This represents a turning point for Auburn, for our football program, in a good way (as long as it doesn't end with vacated wins or the death penalty, etc), for the University, not so much. If you're an alumni, professor, donor, parent, or community member around Auburn, the following may resonate more, if you're a fan of Auburn football, just go to the bottom I'll put a TLDR for you, but you will enjoy the product on the field.
I know many won't understand the difference between a football program and a University in terms of health and progress on an internet forum designed for football fanatics, but I've always loved Auburn University, and by association Auburn football. We could have taken the high road on this hire and shown the country that Auburn is on a different path, dumped a lot of resources into basketball, and basically said:
"hey 7-8 wins is enough as long as we maintain our integrity, we want to win championships, but there are lines we don't cross. We want to be an elite academic and athletic institution, and we value the Auburn brand/message/mission above football wins."
That's not the message that Chris Roberts or John Cohen decided to send, that's not the path we've chosen. If you're a football fan, that's wonderful news, if you cared about Auburn the University, it's a bad day. That's why you're seeing a lot of backlash, Auburn people have always cared about more than the football team, that's why this is disappointing, because the decision doesn't represent the opinion of a large percentage of the Auburn base about which direction we wanted to choose for this crossroad.
The message we have sent by this hire is "we will do whatever it takes to compete in football in the SEC, period, full stop." I think that is the disposition of many boosters who donate millions of dollars to our football program. It is not the disposition of many who were weighing gifts to the academic institution. What does that mean? Once the Auburn sphere has had time to digest this hire, I think it will mean a lot of people will sit down and wait to see how this pans out. Hugh is a high high risk person, he has done some things in the past which most agree, he has paid for dearly and what's done is done. However, he has shown a pattern of poor judgement, regarding sexuality, public relations, and honesty (shouldn't have lied about a lot of things) throughout his career. Freeze MAY be a changed man, MAYBE he's going to coach at Auburn for 10 years and we will win championships. He definitely knows the right things to say, but can he back that up with action...we will see.
Myself and many others want whats best for the school, not the football team, but the whole school, the whole town. Whats done is done, Hugh is the coach of the Auburn Tigers, I will root for him to DO an excellent job, BE an excellent person, and SHOW great integrity. I have serious doubts that it will play out like that, but that's what would be best for Auburn. IF this hire ends poorly well....it will have done irreversible damage to the reputation of our school and our culture that will take a lifetime to rebuild, if its possible. Those are the stakes.
I'm not going to shout down freeze, or roberts, or cohen, myself and many others didn't approve, but the best thing to do now is move forward and do what we can to support the administration, coaches, and players. If hugh is here in 5 years and hasn't screwed up I think I will be able to come around to the hire, but for now its wait and see. However all the creed burners need to take a step back, I think Hugh has a chance to handle himself well and if that's the case then all Auburn did was give a flawed man a chance at redemption, which is a good thing.
As we always say....War Eagle anyway.
TLDR for football only folks; Freeze is a very high risk person due to a history of bad judgement, maybe it will pan out who knows, but it sends a poor message nationally that we are overly desperate to win at football and damages the national perception of Auburn as a high character, mission oriented academic institution. But we will probably win a lot of football games.
I know many won't understand the difference between a football program and a University in terms of health and progress on an internet forum designed for football fanatics, but I've always loved Auburn University, and by association Auburn football. We could have taken the high road on this hire and shown the country that Auburn is on a different path, dumped a lot of resources into basketball, and basically said:
"hey 7-8 wins is enough as long as we maintain our integrity, we want to win championships, but there are lines we don't cross. We want to be an elite academic and athletic institution, and we value the Auburn brand/message/mission above football wins."
That's not the message that Chris Roberts or John Cohen decided to send, that's not the path we've chosen. If you're a football fan, that's wonderful news, if you cared about Auburn the University, it's a bad day. That's why you're seeing a lot of backlash, Auburn people have always cared about more than the football team, that's why this is disappointing, because the decision doesn't represent the opinion of a large percentage of the Auburn base about which direction we wanted to choose for this crossroad.
The message we have sent by this hire is "we will do whatever it takes to compete in football in the SEC, period, full stop." I think that is the disposition of many boosters who donate millions of dollars to our football program. It is not the disposition of many who were weighing gifts to the academic institution. What does that mean? Once the Auburn sphere has had time to digest this hire, I think it will mean a lot of people will sit down and wait to see how this pans out. Hugh is a high high risk person, he has done some things in the past which most agree, he has paid for dearly and what's done is done. However, he has shown a pattern of poor judgement, regarding sexuality, public relations, and honesty (shouldn't have lied about a lot of things) throughout his career. Freeze MAY be a changed man, MAYBE he's going to coach at Auburn for 10 years and we will win championships. He definitely knows the right things to say, but can he back that up with action...we will see.
Myself and many others want whats best for the school, not the football team, but the whole school, the whole town. Whats done is done, Hugh is the coach of the Auburn Tigers, I will root for him to DO an excellent job, BE an excellent person, and SHOW great integrity. I have serious doubts that it will play out like that, but that's what would be best for Auburn. IF this hire ends poorly well....it will have done irreversible damage to the reputation of our school and our culture that will take a lifetime to rebuild, if its possible. Those are the stakes.
I'm not going to shout down freeze, or roberts, or cohen, myself and many others didn't approve, but the best thing to do now is move forward and do what we can to support the administration, coaches, and players. If hugh is here in 5 years and hasn't screwed up I think I will be able to come around to the hire, but for now its wait and see. However all the creed burners need to take a step back, I think Hugh has a chance to handle himself well and if that's the case then all Auburn did was give a flawed man a chance at redemption, which is a good thing.
As we always say....War Eagle anyway.
TLDR for football only folks; Freeze is a very high risk person due to a history of bad judgement, maybe it will pan out who knows, but it sends a poor message nationally that we are overly desperate to win at football and damages the national perception of Auburn as a high character, mission oriented academic institution. But we will probably win a lot of football games.
