AUBURN, Ala. (AP) -The Auburn Tigers were riding a bus through the hilly streets of Knoxville on their way to Tennessee’s Neyland Stadium for the biggest game of the new Gene Chizik era.
Assistant head coach Trooper Taylor couldn’t help but sneak a peak at his boss. As usual, Chizik was in the front seat reading his Bible.
Taylor said, “I’m thinking, ‘I just want to see his demeanor before a game, is it going to change because this is supposed to be a bigger game?”’
Nope. Not Before big games, amid rampant criticism or widespread praise.
“He’s always the same,” Taylor added.
Only the perception of Chizik has changed.
Hired amid a firestorm of criticism, Chizik has led the Tigers to a 5-0 start and the No. 17 ranking.
Going into Saturday’s game at Arkansas, Auburn has been the SEC’s surprise team after low expectations that might have been based partly on talent and depth and partly on uncertainty about Chizik.
n landing in a town where even the fire trucks are painted orange and blue. And why some – including former Auburn and NBA star Charles Barkley – wondered if race was a factor when Chizik was hired, and not Buffalo’s Turner Gill, who is black, to compete against the likes of Alabama’s Nick Saban and Florida’s Urban Meyer.
Land a self-described dream job only to get heckled. How much does that hurt?
“None. That’s not how I live my life. I don’t live my life getting outside world validation,” Chizik said, using an oft-repeated phrase. “I got hired to do a job, and without any question, I knew I was the right guy for the job. Between my job and my family, that’s a lot of energy. I don’t have time to spend my energy on other things.”
Added Taylor: “I’ve just never seen a head coach that’s so comfortable in his own skin.”
Chizik is nothing if not disciplined and focused. He said he drives his three kids to school “every day” then leaves the office long enough to put them to bed before returning in the evening. The chiseled, strong-jawed Chizik spends many of his lunch breaks at the gym.
He has notebooks filled with entries covering situations he has encountered throughout his career. And he was a highly regarded defensive coordinator, helping Auburn go undefeated in 2004 and Texas win a national championship a year later.
in the fundamentals of what football is all about. He’s got impeccable integrity. He’s got a really good work ethic. I’m sure the two years he was at Iowa State helped him starting over at Auburn. Starting that first year is really difficult when you have to put a staff together the first time and you’re in a new place.
“Gene had never been to Iowa. He had already coached at Auburn. He was more familiar with things when he got to Auburn than he was at Iowa State and I think that probably helped him a whole lot getting started.”
Brown said he sends him at least a couple of text messages a week. The message after the Tennessee game: “I told him it was a great win and he’d better be careful. He’s winning too many, too fast.”
Neither Chizik nor athletic director Jay Jacobs are getting carried away with the early success
However, said Jacobs, “What he’s doing isn’t a surprise for me.” A former Auburn player himself, he said he hired Chizik partly based on his knowledge of him from his days at Auburn and the positive reviews from guys who played under Chizik.
are often criticized.”
Auburn tight end Tommy Trott said Chizik’s demeanor hasn’t changed a bit since people started saying nice things about him.
“Right before the Tennessee game, he said, ‘We’ve got 70 guys in here. That’s who we’re going to war with. We don’t listen to anybody else,”’ Trott said. “That’s the way he is. He understands that this is a family here and nothing else comes into the family.”
Taylor, who has known Chizik since the early 1990s, said the head coach and his family haven’t changed since then – even with a $2 million salary.
“They’re so grounded. Our kids go to the same school, so there was a little basket that you could get to put in your locker that’s like $20,” Taylor said. “I told my wife, ‘Just get it.’ His wife and his kids were like, ‘Nah, we can go to Wal-Mart and get one for like $5.’ Man makes all that money and they’re still pinching pennies. They’re really down to earth that way.”
Chizik’s late father, Gene Sr., was a longtime Florida schoolteacher who served in World War II. The coach still has a Japanese sword his father brought home – and finds the military and military history “very intriguing.”
Something was also intriguing to him about this small college town, where he worked for three seasons.
Taylor said he called Chizik shortly after one season curious about what it’s like to work for the prosperous, successful program.
I said, ‘Texas has got to be the best place in America to work,”’ Taylor said. “He said, ‘Troop, if I had my dream job, it’d be Auburn University.’ He was going to Iowa State, this wasn’t even in the mix.
“He said, ‘For the family side of it, for where I want to raise my kids, for the passion the fans have and for the SEC, that whole deal. My dream job would be Auburn University.”
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AP Sports Writer Jim Vertuno in Austin, Texas, contributed to this report.
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