… and then see about clearing the air a little. Let’s start with a little Q&A:
“Who’s this Will guy, and why does he have a column here?”
Perfectly good question! I’m a third-generation Auburn alum, graduated in ’92. I started writing about Auburn football in grade school. Thirty years ago this week (more or less) I wrote the first drafts of what would become “The Uncivil War” about the AU-uat rivalry in the 80’s and early 90’s; it was published (with my bammer co-author Scott Brown) in the summer of ’95.
I continued to write shorter pieces for ITAT and occasionally for the now long-defunct Birmingham Post-Herald and other places over the years, and I have also been writing online for about as long as that’s been a thing. In 2001, Rivals honcho Will Woods invited me to write a Monday-morning Auburn column during football season, and thanks to Will and all the AuburnSports.com publishers who’ve followed him, I’ve been doing it pretty much ever since.
When 24/7 was first standing up they reached out to me to see if I’d be interested in their Auburn beat writer job, which was incredibly flattering for somebody who didn’t have a background in formal journalism, but I already had (a) a career in engineering that I didn’t want to abandon, and (b) a wife who did not want to live in small-town Alabama, so I passed.
@JayGTate and I used to get into it a bit back in his Advertiser days, but I’m happy to say that hatchet is long-since buried; it’s been nothing but a pleasure working with Jay since he took over the site.
“Why doesn’t he ever respond to me in the threads for his columns?”
As noted above, I’ve been writing online for 30 years now, about lots of topics, notably politics and music as well as sports. One of the first things you pick up if you do that is:
I had a regular gig with al dot com during the 2010 season, and brother, if you think the Bunker can post some doozies, you oughta see the stuff the Updyke Nation came up with that year.
But beyond that, I think the column is the place where I have my say, and I don’t feel right about intruding into the space where everybody else has theirs.
And you may be on my ignore list anyway.
“What is this guy’s agenda? Why doesn’t he get with the program?”
I want to see Auburn succeed. That’s it.
(Although I’ll allow that I would also like to see Georgia and bama fail.)
But I’m not a cheerleader, or a recruiter, or a flack. My job here is to look at what’s going on and write what I think about it. If somebody did well on a given Saturday, I’m going to say that. If they’re stinking up the place, I’m going to say that. I’m definitely not here to carry anybody’s party line, or to try and blow smoke up all of your butts. If you want that, there are plenty of places where you can find it.
“Why is he allowed to write here when he hates Hugh Freeze?”
That’s not really a question for me, but I’ll address the second half. I don’t hate Hugh Freeze. I think I made it clear that I was not in favor of his hiring, but one of the reasons I stepped back from the Bunker for a while (besides being insanely busy with my Real Job and a lot of family stuff, especially during the spring) was to just see how things went. And I thought he did more-or-less fine in the offseason. I thought the team looked like it had its heads on straight in the opener, although as I said at the time, there’s only so much you can glean from a cupcake win.
Things have not gone particularly well since, and I would not be doing anybody any favors if I pretended otherwise. Regarding this week’s controversy, I do want to say here that when I looked at Freeze’s public statements, and at what’s going on with that alleged offense, I thought it was a best-case scenario (although not one without costs, as I said in the column) if he had actually handed the offense off to the assistants for the year while he concentrates on recruiting.
I have been told since Monday that is not the case, to which I have to say, “That is worse news than if he wasn’t coaching.” But we’ll see what happens going forward.
“Why aren’t you giving Freeze any credit for recruiting?”
Because I don’t write about recruiting, and outside of recognizing the obvious need to recruit well in order to succeed, I don’t pay much attention to the details of recruiting in any given year. I went to the same high school as two of the biggest “five-star” busts in the state of Alabama’s history (Alan Evans and Charley Dare), and that experience gave me a very jaundiced view of recruiting hype in general. It’s not my bag, as Austin Powers would say.
I will say this: I don’t know how you can give Auburn’s current recruiting status any grade other than “Incomplete” right now. Certainly, having commitments is better than having none, but a commitment is not a signee (if you aren’t at least concerned that there’s another Kirby dirty trick lurking in that list, you haven’t been paying attention), and a signee is not automatically a contributor. I certainly hope these guys can hold a good class and develop the results and put them on the field in a position to succeed. But those things haven’t happened yet. Too soon to tell.
“Who’s this Will guy, and why does he have a column here?”
Perfectly good question! I’m a third-generation Auburn alum, graduated in ’92. I started writing about Auburn football in grade school. Thirty years ago this week (more or less) I wrote the first drafts of what would become “The Uncivil War” about the AU-uat rivalry in the 80’s and early 90’s; it was published (with my bammer co-author Scott Brown) in the summer of ’95.
I continued to write shorter pieces for ITAT and occasionally for the now long-defunct Birmingham Post-Herald and other places over the years, and I have also been writing online for about as long as that’s been a thing. In 2001, Rivals honcho Will Woods invited me to write a Monday-morning Auburn column during football season, and thanks to Will and all the AuburnSports.com publishers who’ve followed him, I’ve been doing it pretty much ever since.
When 24/7 was first standing up they reached out to me to see if I’d be interested in their Auburn beat writer job, which was incredibly flattering for somebody who didn’t have a background in formal journalism, but I already had (a) a career in engineering that I didn’t want to abandon, and (b) a wife who did not want to live in small-town Alabama, so I passed.
@JayGTate and I used to get into it a bit back in his Advertiser days, but I’m happy to say that hatchet is long-since buried; it’s been nothing but a pleasure working with Jay since he took over the site.
“Why doesn’t he ever respond to me in the threads for his columns?”
As noted above, I’ve been writing online for 30 years now, about lots of topics, notably politics and music as well as sports. One of the first things you pick up if you do that is:
I had a regular gig with al dot com during the 2010 season, and brother, if you think the Bunker can post some doozies, you oughta see the stuff the Updyke Nation came up with that year.
But beyond that, I think the column is the place where I have my say, and I don’t feel right about intruding into the space where everybody else has theirs.
And you may be on my ignore list anyway.
“What is this guy’s agenda? Why doesn’t he get with the program?”
I want to see Auburn succeed. That’s it.
(Although I’ll allow that I would also like to see Georgia and bama fail.)
But I’m not a cheerleader, or a recruiter, or a flack. My job here is to look at what’s going on and write what I think about it. If somebody did well on a given Saturday, I’m going to say that. If they’re stinking up the place, I’m going to say that. I’m definitely not here to carry anybody’s party line, or to try and blow smoke up all of your butts. If you want that, there are plenty of places where you can find it.
“Why is he allowed to write here when he hates Hugh Freeze?”
That’s not really a question for me, but I’ll address the second half. I don’t hate Hugh Freeze. I think I made it clear that I was not in favor of his hiring, but one of the reasons I stepped back from the Bunker for a while (besides being insanely busy with my Real Job and a lot of family stuff, especially during the spring) was to just see how things went. And I thought he did more-or-less fine in the offseason. I thought the team looked like it had its heads on straight in the opener, although as I said at the time, there’s only so much you can glean from a cupcake win.
Things have not gone particularly well since, and I would not be doing anybody any favors if I pretended otherwise. Regarding this week’s controversy, I do want to say here that when I looked at Freeze’s public statements, and at what’s going on with that alleged offense, I thought it was a best-case scenario (although not one without costs, as I said in the column) if he had actually handed the offense off to the assistants for the year while he concentrates on recruiting.
I have been told since Monday that is not the case, to which I have to say, “That is worse news than if he wasn’t coaching.” But we’ll see what happens going forward.
“Why aren’t you giving Freeze any credit for recruiting?”
Because I don’t write about recruiting, and outside of recognizing the obvious need to recruit well in order to succeed, I don’t pay much attention to the details of recruiting in any given year. I went to the same high school as two of the biggest “five-star” busts in the state of Alabama’s history (Alan Evans and Charley Dare), and that experience gave me a very jaundiced view of recruiting hype in general. It’s not my bag, as Austin Powers would say.
I will say this: I don’t know how you can give Auburn’s current recruiting status any grade other than “Incomplete” right now. Certainly, having commitments is better than having none, but a commitment is not a signee (if you aren’t at least concerned that there’s another Kirby dirty trick lurking in that list, you haven’t been paying attention), and a signee is not automatically a contributor. I certainly hope these guys can hold a good class and develop the results and put them on the field in a position to succeed. But those things haven’t happened yet. Too soon to tell.
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