So news broke today that Wesley McGriff, whom we all know lovingly as "Crime," is leaving Auburn for Texas A&M. He will serve as a position coach with the Aggies.
This has been confirmed by AuburnSports.com.
As you recall, Crime was moved off the field during this past season after some disagreements with a few folks within the organization. He became the CZAR OF ACCOUNTABILITY, working in his own (new) sphere with guys he really got along with, and continued being the excellent recruiter that he's always been. This created a conundrum in that CZAR OF ACCOUNTABILITY is an important job yet not one that garners much prestige within the coaching ranks. The real money and esteem, at least among guys below the head coach, is associated with position coaches. And once you move out of that professional vertical, so to speak, it can be tough to get back in.
So that's where Crime found himself two weeks ago. Hugh Freeze was at least somewhat vocal about wanting Crime to remain in the CZAR OF ACCOUNTABILITY role, but Crime respectfully resisted. He wants to continue on as a position coach — and that's what he did. He found a job working for Mike Elko and alongside Trooper Taylor at Texas A&M.
Freeze saw the writing on the wall and covered himself by hiring Charles Kelly from Colorado — a defensive backs coach by trade who also has much experience as a coordinator PLUS he's an accomplished recruiter. On face value, that's an upgrade.
And in some ways it is. Kelly is overqualified for this job. I suspect he'll be excellent here assuming he gets along with everyone.
In some ways, though, this could be a step back. Freeze is HUGE on trust. He doesn't trust easily and his default setting, at least from my perspective, is to be skeptical of people he doesn't know. So here comes Charles Kelly, a guy whom Freeze knows only peripherally and who is well-connected with certain folks within the Auburn sphere who haven't always been supportive of Auburn head coaches.
We can argue that some recent Auburn coaches didn't deserve support. I probably would agree with you. Still, we know Auburn has a long history of behind-the-scenes treachery when it comes to football. Will Freeze be uneasy with Kelly around? My view, and it's merely a guess, is that things will be fine. Freeze has done excellent work getting level with movers and shakers within the Auburn sphere. And while Freeze harbors that same skepticism that typified his good buddy Gus Malzahn, he also has the ability (unlike Malzahn) to be vulnerable and connect with people and small-talk with people and network his way through. He understands how to politick. He's good at it.
Chizik was not good at that. Gus was not good at that. Harsin was particularly bad at that.
In this NIL era where programs MUST stick together to keep things moving forward, Freeze has this train rolling through a lot of hard work and sensitivity to how THINGS WORK AT AUBURN. It's pretty unified. It's easier to keep things unified rather than get things unified. It's inertia and all that.
Other items to ponder:
This has been confirmed by AuburnSports.com.
As you recall, Crime was moved off the field during this past season after some disagreements with a few folks within the organization. He became the CZAR OF ACCOUNTABILITY, working in his own (new) sphere with guys he really got along with, and continued being the excellent recruiter that he's always been. This created a conundrum in that CZAR OF ACCOUNTABILITY is an important job yet not one that garners much prestige within the coaching ranks. The real money and esteem, at least among guys below the head coach, is associated with position coaches. And once you move out of that professional vertical, so to speak, it can be tough to get back in.
So that's where Crime found himself two weeks ago. Hugh Freeze was at least somewhat vocal about wanting Crime to remain in the CZAR OF ACCOUNTABILITY role, but Crime respectfully resisted. He wants to continue on as a position coach — and that's what he did. He found a job working for Mike Elko and alongside Trooper Taylor at Texas A&M.
Freeze saw the writing on the wall and covered himself by hiring Charles Kelly from Colorado — a defensive backs coach by trade who also has much experience as a coordinator PLUS he's an accomplished recruiter. On face value, that's an upgrade.
And in some ways it is. Kelly is overqualified for this job. I suspect he'll be excellent here assuming he gets along with everyone.
In some ways, though, this could be a step back. Freeze is HUGE on trust. He doesn't trust easily and his default setting, at least from my perspective, is to be skeptical of people he doesn't know. So here comes Charles Kelly, a guy whom Freeze knows only peripherally and who is well-connected with certain folks within the Auburn sphere who haven't always been supportive of Auburn head coaches.
We can argue that some recent Auburn coaches didn't deserve support. I probably would agree with you. Still, we know Auburn has a long history of behind-the-scenes treachery when it comes to football. Will Freeze be uneasy with Kelly around? My view, and it's merely a guess, is that things will be fine. Freeze has done excellent work getting level with movers and shakers within the Auburn sphere. And while Freeze harbors that same skepticism that typified his good buddy Gus Malzahn, he also has the ability (unlike Malzahn) to be vulnerable and connect with people and small-talk with people and network his way through. He understands how to politick. He's good at it.
Chizik was not good at that. Gus was not good at that. Harsin was particularly bad at that.
In this NIL era where programs MUST stick together to keep things moving forward, Freeze has this train rolling through a lot of hard work and sensitivity to how THINGS WORK AT AUBURN. It's pretty unified. It's easier to keep things unified rather than get things unified. It's inertia and all that.
Other items to ponder:
- Will Kelly and Zac Etheridge harmonize well?
- Can Trovon Reed move into that CZAR OF ACCOUNTABILITY role and thrive as Crime did? Does he want to do that job and get typecast in that manner?
- Can Freeze learn to trust another "outsider" in Kelly?
- Can Kelly bring with him some talent — either from Colorado or a portal player with whom he's familiar?
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