OT: Jay Jacobs
- Thread starter Gran_Polla
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For those that haven't read it...
End is near for Jacobs as Auburn athletics director
Sources say the only remaining question is when the official announcement will be made.
AUBURN, Ala. – Jay Jacobs’ time as Auburn athletic director is on the verge of being over, knowledgeable sources told Auburn Undercover on Wednesday.
The only remaining question is when the announcement will come, the sources said.
Jacobs’ support has dwindled in the wake of several incidents, starting with the departure of the previous softball staff after allegations of an improper relationship between former associate head coach Corey Myers and a player. That was followed by the stunning arrest of basketball assistant coach Chuck Person on bribery and fraud charges, an accusation that an academic counselor had taken a test for a former player and a lawsuit alleging discrimination filed by a former track coach.
Though those accusations were made on his watch, there has been no indication that Jacobs had any knowledge in advance of any of those incidents.
Over the weekend, Steven Leath, Auburn's president since July 15, vetoed an athletic department plan to hire a lawyer for two student-athletes who were involved in a fight. The lawyer would have represented the athletes in a university hearing, which is allowed by NCAA rules. They would not have been allowed to represent them at university expense in any criminal proceedings.
Auburn has 12 senior staff members – senior associate athletics directors and higher – with salaries and bonuses totaling $3.35 million per year. That does not include recently hired chief revenue officer Mike McBride.
In salary and bonuses, Jacobs was paid $1.29 million in the fiscal year ending last June 30.
In contrast, Alabama had eight senior staff members who were paid a total of approximately $2.464 million. Athletic director Greg Byrne will receive approximately $1.136 million, including a $200,000 signing bonus, in his first full year on the job.
In 2016, the last year for which records are available, Georgia had nine senior staff members who were paid approximately $1.962 million.
Jacobs, a former walk-on who became a starting offensive lineman on Auburn’s 1983 SEC championship team, took over as athletics director in January of 2005.
During Jacobs’ tenure, Auburn has won 11 national championships, including the 2010 BCS football national championship, and 24 SEC championships. More than $200 million has been spent on facilities for all sports.
After coaching at Lee-Scott Academy in 1984, Jacobs returned to Auburn as an assistant strength and conditioning coach. From 1986 to 1988 he was a graduate assistant football coach as he earned an MBA. He was named conditioning coach in 1988.
In 1991, Jacobs became assistant athletics director. In 1994, he was promoted to associate athletics director for operations. In 2001, he took over Tigers Unlimited, the fundraising arm of the Auburn athletics department.
I don't know. I guess it would all depend on whether or not the new AD has "his" next coach already lined up. I don't think a new AD would come in and just fire the HC (read: entire football staff) all willy nilly like without a new coach ready to come in. I mean, a search and hire could happen within a few weeks but the risk of failure is too high for the new AD at that point, I believe. But, if Jacobs is out sometime between now and the LAMO game, I could see the firing of Gus before the bowl game and a new coach being installed by mid January.
Wut? He coached at my HS alma mater? Burning my high school diploma now.
Keep Gus around until early signing period is over and then tell him to kick rocks
Folks, I hate it as much as you do, but if AU beats the Aggies Gus is safe regardless of Amen Corner. New AD or No. Plain and simple.
Auburn has 12 senior staff members – senior associate athletics directors and higher – with salaries and bonuses totaling $3.35 million per year.
I like some of those people but the numbers are absurd when compared to Bama and many other places.
I like some of those people but the numbers are absurd when compared to Bama and many other places.
You STOP that. You STOP it right NOW.
He also said, he thinks the replacement will happen quickly after
Disagree with you on this. Lose, and its a forgone conclusion. Win, and he still has to beat one of the two. Maybe if both games come down to a close game and we looked well coaches, but we all know, when we lose, it always looks like a trainwreck.
What was amazing this week was listening to outsiders talk about Gus and how crazy AU would be to fire him. These weren't non-football folks, but people like Bud Elliot at SB Nation. You'd really love their take that we're the crazy school capable of firing anyone for perfectly acceptable seasons because we have crazy expectations.
It was like listening to a bizzaro--bunker where everything was upside down.
It was like listening to a bizzaro--bunker where everything was upside down.
Expecting more than 8-5 is crazy? lulz.
Just reading this chaps my ass.
Yeah right. You lose UGA and Alabama at home again and see how nice people are about the big TAMU win.
Liked with fingers and toes crossed. If nothing was going on with Jacobs I’d be in 100% agreement. Because of what’s about to go down, I’m not certain regarding the 8-4 scenario.
The media seems to give us hell for wanting/expecting more but totally overlooks UGA firing Mark Richt, who had averaged 10 wins per year over his last five seasons and was 9-3 when they fired him. Richt was two games better than Gus Malzahn and UGA dumped him. Why shouldn't we do the same?
The SB Nation guys made some good points on their podcast....that Gus hasn't had a losing season and every AU coach we've ever hired has had one. And that hiring HC's is basically a crap shoot. I get that. But they said he was "definitely a top 15 coach in the country". Man please.
I feel like I've taken crazy pills hearing that stuff. Do they not see the trends where Gus can't beat any good teams? Do they not see the Beep Bop nature of his decision making? How can otherwise smart people just ignore these things? How do you talk about the last 2 Clemson games and still end the conversation with "he's a top 15 coach, no doubt about it". I'm stunned.
National media members don’t watch all the games and see his doodoo head decisions and they also don’t look into more in depth stats that detail how inept he is vs teams with a pulse. They just see him in the top 10-15 occasionally and an 8-4 record and think he’s fine
I've been wondering if Leath/BOT/etc. had been keeping JJ around until they had a replacement locked down just to keep up the facade that "all is well" for the media outside of the state and play it off as JJ just retiring. I'd even be willing to bet that some article, or some mouth piece, will eventually say that JJ's "retirement" was planned all along and that it was just a coincidence that the timing aligned with all of the bullshit that went down.
These people don't watch our games or follow the squad. The just see "Aurbun" and think we are bama's little sister who should be content winning 8. They don't see the talent we're wasting or the complete idiocy on the sidelines.
It was crazier than that. They were lecturing Arkansas fans "you aren't Auburn and you'll never be Auburn, ever. As a program you can't possibly get there so stop" basically. And then 5 minutes later saying we shouldn't fire Gus but that we might because Auburn is one of the most fickle places in the nation.
So they give us credit for being a good program and at the same time think we'd be nuts to fire Gus and think we might be that nuts because we overreact all the time.
Wow.
The LSU loss was the closest thing I’ve ever seen to a coach throwing a game intentionally.
I mean, national guys see the score of that game, they have no idea how obvious that loss was an actual collapse
I mean, national guys see the score of that game, they have no idea how obvious that loss was an actual collapse
Thank goodness for the Jax St overtime win to avoid that losing season
And the guys that did the game, both the CBS crew and AU/LSU beat guys will tell you that it was that bad and that Gus looked lost.
I think a lot of these guys watch parts of game, catch highlight and look at stats. You have to watch full Gus games to understand the idiocy. Like this past week vs Arkansas every highlight and stat looks great. How could you possibly criticize him? It would feel like you were really forcing it to find negatives after a game like that. But there were a couple of bone-headed mistakes that in real time make him look like a complete moron incapable of managing anything.
The talking heads love traditional powers. Giving Ala an 8 team to beat year in and year out makes for good tv and helps SoS for the teams heading into Championship Sat.
From a 10,000 foot view ($1 to Chizik), I can understand their perspective. The program is relatively successful, the fans are seen as rabid and sometimes unrealistic, and the outside world thinks we have way too high of an opinion of our program. We're probably hyper critical of Gus (not that it isn't deserved), and someone who isn't a fan of Auburn could probably look to some specifics we'd point to and say they happen at other significant programs just as frequently. I think Gus has been good for this program, but I also think he's a true idiot savant. And I agree with those saying we, as fans, have unrealistic expectations. Don't think those should change necessarily because I think the expectation is to push for more greatness, but I think patience and understanding wouldn't hurt.
Don't speak for a lot of our fans but I don't mind a mediocre season here and there. 2014 & 2015 didn't really bother me. We had no D, lost our best pass rusher and the QB turned out to be dud.
The last 2 years though have been a total joke on offense which is what Gus gets paid for. The SEC has been trash not like we're playing 7-8 top 25 teams like years past.
The last 2 years though have been a total joke on offense which is what Gus gets paid for. The SEC has been trash not like we're playing 7-8 top 25 teams like years past.
I'm with you there. IMO, we've known our issues since early in 2015 and really didn't do much to attempt to fix those problems, partly because some issues are/were unfixable because of the HC. I'm all about making a change because I think Gus showed it's possible to sustain above average success at Auburn (9-10 wins per year) if managed properly, which I don't think he did. He's amassed the talent to make that type of success happen, and that type of recruiting can continue here under the right hire. If Gus had utilized his talent better and been able to understand his weaknesses and address them properly, he'd be a pretty solid HC and in really solid standing with this fan base. I just have no faith that he can actually do that or better himself as a football coach and get away from his troublesome habits.
Yeah I thought he was ready to go back to the NM offense with JOHN. Maybe incorporate some of Briles passing stuff. Nope instead it’s been a bunch of mismanaged, rinky dink nonsense.
14' made me mad only because we wasted the final year of NM14 and that sucks. But the defense was a huge issue and you could see it coming but it almost needed a meltdown to get that needed change.
15' I don't give Gus a pass but I also didn't put all of Jeremy Johnson on him. That can happen to anyone. Hell UF has had what feels like dozens of those high tier QB recruits just not pan out. It happens. And he had truly looked the part when he got to play.
After that everything that has happened negatively I put on him. He has done nothing to fix the offensive issues. I think 15' broke him. I believe he thought he was going to take the NM14 offense and add a natural passer to it and dominate football. When it didn't work he scrambled and scrambled without a real plan. Now he's just braindead.
its because espn has a vendetta against au and wants to project the image that we should be happy with moo state level of 8-5 success.
The reality is AU could compete for championships every single year and win more than a few under the right leadership, but it's not the message ESPN wants to push.
Probably make a run at him and fail to seal the deal like last time. I’ll not be getting my hopes up.
Seems to think he would be the first call. Whether it’s legit after that would open to interpretation I suppose
