What is this?

It is a semi-regular – i.e., when I feel like writing something – assessment of Auburn athletics from a fan’s perspective.

What makes me qualified to do this?

I passed my ninth grade typing class and once got an autograph from reserve Auburn linebacker Kevis Burnam. So highly qualified. But truly I hope to keep this fun and lighthearted while delving into the constant flux of joy and angst that comes from loving Auburn.

So let’s just drop this Q&A concept because I don’t know what this will ultimately look like, but I hope it will bring a few minutes of enjoyment to your day.

The Current AUra (trademark pending) of Auburn Athletics Is: Wistful

Auburn fans were greeted by a couple of pieces of sad news this week with the death of Phillip Marshall and the retirement from coaching of Gus Malzahn.

First, on Marshall, I am probably the odd duck who was less familiar with Marshall’s work over the majority of his career but got to know his writing more in the last several years at Auburn Undercover. To be completely honest with you, I was usually lukewarm on the opinion columns from his final years, but I absolutely loved the features he wrote on players and coaches.

I never met Marshall, but it was obvious he was big on connecting with people. His ability to hunt down and talk to the people closely connected to his featured subject was old-school, pound-the-pavement journalism. The extra effort produced a fuller sense of the person being profiled. Being able to tell a story about a coach or player as a human being and not as an abstract athletic prodigy or coaching wizard will always make for the most compelling reporting. Marshall was among the best at this.

Also, if you happen to catch an interview with someone telling the story of Marshall walking around downtown Nashville without shoes, it is worth a couple of minutes of your time to hear it.

On to the Malzahn news, it feels a little like losing a friend, though Gus will no doubt still be destroying buckets full of Dubble Bubble well into the future. Gus stepping down as offensive coordinator of Florida State leaves us in the somewhat odd position of having no former head coaches actually coaching football at this moment. Not only are Auburn fans floating adrift in a vast college football ocean after five consecutive losing seasons and a rapidly evolving definition of what constitutes a student athlete, but there is not even a familiar face on another team’s sidelines for us to use as a mooring.

Gus casts a longer shadow than I sense many of us realize. I think a tweet from Auburn Twitter legend @6pintsofkramer accurately highlights that Malzahn is the most recent former football coach still liked and appreciated by a majority of Auburn fans. Bryan Harsin never seemed to care about trying to fit into the Auburn Family. The best he could muster was tossing some super cool ball caps to Auburn’s beat writers. Hugh Freeze’s arrival was immediately met with mixed reactions, and, though Freeze certainly seemed at ease with paying lip service to Auburn’s culture, his on-the-field results and his dogged belief in his flailing offensive philosophy never allowed Auburn fans to embrace his regime. And, of course, Auburn fans are still on the equivalent of a second date with Alex Golesh. Coach, we need to know your views on toilet paper use outside of a restroom setting as well as your strategy for offensive line development before we can say we love you.

Gus was the last coach to give us the warm and fuzzies, and while it probably would be disingenuous to say he is the most beloved coach in Auburn football history, he did take us to heights many Auburn fans had not experienced before or since. Gus coached and developed the player who had the single greatest season of offensive production in Auburn history. He took an Auburn program coming off its worst winning percentage in decades to an SEC championship and a national championship game appearance the very next year. He beat Auburn’s most hated rivals in back-to-back games when both rivals carried a number one ranking. (Yes, I realize I am ignoring we played La. Monroe between those games.) And lest we forget, he was the victorious coach in the greatest game in college football history. For Auburn fans the Kick Six was more of a historical touchstone than the moon landing, O.J.’s car chase or the Eras Tour.

Where was I during the Kick Six? I’m glad you asked. Despite being too old to still be in the student section, I was occupying space on the very top row of section 23 of Jordan-Hare Stadium. While too old for the student section, I was too young to remember Van Tiffin’s last-second 52-yard bomb launched from the concrete-esque artificial turf of Legion Field, but that name, unfortunately, was bulldozing its way to the front of my brain in the moment.

I did notice before the fateful play was snapped Chris Davis had posted up under the shadow of the goalpost. The only words I remember uttering was yelling, “He can run it back!” to no one in particular as Davis cradled the fluttering leather prolate spheroid to his chest. As he broke into the open, my lifetime of scar tissue from being an Auburn fan ruptured as I scanned the field for flags and telepathically begged Chris not to release the ball before crossing the goal line. Happily, he obliged. After that there was only blurred shapes and a sustained reverberation of crowd noise. I hugged my friend, Erin, to my left and then turned to the right and hugged the Chambers County sheriff’s deputy who decided to sidle up next to me earlier in the game. I don’t know his allegiance, but I can verify he had no intention of trying to keep ‘em off the field that night.

That’s the feeling Gus brought us, and that’s what we have desperately missed in the last few years. Gus even offered Auburn one final gift last season with an unspectacular but consistent hammering of a Crimson Tide defense expected to show great improvement in its second year under the same coach. Now with a much more open schedule, I hope Gus and Kristi spend a lot of their time around Auburn and revel in the memories of their time leading Auburn to the pinnacle of collegiate sports.

Basketball Thoughts

Hey, we do have current athletic events to discuss. The men’s basketball team ripped off five wins in six SEC games before falling at Tennessee last Saturday. The big step forward could not have come at a better time for Steven Pearl. Obviously, you have to give a new coach time to grow into the role, but a few blowout losses – albeit to likely Final Four teams – coupled with an 0-2 start to SEC play had allowed a smidgen of doubt to creep into the minds of some fans.

Not anymore.

If you beat Florida in Gainesville for the first time since February 1996, Pearl can do no wrong the rest of the season. That 1996 team was led by Lance Weems and Wes Flanigan – you might know him as Allen’s dad – along with my favorite mid-90s player and yours, “The Governor” Franklin Williams. Norm MacDonald was playing Bob Dole on SNL at the time, and Bone Thugs-N-Harmony would not even be telling us whom they would be meeting at Tha Crossroads until a couple of months later. It had been a minute.

Some other quick basketball observations:

• Being Bruce Pearl’s son giveth and taketh away. Giveth: a major conference head coaching job falls in your lap at age 38. Taketh away: your dad often gives the team you are about to face large-print bulletin board material. For example, Bruce has already mentioned how his last Auburn team b**** slapped Purdue in the prior year’s meeting and how Alabama should not be allowed in the NCAA Tournament this year because they are somehow playing a man who had consciously made a choice to surrender college eligibility to become a professional basketball player. None of this may mean anything a few possessions into the game, but, Dad, can you just hold off sharing your thoughts until after we play the dang team?
• Alabama’s ROI on Charles Bediako has not been sterling so far, but no matter which judge is presiding in Bediako’s court case – booster or nonbooster – who would be willing to rule against him remaining eligible? Judges in Alabama have to get reelected to keep their jobs. That includes Tuscaloosa County.
• Let it be known this is a Filip Jović stan article series. I would give a couple shekels to know the sentiments exchanged between our Bosnian beast and the University of Texas’ dastardly Lithuanian giant Matas Vokietaitis last week. It didn’t look like they were hashing out the finer details of eastern European geopolitical strategy while on the court together.
• Finally, speaking of being a stan, new women’s basketball coach Larry Vickers is already moving into beloved status due to his team’s victory over a ranked Alabama squad. Vickers’ first team may lack championship talent but, dang it, if they are not a scrappy bunch. Vickers is no doubt looking forward to the back half of the SEC schedule where the difficulty is merely set at hard instead of insanity.