After watching these depressing losses, it makes me pay less attention to football than I normally do. After the Arkansas loss I even learned that it's an election year (2004 was an election year too. Who knew!?!). Reading up on politics makes me realize the insane standards we hold football programs to.

In Alabama, a state legislator can punch a fellow legislator in the face, not apologize, and not receive any sort of punishment at all. How long would Tommy Tuberville be employed by Auburn if he punched Houston Nutt in the face midfield after a game?

How many more downs of college football would Sen'Derrick Marks play if he sucker punched an unsuspecting Alabama player after the game? He'd be kicked off the team immediately. Fans would be outraged and Auburn would carry a thug-player stigma for years.

Three years after the fact, people still talk about Tray Blackmon's arrest for underage drinking. That was three years ago. Since then, Blackmon has kept out of trouble while coaches, players and reporters have all commented on improvements he's made to his personal life. Nobody cares though. Alabama fans still bring up the arrest (some even have the nerve to compare it to Jimmy Johns' activities). Many Auburn fans don't care about Blackmon's personal improvements – they're only concerned with his missed tackles. Tray Blackmon is a better human being than most politicians in this country, yet people are quicker to fault him rather than a guy they voted for.

Seriously, why do people ALWAYS defend the actions of people they vote for, but have no problems with calling for the head of a coach they previously supported?

Football scandals are far more mundane than political scandals. Nobody bats an eye when a lobbyist takes a politician out for a steak dinner. What happens when a booster gives a football player a steak dinner? Headlines. Investigations. Lost scholarships. Misery. And when football coaches do partake in scandals – they at least have the common decency to things that can be made fun of by rival fans. They go to strip clubs, they gamble or lie about relatively small scale stuff when you compare it to the stuff politicians do which usually involve stolen money, prostitutes, dead interns or pedophilia.

I think the main reason coaches keep their noses cleaner is because they're far busier than politicians. Under-performing politicians are held to lower standards than football coaches because they're able to blame anything but themselves when things go bad; the economy, terrorism, global warming, anything. Even though a coach cannot control every variable in a football game, they're still expected to take full responsibility for every loss.

Too many Auburn fans wrongly think of Auburn football as an investment. That if they keep up with Auburn football and win, then they made the correct investment. If they keep up with Auburn football and Auburn loses, then they lost. Many of these guys don't even seem to have fun while watching games, they only watch games like a investor watches the stock market. Real fans watch football games like they watch their favorite TV shows or movies. Just because you watch a TV show for four years doesn't mean your time was wasted just because the characters still haven't escaped from the island, or found earth, or defeated the bad guy. Some TV shows are still fun to watch simply because it's fun to watch the process. The process is the fun part and is not supposed to be a painful means to an end. Someone needs to tell these 'investor fans' that they won't receive a check if Auburn does win a national championship. If they haven't had fun up until this point they need to find another hobby.

After three losses in a row, and some painful wins, we're not thinking rationally. This is expected since college football wouldn't be fun if we did think rationally. Unfortunately, this irrational thought has lead many to believe irrational things like the idea that Tuberville isn't the best coach for Auburn and that he is, in fact, mortal. To help ease these harmful thoughts, here's a chart of football wins from 2000 to last year;

Auburn's record is not a case of diminishing returns under Tuberville. The current down trend is periodic and happens to most every team. Usually, these trends correlate to the cumulative experience of the team (Auburn has a young team at the moment). As the above chart shows, Auburn was in 5th place in SEC in wins after 2003 - just barely ahead of Ole Miss. Tuberville rebounded with a national championship type team in 2004 and teams eligible for BCS at large bids in 2005 and 2006.

Some say Tuberville should stay as long as he's forced to fire the offensive position coaches at the end of the year. This would probably be the worst thing the Auburn administration could do. Over the years, the Auburn administration has been accused of meddling too much with the football program. In theory, the administration's job should be to hire a coach who can control the entire football program. If the coach doesn't perform well, then it's the administration's duty to hire another coach who can do the job. Football coaches know how to run a football team better than fans or the administration. Only the football coach should have a say in who his position coaches should be. Maybe Auburn's position coaches are the problem, but we have no way of knowing that – Tuberville must be the one to make the call.

The claims that Tuberville has become complacent in his old age are also ridiculous. If anything, a lack of complacency has been Tuberville's biggest problem this year. A complacent coach doesn't convert his offense to the spread after spending his entire career running 'run first' offenses.

Some Auburn fans think that Auburn would be better off had Bobby Petrino been hired after the 2003 season (though, it's a very small minority). Obviously, we didn't hear anything about this in 2004, but they're saying Petrino would be a better coach in the long run. However, there's no way Carnell Williams, Ronnie Brown and Carlos Rodgers would've stayed for their senior seasons if they had to endure a staff change. If Petrinodid do well, he would have bolted to the NFL at his first chance (how's Louisville doing these days?).

I don't worry much about Tuberville leaving Auburn for a 'better' job. He's been here 10 years, more than 12 other SEC coaches. The main reason I think he's been at Auburn so long is because I think most other coaches are more ambitious than Tuberville. That's not a slight against Tuberville – he just seems happy where he is. I don't blame him. Auburn may very well be the greatest place on the planet. Obviously, he's going to try to make as much money as possible where he is, which explains the alleged threats of leaving – but I honestly believe that Tuberville wants to be at Auburn. He doesn't desire to be ambitious. He desires to be awesome. That's the guy Auburn wants as head coach.

Across the state, there's a very ambitious coach who wishes to take away everything Tuberville has built up at Auburn. His first major obstacle is to rid Auburn of the guy whose beaten Alabama six times in a row. I will not assist that guy by calling for Tuberville's exit. I want to watch that guy fail and I want Tommy Tuberville to be the one who makes him fail. It's possible to run a clean program and win. Tommy Tuberville is 4-2 against the Nick Saban and I'm completely in support of his quest to continue beating Alabama senseless.

My final, and least rational, reason for keeping Tuberville is this; if Tuberville is fired, something is taken away from the great seasons we've had during his tenure. We won't be able to look back at 2004 with as much awe if the men who brought us that amazing season aren't allowed to leave Auburn on their own terms. Granted, that one season doesn't give the coaching staff a blank check for the rest of their lives, but it did earn them some benefits of the doubt. It's not because we should feel bad for them, but because we now know they're capable of greatness and that it's very possible for them to do it again.

Look at the chart again. You're entitled an opinion as an Auburn fan. Auburn fans are even entitled to want to fire their coach. However, if you've not enjoyed your time as an Auburn fan thus far, you're doing it wrong.

War Eagle!

E-mail Mark at mark@theauburner.com
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