News broke within the same hour of two SEC coaching vacancies being filled today. Auburn has hired offensive genius du jour and ostensible 2010 championship architect Gus Malzahn. Arkansas has poached Barry Alvarez’s designated successor at Wisconsin, Bret Bielema.
The Auburn hire still feels a bit small to me, but maybe it’ll be all right. I do feel better about it for Auburn than I did the Chizik hire. Malzahn got himself some head experience, and he’s got the lay of the land already. Auburn needs to stay with him through potential mediocrity resulting from NCAA sanctions, though. I hope they understand that.
(I’m glad we’re not losing Kirby Smart just yet. Plus, I love the name Gus.)
The Bielema hire is a huge surprise. I could make a list of 100 people I thought Arkansas would hire, and he wouldn’t make it. Show me documented proof of someone speculating about Bret Bielema going to Arkansas dated December 3 or earlier, and I shall be quite impressed.
That said, it’s probably a good decision. He’s young, a proven winner, and seems to run a clean program. And, he ought to be reliably colorful. Remember Urban Meyer getting to him about recruiting, “gentlemen’s agreements,” and what-not? Well, he’s headed for hardcore, baby.
He is going to need some recruiting help. I hope his staff hires reflect that.
All right, who’s Tennessee getting?
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Strong to UT is a possibility, and would be the best hire any of them have made yet. Bielema is interesting and will create some buzz. Gus was the safe, obvious choice for AU.
There are conflicting reports over whether Smart turned down an offer from AU. There are some good sources out there saying he did, and that’s when they went to Plan B. We’ll probably never know for sure.
Sanctions??! What sanctions??! Have you bama fans still not gotten over Camgate? FYI….the NCAA is ALWAYS investigating the SEC for recruiting violations.
Fonda, perhaps, but the reports concerning Auburn are specific and recent. To wit.
Bo, as an Auburn fan I agree with your assessment of the Malzahn hire. It was not exactly the “home run” I was hoping for, although I knew it was a real possibility. As long as Jay Jacobs is still running the show our athletics department is going to be a disaster. On your final note, I don’t think that Auburn has received a formal inquiry from the NCAA as of yet. My understanding is that Trooper Taylor was actually back on the recruiting trail since the story you quoted was published. I hope our compliance department would not put him back out there without being pretty confident that the NCAA will find nothing.