takethepoints
Helluva Engineer
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Yes. The main thing that a program needs nowadays, imho, is a coach who either wins enough to tell the Big Donors™ to go peddle their potatoes or, like Saban, gets the AD tells them in no uncertain terms to do the same. This is risky if you aren't a Bama, but it needs to be done. I hope Tech hires someone who has the guts to do this first off and not shilly-shally about it. Then it's simple: win or go home.Alabama today is Alabama because Saban told them to F off unless he had 100% control, which he does. He has totally transformed the Bama athletic dept towards one objective and that's winning national championships and being a pipeline to the NFL. Auburn needs some serious soul searching to compete with that. Growing up, it was maybe 60/40? Today, the state is probably 70/30. Outside of Birmingham and Montgomery, Auburn's fanbase dwindles.
My favorite of example of failing to do this is the Falcons. The Smiths had an offer from Paul Brown(!!!) to become the coach and GM if they would let him buy a half interest in the team. They said no. I repeat, they said no to the best pro football coach in history. They wanted to run the team themselves; of course, they could do better that way! I don't know how many Super Bowls and NFC championships the Birds would have won by now if the Smiths had accepted, but it would have been substantial and would have happened within a couple of years.