As has been noted many times before, the SEC is pretty much a murderer's row of coaches. In the West division alone, you've got two BCS championship winners (Les Miles, Nick Saban), one championship-winning offensive coordinator (new Mississippi State coach Dan Mullen), one shark-eyed killer (Bobby Petrino) and one wily madman (Houston Nutt).
So, if you're Auburn, and you've just jettisoned the guy who won more than 70% of his games, went undefeated in 2004, beat Alabama six straight times and was chosen as the 2nd best coach in the SEC in the prestigious Razorback Expats pre-season power poll, you'd better have someone pretty great up your sleeve to compete with that bunch, right?
Um, maybe not. Enter one Mr. Gene Chizik, he of the 5-19 career record as Iowa State head coach. Known as a defensive expert, his team ranked 111th nationally in total defense this year. And if I recall correctly, Auburn's biggest need was someone who could convince the offense to, you know, score every now and then.
Predictably, Auburn fans are not thrilled. And while we feel kind of bad for our friend Jerry at the Joe Cribbs Car Wash, as Hog fans we have to say that we feel pretty good about the situation (we can only imagine how Bama fans feel). So, thank you to the Auburn administration for a job well done. May the rest of the SEC follow your wise example.