“This is a great opportunity to be a part of a storied program and tremendous coaching staff here at Auburn,” Martinez said. “I’ve had the pleasure to know Coach Chizik and other members of this staff for a long time and I share their energy and passion for the game of football and developing young men. I’m appreciative of this opportunity and look forward to helping Auburn win championships in the future.”
I’d like to think we’ll all be appreciative. It’s the least he can do for those of us who suffered through ’08 and ’09.
Well, they can’t be any worse on defense than they were under Roof last season, so there’s that. (Honestly, BVG all by his lonesome will be a vast improvement.)
Get The Picture 
I’d be pointing at Auburn and laughing with all of my might if they’d hired him to be the defensive coordinator. He was a pretty effective secondary coach under Van Gorder, though, so I don’t think this necessarily equals “Auburn’s gonna suck next year.”
LikeLike
What’s worse is that I do think “Auburn’s gonna suck next year.” But at the same time, I think they’ll play their best game against Georgia every year that BVG and Willie are on the staff.
LikeLike
Muschamp’s defenses never did, so there is that.
LikeLike
“First things first”, Martinez said. “Any DB over 5’11” is OUTA here.”
LikeLike
“…and all you others, drop into a 2-deep zone NOW! and don’t worry about tall receivers stretching you deep and all the under passes dink and dunking you to death. There’s not that type of talent in the league.”
LikeLike
I don’t get all the poor mouth on Roof. He is a Georgia born kid who had a good college career at Tech…part of a pretty good D there and a college coaching career as well. He’s got a ring on his finger and seems to be in demand. Willie seems to have bounced back. For all those that fawn all over CVG …if Willie was a bust why did he(CVG) ask him back to coach.
Too many armchair qb’s IMHO!
Oh and by the way …. I blame Bobo.
LikeLike
Willie has been asked to leave his last two jobs.
LikeLike
Well, tell me how you would defend this, and I’ll try to change my tune on Roof.
LikeLike
Hah. I’ll pass. Never argue with someone who went to a fine institution to learn that craft. If you were challenging me on something in my field I’d take you up. Still Willie is at Auburn after Oklahoma. Not a bad gig. Roof is at Penn State after Auburn and a brief stop with his mentor at over a half mill a year. I don’t know how everyone else measures success…. but I haven’t enjoyed that cash flow for a while now.
I blame Obama.
LikeLike
I’ll just say that in college coaching, just like in life, whom you know often matters more than what you know. 😉
LikeLike
Also like in life Senator (and in politics), it is not necessarily for what is being asked, but rather who is doing the asking.
LikeLike
Agree with Homer. Yes, Willie was asked to leave his last two jobs….and then got very good employment immediately afterwards. It’s a shame that Stoops/Chizik/Van Gorder know nothing about defense, otherwise they would obviously be able to see how terrible Willie is. No, he probably doesn’t have what it takes to be a top-tier DC, but I will trust the judgement of that crew when it comes to his aptitude coaching DBs.
Georgia fans desperately want Willie to be the scapegoat because it makes them feel better about the future, and it’s silly. I have the same optimism for Georgia’s future, but I will attribute little of it to the advantages of Lakatos over Martinez coaching DBs.
More worringly, if Murray has any trouble this year or next getting the ball downfield against AU, the anti-Bobo sentiment will go thermonuclear. Many georgia fans believe they could personally throw for 400 yards against a martinez backfield.
LikeLike
Chizik’s last defensive coordinator was Ted Roof, who held the post for three years. What does that say about Chiz’ defensive knowledge?
LikeLike
09, 10, and 11 were awful defenses on the plains. There is really no way to get around that fact, statistically.
I think Van Gorder was an excellent DC at GA. He had some tools to work with, though. I watched the 2001 GA/TN game on replay before the season started. I swear every player on that team spent at least a little time in the NFL, with the exception of David Jacobs, who had a stroke and had to retire. Plus Pollack broke out in 2002.
LikeLike
Even if the talent isn’t up to the level of those Georgia teams, I have no doubt BVG will be a significant improvement. His linebackers will be fundamentally sound, which is more than you can say for what Auburn’s had under Roof. (It’s also interesting that BVG intends to play bigger kids at LB than Auburn’s been accustomed to deploying over the past few seasons.)
LikeLike
Didn’t mean to demean his skills. I believe he will be a huge improvement over Roof. Hopefully, it will take him a few years to get his guys in and they’ll make a lot of mistakes the first year.
I also have no doubt, based on past experience, that the secondary will only be as good as the pass rush of the front seven.
LikeLike
SCDawg…..by chance, do you live in Florence?
LikeLike
Nope-Columbia. Must be someone else
LikeLike
And wasn’t it great to see Jacobs get a coaching job this last year? Good athlete, good mind.
LikeLike
“Many georgia fans believe they could personally throw for 400 yards against a martinez backfield.”
Results may vary based on the fact that both Stalin’s Moustache* and Willie may possess contraband FSU/Georgia playbooks
*http://stalinsmoustache.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/stalin-poster-09a.jpg?w=510
LikeLike
Why are we all worried about this anyway? We don’t have to play Auburn but every decade now, right? BVG and Willie could be gone before we get 2 games in!
LikeLike
Oklahoma’s pass defense was 50th in 2010, and 79th in 2011.
Bend but don’t break, sound familiar?
top 20 in red zone % for defenses, and td scores.
Top 20 in interceptions for 2 years.
Top 20 in 2010 & 2011 in completion % against, not too bad.
LikeLike
Willie’s d was top 5 in 2011 for passes defended, and passes broken up.
they throw a lot in that conference.
LikeLike
Oklahoma’s D was 5th in 3rd down conv 2011, 11th in 2010.
LikeLike
Did anyone stop to think that while we have always used the well Mark won with Donnan’s players to down play his early success, BVG was the biggest user of said players. He left town before his hate of recruiting could bite him in the butt. Willie’s only problem was that he absolutely could not do any in game adjustments (UT is still rolling out). If you watched any OK games the last couple of years he still employ’s the face masking technique were the DB has no idea where the ball is but he hopes he can distract the WR by waving wildly in his face.
One thing in Auburn’s favor is that since we never change the play book they can rest the week before, if their guys are betteer than our guys they will win.
LikeLike
I really like this site…..I’ve read it for a while now, just never posted……but it seems like I recognize you, 69Dawg, as well as SCDawg just from the enjoyable conversation…..you apparently played ball….did your sons all play as well? Apologize for the guessing game, I’ll stop now…just that I’m a newby on here and I’ve lived out of country for 5 or 6 years….really enjoy this blog and y’alls comments though….really entertaining
LikeLike