Mailbag 230: How is DJ Durkin playing into Auburn's search?
This week: The Lane Kiffin Effect, the QBs vs. Mercer, last-second shooters, Simon Walker, hoops record predictions and Thanksgiving sides
AUBURN — Welcome back to the Mailbag, which is going to be our last one for at least a little while. The travel back from Las Vegas for the end of Thanksgiving week, just before the Iron Bowl, is going to make it tougher to pull off a ‘bag with such a loaded schedule.
Perhaps, by the next time we take mailbag questions, Auburn will already have a new football head coach.
That search is the focal point of the early questions this week, followed by a switch into a long list of basketball ones ranging from late-game scenarios and schedule metrics to rotation patterns and reserves on the rise.
And, as is tradition around here, we wrap up with some Thanksgiving food questions.
Thank you all so much for continuing to read, listen and subscribe to The Observer. It’s a tremendous blessing to be able to go all over the country covering Auburn basketball and football for you as an independent outlet. I am thankful for every single one of you who spends any time and money supporting this. I’ll never say it enough.
Let’s go.
Does Cohen’s desire to retain Durkin as DC under a new coaching regime change the probability of who Auburn hires? Said differently, would you expect certain coaching candidates to be more receptive to retaining Durkin than others?
Owen
I don’t think Auburn fans should take for granted the fact that this has been a quiet and drama-free coaching search so far for John Cohen. In past coaching searches, things probably would have spiraled out of control by now, with warring factions and meddling boosters getting in the way of the action. Instead, you’re letting LSU and Florida take the chaotic search titles in this carousel.
Another thing that Auburn fans shouldn’t take for granted is Cohen’s willingness to talk on the record about the search to local media members. That’s not happening everywhere, and that’s not always happened here. There’s value to being able to talk to your fans directly, and Cohen has done that several times now.
I say all that to set up my answer to Owen’s question: We can just go to what Cohen himself has said about the subject.