Auburn's Gus Malzahn in funny form, but optimistic: "... next three or four years are going to be our best"; club honors local and state players and coaches
By Michael A. Lough
The Sports Report
centralgasports@gmail.com
Gus Malzahn hasn’t been a high school football coach since 2005.
But despite two college football national title rings and coaching assorted All-Americans and a Heisman winner, a large part of his heart remains with the version of the game played mostly on Friday nights.
Macon Touchdown Club Award Winners, 2017 season
Ortho Georgia Back of the Year: Dalton Cox, FPD
Ortho Georgia/Bill Turner Lineman of the Year: Randy Green, Southwest
Ortho Georgia Special Teams Player of the Year: Drake Bolus, Jones County
Marvin Davis Coach of the Year: Brian Nelson, Mary Persons
Bobby Gene Sanders Memorial Scholarship Award winners:
Isaiah Goolsby, Southwest
Cameron Kilgore, Windsor
John Lester, FPD
Sammy Martin, Stratford
William Morgan, Tattnall
Ethan Norfleet, Howard
Said Wanna, Mount De Sales
Elmo A. Richardson Player of the Year: Tobe Umerah, Stratford
Super Seven Players of the Year
Ryan Goede, Kennesaw Mountain (TE, Jr.)
Jadon Haselwood, Cedar Grove (WR, Jr.)
Keiondre Jones, Callaway (G, Jr.)
King Mwikuta, Troup County (LB, Jr.)
Owen Pappoe, Grayson (LB, Jr.)
Dante Walker, Riverdale (DE, Jr.)
Travon Walker, Upson-Lee (DL, Jr.)
State Coach of the Year: Jonathan Gess, Eagles Landing Christian Academy
A crowd of about 325 or so filled the gym at the Methodist Home for Children and Youth on Pierce Avenue to hear the Auburn coach talk about this uniqueness of the 2017 season, what he foresees about his program in the near future and what the future may hold in general in the SEC and college football.
Malzahn remembered his first job, and showed a slide on the big screen of his first coaching staff him and one other coach.
“This picture kind of says it all,” he said. “That’s our staff. We had one coach’s shirt. The blue pants are different colors. We had to go to Wal-Mart.”
There was a shot of the trailer he and young wife Kristi lived in.
“That’s when I found out Kristi really loved me,” he said. “What you don’t see is a red Toyota. We had one car.
“She traded it even for a fax machine. I come home one day: ‘Where’s our car?’”
Mrs. Malzahn: “We have a fax machine. We got the better end of the deal.”
But he said that extended high school career, as opposed to so many of his colleagues who have hardly ever set foot on a high school field as a high school coach, was invaluable, even all the grunt work - grass cutting, field painting, plumbing, laundry.
“It gave me a great foundation, really, for the rest of my career,” he said. “I also learned a lot of football.”
Malzahn became a head coach in his second year at Hughes High in Arkansas, admitted being clueless, and read every word in a book on the Delaware wing-T offense.
“I learned by making mistakes,” he said. “They said, ‘Coach, if you make your kids act (right), you’ll be here as long as you want.’ Thank Goodness. Probably would have been fired anywhere else.”
But in his third year, Hughes went to the state title game.
“We’d never been to the playoffs,” Malzahn said. “We got beat 17-13. … I still remember that game. I didn’t do a great job coaching.
“I was 26 years old, and I didn’t do a great job coaching. The clock management in the last minute of the game. It’s one of those things that still haunts me.
“I don’t remember the championships, but this is a game I think about once a week, because we were so close.”
He moved on to Shiloh Christian, moved to a speedy no-huddle offense, went to four state title games and won two. Next was Springdale, the largest high school in the state, and the same success – including a perfect season with every win by 35 points - followed.
Eventually, when it appeared that Springdale was going to be split into two schools, Malzhan had some career choices to ponder, and he headed to the college level, at Arkansas in 2006, where he learned how differently things were done.
“Toward the end of the year, it got a little complicated,” Malzahn said of a late-season slump and perceptions of tension on the Arkansas staff, in part because of a difference of opinion between offensive coordinator Malzahn and head coach Houston Nutt on the offense. “I learned a lot about college football that year, and I learned a lot about myself.”
Two years at Tulsa as OC followed, and Malzahn and his offense blossomed. Then he was hired as OC at Auburn for 2009-11.
His second stint at Auburn may not have happened if his former boss hadn’t been fired. Malzahn left Auburn for Arkansas State for the 2012 season, and things were in place for success for awhile.
“Me and Kristi were planning on sticking around there for awhile,” he said. “We felt we could do something special.”
Then Gene Chizik, the club’s jamboree speaker in 2013, was fired after the 2012 season at Auburn, and Malzahn was back, as the boss.
“It was my dream job,” he said. “It’s a job I couldn’t pass up.”
The Tigers’ worst season under Malzahn was 7-6 in 2015, but they have two division titles, one SEC title, and one national title game trip.
The Tigers beat the two teams that played for the college football playoff national championship, Alabama and Georgia, and lost the X Bowl to Peach Bowl to Central Florida, which has since declared itself national championship.
The opportunity to joke with Malzahn about that during the Q&A slipped away.
His wife made sure that one routine they had during his high school career didn’t change: dinner after big wins at Waffle House.
They had a few such meals in 2017.
“I get a ham-and-cheese omelet, scattered, covered, smothered, topped,’ he said. “A big win, I usually add a waffle. If it’s real big, I get extra crispy bacon.”
Malzahn touched on a number of topics, including whether there’s a chance the SEC might move Auburn to the East Division. He think it makes sense and will eventually happen.
He doesn’t foresee the SEC expanding from the current alignment of 14 teams.
Malzahn isn’t a fan of the two signing periods that were enacted for 2017-18. He said the early period was for players who truly knew where they wanted to go.
“That’s not the way it worked out,” he said. “It started to get very competitive, and the pressure started going and all that.
“Me personally, I like the way it was. I’m a former high school coach, so I’m always one of those guys like, I think about schools and high school coaches.
“We don’t want to mess up any of these guys that are playing for a state championship.”
He said the aggressiveness of college coaches with the added signing period makes life tougher for high school coaches and players, especially with it coming during the postseason.
He remains a big fan of quarterback Cam Newton, who he knows has become a controversial figure in the NFL.
“I believe Cam is one of the best players to ever play college football,” Malzahn said. “He was an unbelievable competitor in practice. He was very coachable.”
Malzahn said he told Newton that he’d be able to reach if goals if allowed to be coached hard, and Malzahn said Newton never gave him a smirk or an eye-roll attitude.
“He just said, ‘Yes, sir,’” Malzahn said. “He didn’t do all that dancing when he was with me. He just handed the ball to the referee.”
The format for high school playoffs has him believing in expansion for the college game, but at the expense of the overall bowl system, which he likes.
Nevertheless, Malzahn is amped where Auburn football and where he thinks it’s poised to be for the next several years. Several key players are back on both sides of the line, including quarterback Jarrett Stidham and a slew of defenders.
“I truly believe the next three or four years are going to be our best,” said Malzahn, seventh on the all-time list for wins at Auburn and two behind Terry Bowden. “The way we’ve recruited is unbelievable. … We have the most stable situation with coaches of anybody in our league.
“All of our coaches are great examples for our players. What a great husband looks like, what a great dad looks like. That’s the important thing to this coach right here.
“We’re gonna win championships and all that, but the best thing I can tell you about Auburn right now is the players are happy. They’re happy because they have coaches they know that care about them, more than what they can do on the field.”