An Article of Some Sorts.
2-09-10
by: Mark


Curtis Luper sums up his personal philosophy with his hands gestures: "Always shoot your opponent in the face with your right hand, but remember to hang loose with your left hand."		 Being ranked in the top five in recruiting is awesome. But, I do have a complaint. The following is from an al.com article this past June;

First-year head coach Gene Chizik has given plenty of freedom to Luper and assistant head coach Trooper Taylor on recruiting matters, but Luper said that doesn't mean Chizik is absent from the conceptual process. Chizik has vetoed plans that go too far or don't have a clear purpose.

"He'll shoot it down or he'll make us justify ourselves, and he's always been that type of coach and that type of person," Luper said. "We know that when we bring up an issue that he'll want to know how and know why."

What!?!?

I really want to know what those “too hot for Auburn” schemes were. I especially want to know what the plans were that didn't have a clear purpose, because when it comes to football – those are the best ones.

Pictures from the Chizik approved recruiting events:






What were the other ideas? Maybe Luper wanted to create a “Tiger Walk”, which would have players walk to the stadium with fans cheering at them from all sides. Would he have a bird of prey circle the stadium before football games? I don't know. But whatever he's doing, it's working, because we're getting guys like Corey Lemonier to sign at Auburn.

Rivals.com says Lemonier he is reminiscent of Quentin Groves – pictured here with anti-pirate gear. Here's a picture of Corey Lemonier with pro-pirate gear... it's a rare picture of a football recruit with a firearm which actually won't cause you to cringe;

What do Curtis Luper and Trooper Taylor do when they learn that a four star DE likes pirate gear? The tiger prowl hits the high seas! It's not a recruiting violation if it happens on international waters!!!!!



Winning the Outback Bowl and a top 5 recruiting class has me excited about 2010. The final verdict for 2009 was forgettable. 8-5 is probably the most boring record possible. Not horrible. Not great. But, it leaves promise for the next year – and that's the best possible thing to have from January through August.

I'm ashamed that I didn't write an Iron Bowl article this year... I actually did write an article, but it ended up sounding like every other article I read on the subject, which could all be summarized with this;

I'm not going to call the game a moral victory. I don't believe in those. But.... [[[insert a long description on how the game was a moral victory without actually calling it one]]].

By the way, in 1977, the same year Alabama won a national championship, the movie “Apollo” won the Academy Award for Best Picture. It was a movie about a champion with many championships who fought a loser and won. To enjoy the movie from any other perspective would've been stupid – only a loser would want to watch that movie since only losers applaud the efforts of fellow losers.

I thought Gene Chizik was a 5-19 version of Nick Saban. He was just as short, just as prone to wearing stupid suits, and just as prone to leaving jobs in the dead of night. He seemed to be just like Saban, but without a tendency of winning football games. Was a worse coaching hire even possible? If you asked me in December 2008 to choose between Lane Kiffin and Gene Chizik, I would've picked Kiffin. I also would've picked Mike Leach, Jim Leavitt, Derick Dooley and Larry Langford over Chizik. That's not true today. This staff is amazing - so is Gene Chizik.

 


E-mail Mark at mark@theauburner.com