You can take the Auburn football out of Bobby Lowder, but you can’t take the Bobby Lowder out of Auburn football.

Just when you think Gawd doesn’t give a rat’s ass about college football, you get this as a confirmation otherwise:

Auburn’s offensive coordinator search, nearing the end of its ninth day, is hinging on a high stakes showdown over power and control between coach Gus Malzahn and those with influence over the program, a source told AL.com.

Malzahn, who enters a pivotal fifth season leading the program, had a short list of candidates to succeed Rhett Lashlee, who left for the same position at UConn on Jan. 11.

That short list included former Baylor offensive coordinator Kendal Briles and Arizona State offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey and North Carolina State offensive coordinator Eliah Drinkwitz, both of who have worked under Malzahn. AuburnSports.com also reported Lindsey and Drinkwitz were among Malzahn’s preferred candidates.

A source indicated those candidates did not receive a favorable reaction from people with influence over the program, who felt Briles, now at Florida Atlantic, lacks experience and Lindsey and Drinkwitz, while familiar with Malzahn’s offense were also too close to him.

A list of preferred candidates was provided to Malzahn by athletic director Jay Jacobs, the source said, which was composed of comparatively more experienced coaches, including the Texas A&M’s Noel Mazzone, who reportedly went from the possible lead candidate to staying in College Station in a matter of hours on Thursday.

Freakin’ awesome.  The only thing missing from that story is somebody insisting Gus hire Art Briles, but who knows?  There’s still time.

Though with Auburn experiencing offensive struggles in 2015 and a 1-3 finish to 2016, the program’s powerbrokers wanting the new hire to offer a different perspective is not irrational either.

With less than 12 days to national signing day, the critical hire could come down to a test of wills.

They want their offensive genius to hire a coordinator with a different perspective.  Please proceed, power brokers.  The last time a head coach at Auburn did that, he wound up with Tony Franklin.  That ended well.

Now where the hell did I put that bag of popcorn?

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UPDATE:  And just like that…

BREAKING: Auburn has hired Arizona State’s Chip Lindsey as its new offensive coordinator, @USATODAYsports has learned. Story coming.

— George Schroeder (@GeorgeSchroeder) January 21, 2017

Makes you wonder if somebody dropped that leak in order to get somebody else to back off.

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