Chizik formally introduced, ready to leave—for recruiting

Gene Chizik mentioned a number of times throughout his hooplah-filled introductory press conference Monday that he was ready to wrap up his media obligations and get down to business.

Much obliged. No offense taken. The new head coach has a lot of work to do.

As is always the case, not much worthy to print was said at the 45-minute press conference, which featured roughly 30 minutes of Chizik and 15 minutes of athletic director Jay Jacobs. Afterward, though, a little clarity emerged in what went down in bringing Chizik back to the Plains and what Jacobs has thought about the overly negative reaction from the Auburn fanbase.

Jacobs is openly a very religious man and constantly harps on the importance it is to have a man of good faith in a prominent position such as a head football coach. Such has been the case as how he’s been deflecting the criticism.

No, I’m not disappointed. I’m not disappointed at all. I just stood on Exodus 14:14 and am just going to keep walking by faith and not by sight. And I know that at the end of the day, I’m going to put on my code of honor from Ephesians 6:10, and I know that we got the right guy here to do the right thing for Auburn and our student-athletes are going to have an unbelievable experience playing for a guy that loves them and is going to work them as hard as he can possibly work them, push them to a new limit. And all the people be proud and get on board.

As for the specifics regarding Chizik’s hire, it seemed to happen pretty quickly.

Chizik’s name was on Jacobs’ list from the start, which he said he has on hand for every coaching position at Auburn “just in case.“ After a speed-dating round of interviews in New York City with a number of non-candidates (Jacobs did not say that, that’s all FAB), Jacobs and his team of advisers flew to Fort Worth, Texas on Thursday and interviewed Chizik for the first time. It’s also believed the team of higher-ups interviewed TCU’s Gary Patterson at that time as well. Chizik left Jacobs impressed, specifically with his frankness on what he was doing at Iowa State and what he would do at Auburn to bring it back to prominence. They labeled it as a “blueprint,“ but I’m betting Chizik put together a mean Powerpoint presentation.

Anyways, Chizik wowed the team enough to merit a second interview, which took place the very next day. Chizik was the only candidate to interview twice, Jacobs said. Jacobs then realized he had his man, but wanted President Dr. Jay Gogue to meet him first before a deal was drafted. That deal was constructed in Memphis on Saturday. It’s a bit murky when Chizik officially became Auburn’s head coach, but it really doesn’t matter. He’s here and likely will stay for a few years at least.

Here’s why, courtesy of the man that hired him.

One was that he knew Auburn football. He had a plan—I refer to it as a blueprint—how to move this program forward. He also shared our same goals in winning championships and competing for championships. He also shared our goal of developing young men, academically and spiritually and socially. He also has a passion and love for Auburn and the game of football. And his character and integrity is uncompromising.

Another thing is right off the bat he addressed what had gone at Iowa State the last two years, and we became very convinced very quickly that he had that program on the turnaround. And then we found out that they had offered him a two-year extension. So we knew how their AD and their president felt about him as well.

Here are some other details:
- Chizik was repeatedly asked about the future of his assistants and repeatedly gave non-answers. Translation: the multiple reports that came out today are likely true that no former assistants will be retained.
- Chizik’s contract is not official, as he agreed in principle, but it looks to be around $2 million per year and will be highly incentive based.
- Jacobs was adamant that Auburn conducted this search the right way. He said he went through the “front door” before interviewing any and all candidates. If that is indeed so, job well done.
- The plan looks to be for Chizik to honor all current recruits that are committed. Chizik said he would evaluating, visiting and calling all current recruits and would continue to look for more. He repeatedly talked about how great of a football state Alabama is, so it looks like that will be his recruiting philosophy. We’ll have to see what Nick Saban has to say about that.
- NFL cornerback Carlos Rogers was in attendance and looking rather dapper in a vest. He had some nice things to say about Auburn’s new head coach, his former defensive coordinator.

He’s a player coach and a hard worker. If you’re not committed to working hard and trying to be your best you’re not going to be a fit for him. I think that’s what we did. We had a coach that loved players and loved football. You have to take that same enthusiasm and passion he has for the game and tie it into your game.

With his passion for the game and his commitment to football and his job, I thought he was the best guy.

Much more to come as I filter through everything that was said today.

Interesting times afoot for Auburn’s recruiting, potential assistant vacancies

Cornerback Walter McFadden remembers Gene Chizik for his honesty and straightforward approach during his recruitment.

More vividly, McFadden remembers Chizik being thirsty.

“He asked me for a glass of water. None of the other recruiters asked my mother for a glass of water,” McFadden said. “I thought this guy was rude or something. He wants some water, he asks for the water. We were inviting him in, he was supposed to try to entertain us.”

Supposed rudeness aside, McFadden was sold.

“I had a lot of guys that came to the house and they were just telling me anything I wanted to hear,” McFadden said. “I’d just put out a question. I’d be like, “I want to be No. 20.‘ Twenty minutes later, I’d be like, ‘Can I be No. 6?‘ They were like, ‘Sure, sure, sure.‘

“I tried to get him with it. He was like, ‘I don’t care what number you be. I just want you to play ball.‘”

Chizik’s straightforward approach will have to be key in salvaging Auburn’s current recruiting class, which has been told a number of different stories over the past year.

That plan could include players, as tight end Tommy Trott said Chizik told the team at Sunday night’s meeting that he wants their help in maintaining Auburn’s recruits.

Auburn’s 2009 recruiting class, which originally stood at 26, is now down to 20 and a number of others are wavering, according to AuburnSports.com.

Highly touted quarterback Raymond Cotton, who has maintained his commitment throughout Auburn’s 2008 turmoil, is now on the fence and could de-commit sometime this week, according to AuburnSports.com.

“I know about Chizik’s good background with Auburn, but I look at Auburn as being on the same level with the Floridas and Georgias, a top 10 school in the country. It’s a big-time program,“ Raymond Cotton, Sr. told AuburnSports.com. “And then we go out and hire a guy that has five wins over the last couple of years. That definitely brings some concern. I don’t know if there is a lot of confidence there from me as a father.”

Chizik’s recruiting classes in 2007 and 2008 at Iowa State ranked 60th and 62nd in the nation, respectively, according to Rivals.com. His 2009 class, which had 16 commitments, ranks 76th.

No official word on assistants
Chizik addressed the media for 42 seconds Sunday night and did not field any questions.

He did not take time to address anything involving the hierarchy of his assistant coaching staff.

AuburnSports.com, citing anonymous sources, reported late Sunday that all of Auburn’s assistants, with the exception of Phillip Lolley, director of NFL relations, and Jimmy Perry, director of football operations, were told to look for new jobs.

Trott said Chizik told the team it could take anywhere from a week to a month to fill the entire staff.

“He didn’t really give us any kind of timetable,” Trott said.

Chizik worked with all of Auburn’s former assistants except defensive coordinator Paul Rhoads. Linebackers coach James Willis was a student assistant in 2002 and a graduate assistant in 2003, when Chizik was defensive coordinator.

Chizik could dip into his former staff, which has a number of Alabama natives and former Auburn coaches and players.

Iowa State linebackers coach Wayne Bolt, defensive line coach Mike Pelton, assistant Jeff Koonz have either played or coached at Auburn. Tight ends coach Scott Fountain graduated from Samford, while his director of football operations, Travis Pearson, grew up in Gilbertown, Ala.

At Iowa State, Chizik was already in the process of finding a new offensive and defensive coordinator after he demoted his to different positions. At Auburn, he’ll likely have a bigger budget to make those hires.

Auburn’s players react, make reporters laugh

When coaches say something funny, it’s usually planned and comes off a bit stogy. When players do, it’s a lot more natural and actually, well, funny.

Here’s what I consider to be the gem quote of the day from tight end Tommy Trott, who spoke about Gene Chizik’s introduction speech to the players tonight.

He really didn’t introduce himself off the bat. I wondered if everybody knew who he was but I’m sure off T.V. and the Internet had got familiar with his face.

Here are some other, less funny moments from player interviews today at the Auburn Athletic Complex

More Trott on Chizik
He’s more fiery. You can tell he’s going to be out there motivating us. He’s sounds like he’s going to be a little more hands-on. He’s probably going to snatch you up at practice. He’s going to have things done his way. He says we’re going to get back to being physical. If you don’t love football, get out, because you better love football to do what we’re about to do. In a weird way it’s very inspiring.

He just came in and he said how pumped he was and how jacked he was to be back at a place he loved. He said the last time he was in this room he was 13-0. He plans on getting us back there.

A lot of the seniors out there, don’t be worried. This isn’t a rebuilding thing. I’m not going to start from the ground up. We’re coming out next year and we’re going to be a lot better football team.

Cornerback Walt McFadden
When I first heard it, I didn’t believe. I was like, ‘Coach Chizik? He got a job already.‘ When he heard it, he was in Dallas. And we were like, what’s coach Chizik doing in Dallas? Next thing you know, we had all got a confirmed text message that it was coach Chizik. It was very exciting. Coach (Phillip) Lolley sent me a text message because he and coach Chizik are good friends. And Coach Lolley just called me up and started talking about it.

Cornerback Jerraud Powers
I was just happy it was over. That was the most part. I’m glad they chose a guy like coach Chizik. I just think, from the players’ standpoint, we’re just happy it’s all over. Now we can go back to no worries and just doing what we’re doing. Lately, since the thing happened, it’s been kind of crazy around here. We’re just happy it’s over.

I think everybody’s a little excited just because it’s a new coach, but then again you’ve got some people that are a little worried what kind of guy he’s going to be because nobody’s been under him or been around him except for the guys he recruited. So I think you’ve got half knowing about him and another half just waiting to see. That’s all I could tell from the team’s standpoint.

Chizik lands, greeted by friendly crowd

New Auburn coach Gene Chizik stepped off an Auburn jet around 6 p.m. Sunday before a crowd of about 200 pom-pom waving, completely positive fans at the Robert G. Pitts Auburn airport.

As the crowd got louder and everyone tried to get a closer look at Chizik, dressed in a black trenchcoat, the 26th Auburn head coach lifted his hands above his head, a la Richard Nixon.

Auburn Mayor Bill Ham presented Chizik the key to the city, then let him briefly address the larger-than-expected gathering of liberal media.

“First of all, I am very, very overwhelmed. I’m back home. What can I say? I’m back home. I feel very blessed. My family, myself, this is a dream come true for us. And this is going to brief, but I’ll tell you this—these people of Auburn University and the Auburn family is what I got into coaching for. And I left it with a dream to one day come back to it, and today I’m living that dream and I want to thank you guys. And War Eagle.“

Chizik moved on to the gathered crowd of fans and posed for a number of photos that will likely dot Facebook in the coming days. He spoke again.

“That really means a lot to me. Thank you War Eagle. I do want to tell you this. You know what, when you pull up on a plane, and you see what I just saw tonight, it gives you goosebumps, reminds you of gameday. I see a lot of families here and this is the Auburn family. From me and my family, I want to say thank you and I’m going to tell you what. It’s going to be a great future and we’re going to get this thing rolling.“

Auburn cheerleaders, Aubie, a handful of players and a number of Auburn higher-ups were in attendance for the impromptu pep rally. Quite a different scene than yesterday. It seems the people at Auburn, at least the ones not hiding behind a user name on a message board, have warmed a bit to the former Iowa State coach.

Former Auburn linebacker Antarrious Williams, dressed in an Auburn letterman jacket, was in attendance. He had some nice things to say about Chizik.

Extremely elated. I think we got the right guy. All along, we interviewed 6, 7, 8 guys—I don’t know—before we hired Chizik. I said: Where is Gene Chizik? Where is Gene Chizik? He was my No. 1 choice before they even mentioned him. I think Jay Jacobs got this right on the head. A lot of people are underestimating Gene Chizik’s coaching ability and motivaging players and players buying into the system, which is the key right now.

That’s why Alabama’s successful—players are buying into Nick Saban’s system. It’s not that what they’re doing is so great. It’s that players beliebe what he’s saying. Players will buy into Gene Chizik.

He’s a fiery guy, I couldn’t tell you one time I can remember him cussing one players out, but he got on to us. He coached us hard. When Chizik left, it hurt us more to lose the guy than the coach. He’s a really good coach, but players were sad to lose Gene Chizik as a person as well.

That just speaks highly of his character. I think he’s just the right fit for us right now.

More airport fun on the way

It’s Sunday, the sun has risen, professional tackle football is on TV and Gene Chizik, like it or not, is still your new head coach.

From what I’ve been reading on the message boards today, that reality has sunk in for a bulk of the previously perturbed fans. And even those that are still upset, I think, are finally realizing there’s nothing they can do about it.

He’ll be Auburn’s man for a while now, and I really don’t expect to see many empty seats at Jordan-Hare Stadium throughout the 2009 season.

Chizik and some other unknowns will be landing at the Robert G. Pitts Auburn airport at 5:10 p.m. I will be there, of course, and I’m expecting a good amount of Auburn fans to be present as well. I’m really hoping they aren’t as classless as some of the fans were yesterday. That wouldn’t make for the warmest of welcomes and I’m hoping he’ll talk to the liberal media for more than 33 seconds.

Chizik is expected to address the team tonight before getting all dressed up to address an even larger contingent of liberal media at tomorrow’s press conference. Sorry, but you’re not invited.

Plenty of updates to come throughout the evening.