Auburn-Oregon Preview: The Coaches
Monday, January 3, 2011 at 10:45AM 
Welcome to the ninth of 17 — yep, 17 — BCS National Championship Game preview pieces here on OGS. Each day until Jan. 10, we'll take a comparative look at Auburn and Oregon. Today's ninth topic examines the head coaches.
By JOHN P. WISE
One Great Season
Both head coaches in the BCS National Championship Game made immediate impacts on their programs as first-year leaders in 2009, but only one will be lucky enough to be college football's fourth coach to win a national championship in his second season in the BCS era.
Gene Chizik and Chip Kelly are off to impressive starts at Auburn and Oregon, respectively. Bob Stoops, Jim Tressel and Urban Meyer each won national titles as second-year head coaches.
Remember 2009? Chizik, an unpopular hire after a 5-19 run in two seasons at Big 12 doormat Iowa State, led Auburn to five straight wins to open the season. The Tigers would finish 8-5 but they'd land a great juco recruit named Cam Newton.
And Oregon's 2009 began in a noteworthy manner as well. After a 19-8 loss at Boise State, Kelly suspended the team's top running back, LeGarrette Blount, for punching a Boise player in the moments following the disappointing loss. But somehow, the rookie coach righted the ship and steered the Ducks to the Pac-10 championship and a berth in the Rose Bowl.
Each has had his share of off-field distractions. In addition to the Blount drama, Kelly had to suspend Jeremiah Masoli shortly after the team's Rose Bowl loss to Ohio State for a burglary incident. Not long after that, Kelly dismissed Masoli from the team after the star quarterback was arrested for marijuana possession. Around the same time, Kelly announced that star running back LaMichael James would be suspended for the 2010 season opener after James pleaded guilty to a physical harassment charge involving his girlfriend.
Those off-field issues seem a lifetime ago in comparison to what Auburn has been dealing with for two months. Chizik's golden goose, Newton, was alleged to have been the subject of a pay-for-play arrangement in which his father shopped his son's services for at least $180,000 when the dual-threat quarterback was coming out of junior college.
Once those allegations hit, writers grabbed their shovels and hard hats and regurgitated the stolen laptop story, and while they kept digging, they heard tales of academic cheating while Newton was a scholarship player at Florida before his juco days.
Each coach has managed these non-football issues pretty well. And unfortunately, keeping potential distractions from becoming, well, distractions, is a part of coaching in high-profile, big-dollar sports these days.
But back to football. Kelly is more of an innovator, with his frenetic, spread-option offense. As a first-year offensive coordinator under head coach Mike Belotti in 2007, he guided the Ducks' attack to a school-record 468 yards a game in total offense. In 2008, Oregon amassed 485 yards each time out. This year? Tops in the nation at 537 yards.
If Chizik has a specialty, it's on the defensive side of the ball. Before his Iowa State days, he was the defensive coordinator at Texas and Auburn, among other stops. But the Tigers' defense gives up plenty of yards and points, and their success this season is largely attributable to the talents of one offensive player. So if we're talking about the better coach here, I think it's a pretty easy call. Especially considering Kelly grabbed the Eddie Robinson, Walter Camp and Associated Press Coach of the Year awards.
Edge: Oregon
More Auburn-Oregon Previews:
+ The Quarterbacks
+ The Running Backs
+ The Receivers
+ The Offensive Lines
+ The Defensive Lines
+ The Linebackers
+ The Defensive Backs
+ Special Teams
Reader Comments