Auburn stunned the nation this weekend with the hire of its former assistant as the program's new head coach, Gene Chizik.  Most people, myself included, thought that if Auburn was willing to fire a coach with 80+ wins in the last 10 seasons, then they were going for a homerun in their coaching hire.  Instead what they hit amounted to no more than a bunt...probably not even a bunt single.

During the search, Jay Jacobs interviewed several mediocre candidates including some minority coaches.  While most thought these were just "token" interviews done to please the media, most thought that the most legitimate of the coaches interviewed was Turner Gill.  Gill's Buffalo squad was coming off a surprise win against a then undefeated Ball State to win the MAC title.  Other names began popping up including Spurrier and, yes, Bobby Petrino.  Most thought that while Jacobs was conducting the "token" interviews, the real powers that be were working behind the scenes to get their real coach.  No one was prepared for the announcement of Iowa State's Gene Chizik as Auburn's new head coach. 

This hire has to be one of the most enormous failures in college football history.  It is a testament to how out of touch both the Auburn boosters and the athletic director are with their fanbase and the SEC in general.  Coming off a 36-0 loss to arch-rival Alabama in the Iron Bowl, Jacobs and his cronies...or should I say Auburn booster Bobby Lowder and his cronies, fired Tuberville and tried to make the world believe the coach had resigned.  Nobody bought it, yet they're sticking to their story.  Then, they go out and interview coaches who really shouldn't have been legitimate candidates in the first place.  Finally, they settle with Chizik in one of the biggest blunders ever.

So why does this set the program back 100 years?  Where do I even begin?  First Auburn attempts to make the "appearance" of a school ready to take a progressive direction and give a minority coach a shot in Turner Gill.  While no one expected Auburn to hire Gill, everyone expected them to pick a head coach that was actually better than Coach Gill.  Still, the actual hiring of Gill could have turned things around on so many levels.  It could have shown a school from the deep south willing to step up and make the hire of an African American coach.  Gill also has the talents to actually turn things around in Auburn.  Just look at what he did in his short stint in Buffalo.  There was no reason to believe he couldn't accomplish the same thing in a recruiting hotbed and major program like Auburn.  Instead, they go in the absolute opposite direction and choose the good ole' boy, Gene Chizik.  The same good ole' boys who tried to oust Tuberville the first time in 2003, but were caught, were standing by Chizik's side as he arrived into Auburn including the legendary Pat Dye who had virtually disappeared from the program after the embarrassment of his involvement in the coup to get rid of Tuberville 5 years ago. 

Aside from the issue of race, the program is set back further because Chizik has already had a head coaching gig and proven himself a monumental failure at Iowa State.  The Cyclones went through the Big 12 North, the weaker of the two divisions this year, without a single win.  Not one conference win.  Worst of all, they didn't even play the big 3 in Oklahoma, Texas, or Texas Tech.  Chizik is often credited as a defensive guru.  True enough he did serve as an assistant on Auburn's 2004 undefeated squad and followed that up with a stint in Texas the following year when the Horns won the National Championship.  But this season, the defensive genius gave up an average of 33 points per contest.  Sure, he didn't have much to work with in Iowa State, but 33 points a game?  Did the team even show up? 

Auburn, and the entire state of Alabama, has been set back 100 years as a result of this ridiculous hire.  Often African Americans have a hard time making a legitimate complaint when they aren't considered and another coach, with a better record and more experience, gets a job as a head coach.  Auburn can't make that argument to justify its hire.  Plain and simple, Turner Gill was more qualified than Gene Chizik.  In fact, it wasn't even close.  It's hard enough in this day and age to get rid of the stigma associated with our history here in Alabama.  Auburn just took all that work and flushed it down the toilet.  Way to go Jacobs...oops...I meant Lowder.  Not like they really care about all that anyway.