Hard to believe it was only two years ago that Gene Chizik hoisted the BCS national championship trophy after overseeing a 14-0 Auburn team–led by quarterback Cam Newton and defensive standout Nick Fairley–that was one of the most dominating squads in recent memory. However, fast-forward to 2012 and Chizik’s unemployed.
After posting a 3-9 season and an embarrassing 0-8 record in SEC play (including a 49-0 demolition at the hands of Alabama in the Iron Bowl), Auburn fired Chizik yesterday. There’s not really much to say about ol’ Gene that ESPN’s Ivan Maisel didn’t already outline in his column about Chizik’s firing. But his record–disregarding that 14-0 season–was a mediocre 19-19, which doesn’t suffice at one of the historically dominant SEC programs. Tigers fans will say that they saw Chizik’s departure coming midway through the season, but the naysayers Maisel credits in his piece were probably more accurate in predicting that a coach who went 5-19 at Iowa State wasn’t going to have prolonged success at Auburn.
Better luck next time, Gene. At least your buyout’s a damn sweet deal:
Beginning Dec. 1, Auburn will pay Gene Chizik $48,611 PER WEEK to NOT coach. He will get paid like this for the next 155 weeks.
— darren rovell (@darrenrovell) November 25, 2012