Gene Chizik Has One of Those 'How to Be a Winner' Books

Gene Chizik Has One of Those "How to Be a Winner" Books

By Sean Pendergast Thu., Jun. 16 2011 at 6:13 PM

Gene Chizik, author

"We knew we had done nothing wrong during [Cam Netwon's] recruiting process." -- Auburn head football coach Gene Chizik in an excerpt from his soon to be released book All In: What It Takes to Be the Best.

Honestly, as I look at that introductory quote above, it's not so much Gene Chizik's assertion that Auburn didn't do anything shady during Cam Newton's recruitment that jumps out at me. (I mean, don't get me wrong, I do have my suspicions.) Instead, my immediate reaction is "Gene Chizik has a goddamn book about winning??"

No offense intended to the Auburn head football coach, his team went undefeated in 2010 and for that the BCS national title is well deserved ~~at least until we find out if the check to Cecil Newton has an Auburn watermark on it~~. But the bar is now set at "Gene Chizik" on who can write books telling us "their way is the right way"?

Really?

The book itself, which is set for a July 5 release, is 282 pages, but I firmly believe that I could have saved everyone a lot of time and energy (and paper) and ghostwritten the Gene Chizik Guide To Winning in a two-page pamphlet. Hell, I probably could have done it on a cocktail napkin.

Ready? Here it is:

Chapter 1
Recruit Cam Newton.

Chapter 2
Call play "36" a bunch of times...

That's a play!

Chapter 3
Stay the hell out of the way.

Chapter 4
Collect trophy.

Chapter 5
Get raise from employer to $3.5 million per year.

THE END

Okay, maybe I'm not being entirely fair to Coach Chizik. I understand that there's a lot more that goes into being a college football head coach than figuratively rolling the balls out and letting your guys "go get it!" You're not only a coach, you're a fundraiser, a salesman, a politician and a boss.

That said, can we all agree on the following:

1. If you're going to write a book telling the fallible masses how they can magically become "the best" (just like you!), then none of your career as an assistant or anything other than the lead dog should count toward your street cred. When I espoused my bewilderment on the radio today at Chizik authoring this book, I had a few people tell me, "Hey, he's been part of three undefeated teams. He knows how to win!"

Um, the two seasons in which he assisted Tommy Tuberville (2004) and Mack Brown (2005) to undefeated seasons do not count on the back of Chizik's "winner credibility" baseball card. If I want to know Tuberville's and Brown's philosophies that shaped those undefeated squads, I'll read their books.

2. So only your career as a head coach should count towards a 282-page missive on "Here's what I did to become the best!" As a head coach, Gene Chizik was 5-19 in two seasons at Iowa State and is now 22-5 in two seasons at Auburn with a national championship. Is he the coach of the defending national champion? Yes. Is he "the best?" No.

Tags:

Auburn, Cam Newton, NCAA

We Recommend

Hoopie

Sean, since I'm an Auburn fan, I'll probably buy the book. It is my understanding that their is osme spiritual journey messaging in the book.

We won't know until the book is issued in July, but I agree that it it would be preposterous for it to be a "how to win" book. If it is merely a "here's how Gene Chizik got to Auburn and how we got through the 2010 season" book, then that would be enjoyable for us "simple Auburn folk". It is my understanding that Gene also takes the opportunity to send out a spiritual message to those that will listen.

Before we engage is too much silly speculation, why don't we revisit this in July.

Tyler the Terrible

I can't help but wonder how a 5-19 loser in his THIRD SEASON as a head coach, enters Auburn, AL (quite possibly the lamest and most redneck college town in America and home to a second rate college) and miraculously out-recruits all of the superior college powerhouses, superior college coaches, and flagship institutes located in cities far more ideal for college athletes. Has any other coach in the history of college football ever done this?

Chizik may not be paying players, but someone sure as hell is. Almost all second rate colleges, like Auburn's (located in pissant towns) lackluster towns justify why their football teams simply put: sucks. But not Auburn. I've driven through there twice and I can assure you all it would take "more than just a scholarship" to lure me there and that's a fact.

Hoopie

Tyler, next time you are around Auburn, do more than stop by the Waffle House out at the interstate. It is a gorgeous campus in a small town setting that >22k students thoroughly enjoy.Chiziks's strategy was that he took a smaller salary and enticed top assistants with high salaries. Turns out that those assistants love the atmosphere to raise families and win football games.

Urbanites and "Terrible" people don't get Auburn ...and that's all the better. There is a reason they don't fit in at Auburn. We aren't impressed with people of the ilk that gotta have a lot of flash in their lives just to have fun.

Now go ahead with some "redneck-bumkin" type comments ...We'll just laugh at you all the more.