Vanderbilt and South Carolina, not Auburn. The fact that Malzahn admitted his right after — you guessed it, the fourth loss of the season — is appalling.
Does he think a .600 winning percentage is something to be desired or gives him the right to be paid $7 million a year? How far out of touch do you have to be with reality, your own profession and the game of college football to think this way?
Yet the sad thing is this: he is right. A four-loss season under his watch has become, frustratingly, a “solid” season. What are the alternatives? Only once has he lost less than four games and that came in the magical 2013 run. Since then, you can count on four losses or more for the Tigers.
This is a sign of a man who has no business running the program he is in charge of nor has a feel for the fans that fill Jordan-Hare Stadium on a normal basis. Ask ANY coach if a four-loss season is solid, and 95% of them are going to respond with no. It is the point of a coach to not settle for mediocrity and that is exactly where Malzahn is with himself and the Tigers.
This is not how winners think.
Earlier I wrote that it was time for Allen Greene to take a stand and show that this regime isn’t fit to remain in control of the Auburn football program. Luckily for me, Malzahn summed up my point in a matter of a simple quote.
If that isn’t enough for a change, I don’t know what will be.