AUBURN TIGERS FOOTBALL

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This just in from Auburn: Trooper Taylor, the co-offensive coordinator and receivers coach at Oklahoma State this past season, has been named assistant head coach and wide receivers coach at Auburn.

This confirms earlier reports that he was joining Auburn's staff.

"This is a great opportunity to join Coach (Gene) Chizik at Auburn and be a part of a dynamic offensive staff that he has put together," Taylor said. "I'm excited to be coaching at a program like Auburn and return to the Southeastern Conference."

We've talked to coaches today who are familiar with him, and the absolute consensus is that he's a first-rate recruiter.

Auburn also said Monday that Jay Boulware will coach tight ends along with his previously announced assignment as special teams coordinator.

Taylor is Auburn's fifth assistant, joining Boulware, offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn, defensive coach James Willis and running backs coach Curtis Luper. Auburn coaches were on the road recruiting Monday, though Chizik was in the athletics buildings at least much of the day.

Continue reading "Auburn names Taylor assistant head coach, too; Tigers also add tight ends to Boulware's job" »

Auburn has hired Oklahoma State co-offensive coordinator Trooper Taylor as assistant head coach and receivers coach, the university confirmed late Monday.

Taylor spent one season at Oklahoma State and was previously an assistant under Phillip Fulmer at Tennessee from 2004-2007. Before that, he worked at Tulane, New Mexico and Baylor, his alma mater.

He joins running backs coach Curtis Luper on new coach Gene Chizik's staff. Luper also came from OSU.

"This is a great opportunity to join coach Chizik at Auburn and be a part of a dynamic offensive staff that he has put together," Taylor said in a university release. "I'm excited to be coaching at a program like Auburn and return to the Southeastern Conference."

Continue reading "It's official: Taylor hired as assistant head coach" »

Rodney Garner has turned down Tennessee to stay at Georgia, he told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution today. He's staying on at Georgia as assistant head coach and defensive line coach -- presumably with a big raise. South Carolina assistant Ron Cooper also cashed in today with a hefty raise when he joined the LSU coaching staff.

Garner, a former Auburn player, was interviewed for the Tigers' head coaching position last month.

Auburn and Tennessee have been active players in building new coaching staffs in the last few weeks. The Tigers have hired five assistants, including Trooper Taylor on Monday.

Continue reading "Rodney Garner says he's staying at Georgia; Carolina's Cooper cashes in with new job at LSU" »

Trooper Taylor is joining Auburn's coaching staff, reports say, and would be the fifth assistant to sign up with Gene Chizik and the second to come from Oklahoma State.

But what's this?!? Trooper's bio, which disappeared from the Oklahoma State athletic web page earlier in the day, is back on the web site this afternoon. The bio is missing of his coaching buddy, Chris Luper, who has agreed to be Auburn's running backs coach.

Now this: Everything's cool. He's on board at Auburn.

Taylor, according to reports, is joining Luper, who agreed to be Auburn's running backs coach on Friday. Luper and Taylor flew to Auburn together on Sunday.

Taylor was co-offensive coordinator at Oklahoma State, but he's an SEC guy. He was Tennessee's receivers coach for four years. He was also the Vols' assistant head coach for player development.

Taylor grew up in a family of 16 in Cuero, Texas.

Taylor came to Knoxville after coaching receivers at Tulane from 1999-2003.

Taylor was recognized by Rivals.com as a Top 25 recruiter in 2005 and 2007.

Continue reading "Auburn adding Trooper Taylor to coaching staff" »

Our friends at the Oklahoman are reporting that Trooper Taylor has accepted a position at Auburn this morning.

Taylor would coach receivers and possibly have another title to be determined.

Check out the Auburn Beat, where we covered Taylor's Sunday visit to Auburn extensively.

Continue reading "Report: Trooper Taylor is on board" »

The worst part of Utah totally dismantling and completely embarrassing Alabama in the Sugar Bowl?

Having to hear all the subsequent arguments about what the Utes' 31-17 victory supposedly "proves."

First, there is no getting around the fact that Utah clearly dominated Alabama, and there is no doubt that the Utes could compete in any conference in the country. The Mountain West made the Pac-10 its personal whipping boy this season, going 6-1 against a conference that went 5-0 in bowl games. And no matter what happens Thursday night in the BCS National Championship Game, Utah will remain the only undefeated team in Division I.

And as Tide coach Nick Saban is certainly aware by now, that includes both BCS and non-BCS conferences.

Utah beat a TCU team that was ranked No. 12 at the time; a No. 14-ranked BYU, Michigan, an Oregon State team that beat Southern Cal, and beat Alabama worse than BCS-finalist Florida beat Alabama.

Nobody can take anything away from Utah's very aggressive scheduling and the Mountain West Conference's determined push to be included as a BCS automatic qualifier.

But the Utah victory does not "prove" anything other than on this night, in this game, at this time, the Utes were better than an Alabama team whose heart clearly was trampled by Florida in that "BCS semi-final" game in Atlanta.

Continue reading "Rarely do teams of equal standing face off in bowl games" »

The price of poker is going up in the SEC, at least when it comes to hiring assistant coaches.

Georgia is in negotiations tonight with assistant coach Rodney Garner in an attempt to prevent him from going to Tennessee. The Vols are throwing around some serious money. You can guess that means Georgia is, too. If new Auburn running backs coach Curtis Luper is really going to make $400,000, as has been reported, you can look for the Tigers at the teller's window, too. Luper would be making more than any Auburn assistant under Tommy Tuberville's regime. We haven't heard about offensive coordinator's Gus Malzahn's salary.

The Athens Banner-Herald is reporting tonight that Georgia is making an effort to keep Garner. Auburn interviewed Garner when it was looking for a head coach, and at least entertained the thought of bringing him back to Auburn as an assistant after Gene Chizik was hired.

Continue reading "SEC assistant coaches are cashing in" »

The dead period ends Monday and coaches can start visiting recruits in person again, so let's break down where Auburn's new staff stands at this point.

Here are the coaches who have been hired:

Head coach Gene Chizik
Offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Gus Malzahn
Running backs coach Curtis Luper
Special teams coordinator Jay Boulware
Defensive assistant James Willis (will almost certainly coach linebackers, but that has not been officially announced)

Continue reading "Breaking down Chizik's new Auburn staff" »