We’re less than a month into the 2015 season and there are a number of teams that seem to be vying for the title of most disappointing in September. Perhaps leading the charge is Auburn.
In four weeks, the Tigers have gone from preseason top-10 and playoff contender to 2-2 and outside the top 25. Auburn’s most recent outing had it on the short side of a 17-9 home loss to Mississippi State in which the Tigers were held without a touchdown.
The nine points on Saturday was especially dismal considering Auburn’s reputation as an offensive juggernaut under head coach Gus Malzahn. In 2015 however, that’s hardly been the case.
Auburn needed a last second touchdown and overtime just to beat FCS Jacksonville State in its home opener before being ran roughshod last week against LSU. The trouncing in Baton Rogue forced the Tigers to bench starting quarterback and once-perceived Heisman hopeful Jeremy Johnson in favor of freshman Sean White.
Few are calling for Malzahn’s job, but based on Auburn’s standards with head coaches, is it time for fans to be making that call?
Looking at the Tigers’ remaining schedule, the only contests where Auburn is sure to be the favorite are against San Jose State and Idaho. Trips to Lexington and Fayetteville look to be toss-ups and if Auburn goes 5-7 or worse and fails to make a bowl game, a coaching change may not be out of the realm of possibility.
Malzahn’s predecessor, Gene Chizik, was given the boot just two seasons after winning a national championship. With Malzahn as offensive coordinator and Heisman Trophy winner Cam Newton leading one of the nation’s prolific attacks, the Tigers were 14-0 in 2010 — Chizik’s second season on the plains — and won their first national championship in over a half century.
Chizik led Auburn to an 8-5 record the following year, but his team finished just 3-9 and winless in SEC play in 2012. Enter Gus Malzahn.
Malzahn’s arrival at Auburn was much more celebrated than Chizik’s. After all, Chizik was just 5-19 in two seasons as head man at Iowa State before taking the job while Malzahn had success in the SEC as a coordinator at Arkansas and Auburn before going 9-3 in his only season at Arkansas State.
The coaching change netted instant results as Malzahn took Auburn from a team without a win in conference play to a SEC crown and an appearance in the BCS National Championship. Unlike his predecessor, Malzahn’s team came up one stop short in a 34-31 loss to Florida State, but the future remained bright.
Like his predecessor and former boss, Malzahn followed up a national championship appearance with an 8-5 campaign. Chizik’s fourth and final season at Auburn was a disaster and the same is shaping up to be true for Malzahn’s third season. If Auburn is unable to drastically turn its season around, how long will Malzahn’s leash be?
Unlike Malzahn to this point, each of his two predecessors were able to complete perfect seasons and were fired a relatively short time later. Tommy Tuberville, who preceded Chizik at Auburn, didn’t win a national championship, but led the Tigers to a perfect 13-0 campaign in 2004.
Tuberville led Auburn to a winning season in eight straight years from 2000-2007 and nine or more wins six times during that span. Still, Tuberville was let go after a 5-7 season in 2008 — the first losing campaign for the Tigers since his first at Auburn in 1999.
The good news for Malzahn is that there is still plenty of time to turn things around. Auburn was competitive with Mississippi State on Saturday night and the defense under new coordinator Will Muschamp is showing signs of improvement.
But if things don’t turn around in 2015, the question becomes how much time will Malzahn be given to right the ship that nearly floated atop the college football world less than two years ago. With arch-rival Alabama having won three of the last six national championships and consistently out-recruiting the rest of the country, the answer may very well be not very long.
