Has the SEC media declared war on SEC coaches?

From the boys at Al.com:

The Tigers take on Idaho Saturday as a 32-point favorite, needing a win to gain bowl-eligibility. Should things go South for Auburn against the Vandals, Gus Malzahn might be headed out the door after the season.

“Let’s say they lose to Idaho, and then they go out the next week and get blown off the field in the Iron Bowl, a 42-0 type of game, there’s going to be people calling for Gus Malzahn’s head,” Stephenson said. “Now will the people that matter make that decision, I’m not sure. The last time they went through this, you could tell that team quit.”

When did this become the Year of Make Shit Up Out Of Thin Air?  Is everyone in the media that bored?

50 Comments

Filed under Media Punditry/Foibles

50 responses to “Has the SEC media declared war on SEC coaches?

  1. Rick

    As wonderful as the internet has been, including in it’s influence on journalism, the power wielded by the almighty click count has been a disaster.

    They’ll advocate firing anybody that didn’t win a national championship in the last 2 years because that is what angry people will click on. The two lifers at the AJC are prime examples, and embarrassments to journalism in general.

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    • Jared S.

      I’ve done a lot of thinking, I’m not so sure the internet has really be a net positive for humanity. Seriously. Think of the productivity lost at work, for one. Supposedly it’s supposed to make “things” more “transparent” in the world. But when you balance the “new” journalism that’s good with all pseudo-journalism on the net that people gobble up, I think it’s a wash.

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      • sheen

        The internet is the most valuable thing ever invented by a human. Thanks to it I don’t have to go to the video store to get porn.

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      • Rick

        Downsides are always far more obvious than upsides, it’s just how our brains are wired. The benefits accorded to humanity by Wikipedia alone make up for a lot of wasted time and productivity.

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      • AusDawg85

        Without GTP, I would find it nearly impossible to follow the Dawgs from Texas and would advocate FIREMARKRICHT!!!11!!!1! if not for the Senator’s apologist posts. 😉

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        • Russ

          Agree!

          Though I’ll say back in the day when I actually had to rely on newspapers for news, I never had the inclination to OMGFIREVINCEDOOLEY! Even when he was going 6-5.

          Of course, this place has taught me that I obviously am okay with mediocrity.

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          • Scorpio Jones, III

            Oh Russ, trust me, I sat in the stands and heard gentlemen in red blazers screaming for Dooley to be fired…because he allowed Tech to get close.

            The “fire the coach” meme has always been there, its just easier to access on the Web.

            And, as has been pointed out here many times…it is easy to be brave mouth on the Web, safer than the stands, for sure.

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            • Russ

              Well, there was that whole “burning in effigy” thing, but I didn’t think that meant they wanted to fire him. 🙂

              The best thing was that you got a rest from all the chatter. And reporters actually had to report, rather than just bait for clicks.

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          • ChilliDawg

            Wait a minute… Did it rain on the Sundays back then and you didn’t get a paper? Those “Dump Dooley” voices were every bit as loud (according to unnamed inside BM sources) back then as they are now with Richt. Then this #34 freshman showed up and now Dooley has a statue. The “Press” is ready to fire every coach not named Saban or Meyer and then they are suspect as the next NFL genius.

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    • Russ

      Agree 100%. I read that article on Miles and felt like I was reading the AJC, i.e. I wanted to take a bath after wallowing in that crap.

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    • mspruell

      The problem is–and I mean no offense to you Senator because you are the exception that proves the rule–we have too many bloggers who simply copy information from other bloggers without worrying about the veracity of the comments that they are passing on. They also will not retract incorrect information that they have published that proves to be totally without merit, as they have no ethical code because they aren’t true journalists. I say that to say this. My father always told me that the simplest answer is usually the correct answer. Stephenson is an Alabama grad. Scarborough, the ESPN loser, happened to graduate from Auburn. Richt, Malzahn and Miles! Good coaches and good fits at their respective schools. After careful consideration I think that it all boils down to recruiting– getting rid of coaches who have good recruits coming on board in the next class, so that their teams will be able to cherry pick the players left in the carnage. I find myself more and more longing for the good old days before any loser with a computer could slander and possibly financially ruin decent people.

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  2. Les Miles & Mark Richt are 2 coaches that can coach somewhere &
    coach as long as they wish. In my opinion that applies to most, If not
    all, of the current coaches in the SEC. Good coaches faced every week.

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  3. PTC DAWG

    Alabama and the rest. That said, would be funny to me if UF took them out in Atlanta. After they lose to FSU.

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  4. Beer Money

    And this is the world of college football in the Nick Saban era. Seems like it used to be the balance of power in the SEC was enough for everybody to have a moment in the sun every few years or so. But with Alabama taking that moment away for just about everybody by doing something that is unheard of given the level of competition and the amount of $ at stake for everybody, college football has been reduced to this. I think a lot of this will stabilize once Saban retires because a) you will not see so many national titles for the SEC, and b) there will not be one dominant team year in and year out.

    Still Gus is a clown and is 2 miracles away from being fired already this season. Without the 2 miracles, AU people would have given up on him long ago. I hope they can find a way to keep him though.

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    • James Stephenson

      It’s funny, anytime things are going wrong with Gus, he seriously looks like a lost little kid to me. This year is the first year where I have seen Auburn folks say the same thing. I mean, every time they score a touchdown, he looks like he did all of the work. Jumping around, pumping his fist. Act like you been there before Gus, of course, could say the same thing to Cam Newton.

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    • Go Dawgs!

      Goodness. It’s Year 3. In year 1, he wont he SEC and took a fairly mediocre bunch of athletes from the year before back to the national title game.

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      • James Stephenson

        With 2 stupid plays, else he would have lost 3 games that first year and no NC game or Sec Championship. Come on, Paul Johnson is a better coach, he never looked befuddled out there.

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      • Gaskilldawg

        Yeah, Gus was a genius against us in 2013. After all, it was his great play calling that did us in. “Okay, it’s fourth and 18. Here is,what wd do. Ricardo, go long and lose sight of the ball. Nick, underthrow Ricardo, and make sure you throw it into double coverage “

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  5. Spike

    Gus and the Barners deserve each other.

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  6. AusDawg85

    SEC football is hard.

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  7. Go Dawgs!

    This is a joke of an article and it demonstrates everything that’s wrong today with sports journalism and journalism overall.

    That said, I could see Auburn doing something that crazy.

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    • Bulldog Joe

      Auburn doesn’t F-around when it comes to changing coaches.

      Dear Auburn Family,

      Your drunk uncle has a new girlfriend. He needs more money. Your mandatory donation is due January 31 and 2016 single game ticket prices will begin at $145.

      2016 promises to be another AUsome! year and War Eagle!

      – Your brother Jay. (No, not that one. Your other brother Jay!)

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  8. 69Dawg

    This is merely the FineBum effect. He used to be so local nobody ever GAS what he said but now thanks to ESPN he thinks his intro is correct. The “most influential voice” my butt. So now the other media guys think they have to make stuff up just like FineBum it is the worst possible situation for the coaches in the SEC. If your not winning the SEC your on the hot seat as far as FineBum is concerned. He knows that there can be only one but he needs to keep the other than Saban coaches at a disadvantage so his man Saban can get all the 5 stars. He is a worm.

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    • Scorpio Jones, III

      If I might, 69, its not just Finebum, although he certainly contributes his share of bullshit, its really us…we respond, we whine, we bitch, and unlike pre Web, you can say it multiple places and everybody sees it.

      Much of the whining is football ignorance, but that does not lessen the volume.

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  9. Bright Idea

    Just a sign of the times with this narrative. Every loss is a disaster and we immediately have to discuss if it is time to fire the coach. We’ve been living it at UGA since 2006. NFL syndrome plus the internet just adds to it. 4 in the playoffs and ultimately 8 will only make it worse. Any coach that fails to make the playoffs is on the hot seat.

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    • Biggus Rickus

      Oh please. Only a true lunatic fringe wanted to fire Richt in 2006. He lost a lot of people in ’09 and ’10. Some of them were won back, and others who were willing to ride out the rebuild have given up on him at this point (the camp I’m in).

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  10. Cousin Eddie

    Fire Gus…Muschamp will have the last few coaches he has worked with plus himself out of a job, is he that toxic?

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    • Not sure Muschamp is that toxic, but the QB situation at Auburn is pretty dire. Gus made everyone think he didn’t need a great QB to run his system and be successful. Needless to say, he is proving everyone wrong with that.

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      • Derek

        I’ve always said that the problem with the spread is that you live or die with the qb. Saban has been able to play defense and win with an average qb 2 years in a row running essentially a pro-style offense. If we had a mediocre qb we’d probably be playing in Atlanta. However we have an atrocious qb and football can not be played in any system with an atrocious qb. Hutson was mediocre. With him and this year’s defense we’d be ok. Lambert makes Hutson look like Johnny Unitas.

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        • Biggus Rickus

          Blake Sims had a 157.87 QB rating last year, throwing for nearly 3500 yards and 28 TDs. He had a bad game against Ohio State, but he played pretty damn well last year.

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      • Go Dawgs!

        Chris Todd. Nick Marshall.

        The man really doesn’t need a great QB. Just a serviceable one.

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        • Derek

          For that system, Marshall is not mediocre. Far from it in my opinion. Todd, while mediocre, achieved minor success. Auburn lost 5 games that year and finished unranked. Hardly says that malzahn can win with any asshole playing qb.

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        • I wouldn’t call Chris Todd serviceable. Marshall was perfect for his system.

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      • Scorpio Jones, III

        Pretty easy for Gus to get carried away with the shine on his own forehead when he’s had Cam and Nick Marshall. Gus’s offense has to have a qb who can run the football and throw it pretty well now and then. I have no idea how Gus fooled himself into believing Johnson was the answer…Waffle House food?

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        • Derek

          For malzahns system a great runner with questionable passing skills is far superior to a great arm and questionable running skills. I tried to tell the barners that Johnson’s cannon arm was meaningless if he wasn’t a threat to run, but you can tell an auburn you just can’t tell him much.

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    • Scorpio Jones, III

      He must have gone to grad school somewhere else to learn how to write English. Well, write is a loose term, there.

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  11. Everyone needs to slow their roll. Gus needs time to turn this thing around. Let him take all the time he needs.

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  12. “Has the SEC media declared war on SEC coaches?” I know this is simplistic but the short answer is “yes” because discussing firing the Coach keeps the interest of the fan base whose team is out of contention high and buying subscriptions,

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