Jay Jacobs, master of the diplomatic response

It seems to me that if I were a guy that was the slightest bit concerned that Charles Barkley was essentially accusing me of hanging a robe and a hood in my closet, I could come up with… oh, say, several thousand answers better than the one Jay Jacobs actually gave to this loaded question:

What’s your reaction to those who say your decision was made based on race?
“Well, my reaction is, I was picking the best fit for Auburn.”

Yecchh, what a dumb response.  All he left out was the punchline:  “… and at Auburn, black head coaches don’t fit in.”

Jay, here’s a suggestion for you.  If there’s a next time, try “that’s bullshit”.  Or “you’ve got to be kidding.”  Or “I may be a consummate idiot, but I’m not a racist.”  Even a simple “no way” would suffice.  See how easy that is?

If you need training in how to do it, here you go:

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UPDATE: Tony Barnhart weighs in.

… But you can’t ignore the fact that to others the word “fit” has an entirely different meaning. It is code for doing the thing that is comfortable instead of doing the thing that is right.

Barnhart is famously non-confrontational, so when there’s nothing in his post today defending Jacobs’ and Gogue’s actions and comments about the hire, that’s not good for Auburn.  Neither is Barnhart’s point about recruiting.

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Pay no attention to that resume behind the curtain.

Reading the quotes from the inside and the outside of the Auburn and Tennessee programs, you know who has to feel like a complete idiot these days?

George O’Leary.  I bet he’d like a mulligan on that resume he submitted to Notre Dame.

It wouldn’t matter to Pat Dye, whose ability to read men’s souls and predict their future is legendary.

“[Chizik’s] record don’t make any difference,” Dye said after the news conference. “Coach Bryant won one game his first year at Texas A&M. Coach Jordan won seven his first two years at Auburn. His record, that record don’t mean nothing. We hired a man and a coach, not a record.”

….

“Saban went 6-6 last year and got his a– beat by Louisiana-Monroe at Alabama,” Dye said. “Can you imagine that? Huh? You think those Alabama people were proud of Saban when they walked out and got their a– beat by Louisiana-Monroe. It happens, you know?”

See what I mean?  If a national championship – which Saban can boast of and Chizik, unfortunately, cannot – doesn’t matter, why should a degree?

Same deal at Tennessee, as we’re assured by one Weston Wamp:

… At this point, too much attention has been paid to the few deficiencies on Lane Kiffin’s resume and too little attention has been paid to the fact that his father, an elite NFL coach, is coming with him to run his son’s defense, therefore allowing the younger Kiffin to focus primarily the offense, something he has proven he can do very well.

Of course, that assurance doesn’t stop Mr. Wamp from dumping all over Chizik’s resume which, when you look at it carefully, isn’t very different from Kiffin’s.  Except for parentage.

By the way, Tennessee and Auburn face off October 3, 2009.   As Dye might say, the preliminary punditry for that game almost writes itself, don’t it?

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UPDATE: USC beat writer Scott Wolf says about Kiffin that for UT it was a package deal with Daddy, or no deal at all. (h/t Doc Saturday)

Damon Evans takes a deep breath.

If you haven’t been reading David Hale’s three-part interview with Damon Evans, you should.  Here’s a timely quote from part the third:

… We’ve got some room to grow. We’ve got some room in which we can improve, and I can tell everyone this: I believe that Mark is going to work his tail off to make sure that we improve, and I’m going to do everything that I can to make sure we improve and be mindful of where we are today.

But I don’t want people to throw away the towel after one year of lofty expectations and not meeting those expectations and think that, oh, everything is imploding because that’s not what’s happening. I think history, I think the track record is proven here under our coach, and I think we’ll continue to get better.

Metaphor of the day

From CFN’s Pete Fiutak on the (what else?) Chizik hiring:

It’s the equivalent of a 53-foot shot in the middle of the first quarter of a basketball game. Even if it goes in, there’s still no excuse for taking this dumb a shot.

Nothing but net, sir.  Nothing but net.

I was afraid you were going to say that.

Over at Saurian Sagacity, Mergz dives back into the good offense, bad defense debate pool that Ed Gunther had previously jumped into and takes a look at the question of “whether SEC defenses are superior to their college football peers, or if Big 12 offenses are similarly superior”.

His answer is reflected in his post header:  Maybe It’s Both.

It’s a good read, but, again, I’m a bit frustrated (so is Mergz) with not being able to account for schedule strength in running the analysis.