Paul Finebaum shares harsh criticism of Gus Malzahn, wonders if he's 'in over his head'
There are few who know more and are vocal about SEC football than Paul Finebaum.
The SEC Network host shared some very strong opinions about the future of Auburn coach Gus Malzahn when speaking with Michael Niziolek of the Ledger-Enquirer.
“That is probably the worst constructed game plan I’ve ever seen,” Finebaum told Niziolek about Auburn’s offensive strategy against Clemson. “Unmitigated disaster and the blame goes to Malzahn. It makes you ask is he an offensive genius or a high school coach that’s been fortunate to make the most of his opportunities but is in over his head?”
This weekend, Malzahn will face another head coach on the hot seat when Auburn plays LSU and Les Miles. Many believe that whichever coach loses Saturday’s matchup will effectively be finished with his program.
Finebaum wouldn’t go that far, but he does believe it’s a crucial game for Malzahn.
“To me it’s a critical game,” Finebaum told Niziolek. “Maybe not do or die, but certainly this will set the tone for the rest of the season. I mean do the math. Without this one, it’s hard to see them doing much better than .500.”
Touted as an offensive genius, Malzahn’s team has struggled to get production on that side of the ball. Auburn is currently No. 85 nationally in scoring offense, averaging 26.7 points per game, and No. 44 in total offense with 455.7 yards per game.
After leading Auburn to the national championship game in 2013, his first season as the Tigers’ head coach, Malzahn has struggled to recapture that success. The team went 8-5 in 2014 and 7-5 last year. With two losses already this season, Malzahn’s job may very well be on the line this Saturday.
I’m just curious as to how the Auburn fans feel about this. I mean, if he wins 7 or 8 games then I feel like he’s safe but if he goes 6-6 then what do you do? That’s a decline over 3 years if that happens.
I look at how things went and how things “might” have gone with a different coach. AU has been a few plays away from much better seasons the past couple of years, but those are plays that good teams are supposed to make and AU did not. I think the real problem with Malzahn is his loyalty to Lashlee who was a decent QB coach but a disaster as OC.
I understand the buck stops with the HC and Malzahn does not blame anyone but himself. I think he is good for AU and we will improve, but too many fans (from any school) get seriously antsy after a down spell, so who knows what the AD will do.
Most schools would love to have an OC and then HC that got them to the NC game twice (2010 and 2013) but some memories are too short. Some schools, e.g., UGA, fire coaches that average 10 wins – better than any previous coach. Hard to predict these days!
Sorry, this will be a little long.
It’s a tough call. The problem is our AD gives these coaches such exorbitant pay raises and extensions that it becomes such a costly move to fire them, first with Chizik and now with Malzahn. But I’ll even go back to Tuberville. After JetGate, Tuberville got a new contract that allowed him to walk if any of those underhanded moves were done again. And guess what, they were! That’s why we were paying Tubbs long after he left. I actually liked Tuberville because he at least provided consistency to the program up until that last year.
Anyway, we shouldn’t fire Malzahn mid-season because that doesn’t help anyone. But at the end of the season, we’ll see. 6-6 is unacceptable. Auburn has 5 years of top-11 recruiting classes (many of those within the top 7 or 8). You’re telling me with that much talent you can’t win more games?
The way I see it is that Malzahn IS an overrated coach. The reason he built up such a reputation is because he hit gold at each program he’s been at in his first or second year. But he’s never been anywhere longer than 3 years, and that was as Auburn’s OC from 2009-2011. And let’s be honest, 2010 was pure Cam–it wasn’t Chizik and it wasn’t Malzahn. The point is, he’s never had to develop players. He only has to install his prepackaged offense and it has some success. Why? Because it’s new, because opposing defenses don’t have much tape to review of it.
But as you’ve seen starting in 2014 onward, the more time defenses have to analyze Malzahn’s offense, the better they get at defending it. That was clearly evident in the game against A&M. The Aggies defense was in the backfield so much that they broke up the handoff between QB and HB on an almost regular basis. They weren’t tricked by any of the smoke and mirrors that Malzahn uses because that’s all he uses.
It was also clear that he can’t adapt mid-game. He just keeps trying the same plays hoping that this time they’ll catch the defense off-guard. So, I agree with Finebaum, he is in over his head.
Now, does he get to stick around or what? Well, $14 million is a lot of money. And frankly, I’m tired of paying ex-coaches.
If Malzahn goes at the end of the season, so too does Jay Jacobs and everyone else involved in the past two coaching hires.
As others have noted though, Auburn isn’t getting blown out–this year or last year (except LSU last year). They’re in the game for the most part. But that also has nothing to do with Malzahn and everything to do with the defense, which HAS gotten better over the years. So it’s an illusion of Auburn being better than they are. Almost winning is still losing.
Change needs to happen at Auburn no matter what it is. Lashlee is dead weight. It’s no secret that Lashlee is little more than Malzahn’s protégé. On paper, he’s the OC and QB coach, well those are two major problem areas on this team. But if Malzahn is actually the one in charge of all that, then why are paying Lashlee to just be on the sidelines shouting encouraging words? If I’m the AD, I’d force Malzahn into a hard choice–hire a new Offensive Coordinator or leave with Lashlee. I’m not quite sure how contracts work, but if Malzahn leaves on his own, Auburn surely can’t be on the hook for the whole buyout.
At any rate, Malzahn is at best a Sun Belt coach. I’m not sure who Auburn gets in his place. I thought we should have been pursuing Kirby Smart in 2012, not Malzahn, but they didn’t ask me. I’ve heard Tom Herman’s name bounced around–I don’t see that happening. And I’ve also heard Petrino. I also know that Jay Jacobs doesn’t like Petrino–and I wouldn’t want Petrino anyway.
So, given the state of the SEC, I’m not sure who Auburn gets. How do you convince a successful HC at some other school to come to Auburn, and oh by the way you get to compete against Nick Saban.
In short, Auburn’s not in a good situation. We’re screwed with Malzahn and we’re screwed without him.
Very good analysis of the situation. For years when the grumbling about Richt got loudest, the stay-the-course response was, “who ya gonna get that’s better?” Valid point, but sometimes you just have to say no to mediocrity, especially when you have plenty of hosses in the stable. I’m thinking, even if Malzahn stays, Auburn needs to move back to more of a pro or traditional spread offense and rely less heavily on the option. You need a perfectly-fitted QB to make Malzahn’s offense run, and both QBs who executed it so well just kind of fell into his lap. I wonder what the Auburn story would be today if Newton and Marshall had behaved themselves at Florida and Georgia, and never left. I suspect the Florida story would certainly be different.
Auburn can recruit some of the best in the country – the gimmicky offense is not necessary to compete in the SEC, especially when the league has now had time to figure it out.
Fire his butt 3 years of fluke plays
Butt hurt much? As I noted above, good teams make good plays and the “fluke” plays have gone against AU in the past couple of years.
The “Prayer at Jordan-Hare” was a combination of a bad play by one team and a heads-up play by the other. The real fluke play in that game was the non-TD that UGA was awarded when Murray ALMOST got to the end zone and the refs screwed up big time. For some reason they could not seem to find a decent video of the play – but I did – at the georgiadogs.com. It had conclusive proof that his knee was down with the ball about 2 feet from the goal line. So I guess the play you remember was just AU karma running over dogma.
The AU win over Bama was the result of coaches making a call at the game end that each thought was best for their team. One of them was right. Period. Had the field goal been good, that would considered that a “fluke”, since the kicker (Griffith) was 1 for 3 with a longest FG of 20 yards that year.
Hey doctor Larry what does the 2013 season have anything to do with his most recent 2-10 mark in the Sec? Auburn has good recruits but still gets worse so obviously coaching is the problem… better to admit than whine.
Auburn’s problem is not deciding on whether or not to fire its coaching staff, that’s not a complex conversation within the administration, until you get to the money and who’s up next.
In the SEC, schools can afford insane salaries for coaches, for lots of reasons. if you crunch the numbers, Saban makes Alabama a lot of money, in areas you might not expect. Example, a disproportionate number of out of state students (ALMOST HALF Alabama undergrads are now from out of state), and out of state students make the academic side of the school a tens of millions a year. That’s just one of the many revenue streams affected by a football coach. (Football makes about 85% of the sports revenue the school depends on to feed Title IX requirements, and on and on).
Auburn has paid two huge buy outs over the last decade, and has just paid off the last one. It’s about $13 mil to get rid of this staff, and who do you get to replace them? Not a huge pool of established, winning coaches with recruiting experience in Alabama to pick from.
You can pull the buyout trigger once in a while, but Auburn probably thinks its time to wait at least one more season before pulling it again. Unless Auburn completely implodes this year, Gus will be around next year.
Was handed Cam Newton Now Done.