As Auburn’s coach from 2009-12, Gene Chizik is quite familiar with the power dynamic on The Plains.

That makes him as qualified as about anyone to talk about current Tigers coach Gus Malzahn, who was his offensive coordinator when Auburn won the 2010 BCS national championship. After a disappointing 7-5 season, Auburn administrators have reportedly turned up the pressure on Malzahn with contract negotiations.

Chizik appeared on ESPN Radio on Friday to discuss Malzahn’s standing with the school, and he was quite sympathetic toward his successor. An AL.com report detailed Chizik’s nearly five-minute answer to a question about Malzahn posed by Rick Neuheisel.

“It’s different at Auburn, to say the least,” Chizik told Neuheisel. “Part of the reason, Rick, as you know, is, first of all, there’s no professional sports in the state, right? So what does everybody hang their hat on? Look, when you’re in first grade, about a 75-year-old gentlemen told me one time, he was surrounded by five guys, and in first grade on the playground, he had to decide whether he was Alabama or Auburn.

And that’s no joke, and you decide who you are. And then you never flip, you never flip flop. And that story is a microcosm of what happens in this state simply with the Auburn-Alabama rivalry.”

Chizik went on to lament Malzahn’s never-ending comparison to Nick Saban and the dominant Alabama program Auburn shares a state with, claiming those associated with the Tigers have “knee-jerk reactions” to the Crimson Tide’s success. The former Auburn coach was also critical of “power brokers” and former players who have voiced their displeasure with Malzahn, either publicly or behind the scenes.

Chizik concluded his defense of Malzahn by saying, “You can’t tell me Gus is a bad coach.”