Life Happens!

As the title say life happens! Needless to say the JABA is back and will be here for you! Stay tuned in for more updates in the coming hours.

-the JABA

What's in JABA's Fridge?

Let’s take a step back from the all the serious topics like recruiting, coaching vacancies, football previews and talk about something a little different. Maybe something lighter. Maybe something less filling. Let’s talk about beer. Whether you’re in Auburn or tuning in from your home, we’ll all be having some sort of tailgate to get ready for the big game. And let’s be honest here, most of these will feature some beer drinking. So at JABA, we want to give you some different beer options we have in our fridge to feature at your tailgate. So, What is in JABA’s fridge?

This week’s beer is Redhook Audible Ale. This beer has quickly become a favorite of the JABA staff. The Audible Ale is brewed by Redhook Ale Brewery, headquartered in Seattle, Washington. Redhook has teamed up with one of the JABA team’s idol, Dan Patrick, to create what they claim to be “the ultimate craft beer for watching sports.” Here at JABA, we believe they’ve done just that. Don’t let the term “craft beer” turn you off. The Audible Ale is a beer that’s easy to drink and keeps you wanting more. It’s an American pale ale that pours a nice bronze color and has a nice fruity, grainy aroma. It’s not overly carbonated and is easy on the pallet. You can’t go wrong with this beer. The Audible Ale goes great with any sporting event or, if you’re up for it, have one with Dan and the Danettes Monday-Friday from 9-noon. On the JABA grading scale, Redhook’s Audible Ale gets an A-. Enjoy from a frosty mug or straight from the bottle, and always, enjoy responsibly. - JABA

AU Football Recruiting: June 9th 2013

Welcome to the first installment of our new Auburn football recruiting post. Throughout the year we will be posting news, info, and top targets for the Tigers. We will highlight current Tiger commits, along with who will be on campus on big weekends. As far as the 2014 recruiting class is going, Coach Malzahn has the Tigers heading in the right direction. Auburn is ranked currently as the #14 class in the country with four 4-star commits and five 3-star commits, according to Rivals.com. It seems the early focus in the class has been spent on defense with of 5 the commits on the defensive side of the ball. The defensive line and linebacker position are still key needs for Auburn. On the offensive side of the ball, quarterback still is a key for the future of any major program, and Auburn has its eyes on a few big time recruits.

Next lets meet a current Tiger commit in Kamryn Pettway. Pettway is 6'0 222 pound runningback from Pratville High School in Pratville, Alabama. He is rated as the number 50 runningback back in the country according to Rivals.com and is a 3-star recruit.

Kamryn was first commited to Florida State, but decommited from the Seminoles saying "I rushed my first commitment and I won't make that same mistake the second time". Along with Florida State, Pettway chose Auburn over Georgia and Kentucky. In 2012 he rushed for 1,126 yards on 115 carries with 12 touchdowns. Pettway added 96 yards receiving on just 6 catches with 2 touchdowns. Pettway was recruited for Auburn by two of the best in Dameyune Craig and Charlie Harbison.

Now let's look ahead to the future. Coach Malzahn and crew offered quarterbacks from the 2015 and 2017 classes just this past week. Auburn started the week off by offering a quarterback in the 2015 class in rising junior quarterback Ty Storey. Storey is a 6'3 220 pound strong-armed quarterback from Charleston High School in Charleston, Arkansas.

Storey seems to be a good fit for the style of offense that Malzahn likes to run with such a big arm. During the 2012 season Storey threw for 4,400 yards and 48 touchdowns in a wide-open offensive attack. Auburn is not the only team to offer the talented Arkansas QB. Alabama offered earlier in the week. Arkansas State and Nevada are also in the mix for Storey. Both are schools who like to air it out.

Keeping along with the theme of rising stars, Auburn got a head start on another future phoneme in 6'4 207 lbs. Jake Bentley out of Duncan, South Carolina.

Bentley will be in the 2017 class. Yes, I did say 2017. He will be a freshmen at Brynes High School this fall where he will play for his father who is the head coach. Bentley lead the Brynes B Team to the 7-on-7 camp championship at Auburn this past week, beating out his brother and the A team. With so much size and talent at such a young age, it is no wonder why Coach Malzahn and company got a head start on what could be a future college star. Remember to keep it here on the JABA for all you breaking Auburn news. - JABA

BREAKING NEWS: Pawlowski out as Head Coach!

Via Jay Jacobs twitter account Coach Pawlowski is no longer the head coach. Jacobs said via his Twitter "I want to thank Coach Pawlowski for all he has done for AU baseball the past 5 years. He worked extremely hard throughout his time here and he has been a great representative for AU. I have concluded it is time for our baseball program to move in a new direction." Jacobs went on to say "We have a rich baseball heritage and our goal is to compete for championships. I believe a change was necessary to help us achieve that goal". More to come later. -JABA
Here is Jay's Twitter site https://twitter.com/jayjacobsauad

Auburn fails to make the field of 64. End of an era?

For the third season in a row Auburn misses out on the NCAA Tournament. As much as we (the JABA) wanted Auburn to make it, we felt they did just enough to just miss out. Sadly, not long after noon, we found out that the feelings we had were right. The field of 64 was announced today and as we watched there were some teams who made it that surprised us.  As for Auburn, winning the series over Ole Miss, Florida, and Arkansas to close out the season wasn’t enough to get them in. With the slow start to SEC play, starting 1-8, many Auburn fans have been left thinking that they were one win away from making the tourney. Which may be true as you look back and see close losses to Florida, dropping two shortened games to Mizzou, not sweeping UGA, and most recent, the loss in Hoover. The non-conference schedule also didn’t help the Tigers any as Maine (RPI 142), Eastern Illinois (RPI 177), and Brown (RPI 286) are not baseball powers in any way.  Auburn’s strength of schedule was 31st in the nation, thanks to 27 games against regional teams. Auburn managed to go 11-16 in those contests. Also, some SEC biasses may have come into effect here as the committee only usually  “allows" 9 SEC teams. Auburn finished 10th, behind Texas A&M, because of a rain out. The committee also views SEC teams' RPI differently because they are the SEC and it makes all others look better, much like the ACC in basketball. 

View the entire bracket here: Field of 64

Florida made the tournament ahead of Auburn, which was somewhat surprising to us. The Gators only had 2 wins in their last 9 SEC games going 2-7 against LSU, Georgia and Auburn to finish the season. Much like Auburn, Florida was sent packing after just one day in Hoover. Illinois was another team that snuck in ahead of Auburn, yet where only 3-6 versus the top 50 RPI teams. New Mexico is much like Illinois, but only had 1 win all season versus the top 50 RPI teams. The most shocking or upsetting fact was that Florida State is not only a host site, but a national seed! How does a team that lost 4 straight games beat out Arkansas or Ole Miss from the SEC? 

With that being said, now the question is... What is the status of John Pawlowski? With what is now 5 seasons in the book and only 1 NCAA Regional appearance, is it time for the change we talked about in earlier posts? If not now, then when would be the time? After another disappointing next year? Do we really want Jay and his committees to make another hire though? JABA say yes, it is time for Coach Pawlowski to be let go and shown the door. With little improvement throughout the last few seasons and what seems to be the same problems, the future looks bleak at best. Not only are we 3 years removed from our last NCAA appearance, but we are also 2-7 in Hoover. With our hopes of an NCAA birth yet again dashed (a classic example of JABA), we will see what moves, if any, Jay Jacobs will make in the coming days or weeks.  -JABA

How hot is Pawlowski's seat?

With the end of what some might say was a disappointing baseball season some fans are calling, yet again, for the job of Coach John Pawlowski. I must admit that I found myself thinking that there has to be a better answer out there than what we have. With all the resources for Auburn baseball to be able to tap into, there seems to be no reason for the team not to be more successful. If Hal Baird was able to roll out a solid team every year, then why have we had such a turn over in head coaching and poor teams? Since Baird left the Plains, Auburn has ran through 3 coaches in 12 years which have combined for 426 wins and 319 loses. Which is a .571 win percentage combined. Baird, in his 16 years at the helm of the program, was 634-328 for a .659 winning percentage. Over 200 more wins and only 9 more loses over 6 years! Pawlowski has seen success at Auburn, but to many of the Auburn faithful 2010 (the last Auburn NCAA Regional appearance) seems to be too long of a drought and is unacceptable. Since his arrival in 2008, Pawlowski has a record of 166-114 overall and 71-79 in SEC play, which has been the problem with most Auburn teams during his tenure. The play in the SEC seems to be a year to year problem with a Pawlowski coached team. They seemingly would start hot and have the wheels fall off by the 3rd SEC series every season. Much like this season with the slow start to SEC play, though they did play two of the best teams in the country, the Tigers started off cold again possibly costing them a NCAA Regional. The problem is not so much the SEC West as Pawlowski is 43-41 all time versus the West. The problem lies when the Tigers played the SEC East where they are at a 35-46 mark under Pawlowski, and have never won a series against South Carolina. Auburn failed to see any kind of real improvement from last year in the SEC as they finished with the same 13-17 mark and is only 2 games better than his first season in 2009. Auburn’s worst season was his first in 2009 when the Tigers went 31-25 overall and 11-19 in the SEC, and failed to make the SEC Tournament also the only time in his tenure. After a season of lows in 2009, 2010 brought a new high for the 2nd year coach as Auburn won 43 games and went 20-10 in the SEC, a regular season Auburn record. That season the Tigers won the SEC Western Division Crown and hosted a NCAA Regional, where the Tigers of Auburn fell to the Tigers of Clemson in the championship game of the regional. Since then, Auburn has failed to make it past the SEC Tournament. On top of all of it, Coach Pawlowski’s SEC Tournament record is just plan abysmal at a sad 2-7 all-time, not seeing it past a third game in the tournament. Not making a NCAA Regional this season could be the end of Coach Pawlowski at Auburn. Knowing how things go, and it is JABA after all, Mr. Jacobs may give coach one more year to right the ship and save a little buyout money, which would be 2 full years if let go after this season, in the process. 

Let’s say for fun Auburn misses the postseason (which we at JABA sadly believe may happen) and Jacobs lets Pawlowski go, who should be the next face of Auburn baseball? Us at JABA have personally come up with 4 names that could be a good fit into the Auburn family, some you may know and some you won’t. Let us start with one that you may not know.

Erik Bakich, head coach at Michigan is the youngest coach at a BCS school at the age of 35. Bakich took the Michigan job this past season after 3 seasons with the Maryland Terrapins. Before getting the job at Maryland, Bakich was an assistant at top programs Vanderbilt (2003-2009) and Clemson (2002).While at Maryland, Bakich recorded 70 wins with 98 loses while going 20-70 in ACC play. His best year at Maryland was in 2012 when the Terps posted a mark of 32-24, the 32 wins a school record, and 10-20 in the ACC. Which is only the second time they reached 10 wins in ACC play in school history. After his first and only year at Michigan, he has the Wolverines at 27-25 and 12-9 in the Big Ten. Bakich has recruited and developed 73 players that has been drafted in his 10-year coaching career. Included in those numbers are 25 players drafted in the first 5 rounds and nine players in the 1st round alone. Bakich is considered one of the top college baseball coaches under 40 in the country. Bakich would be a bit of a stretch for the Tigers as he is only finishing his first season in Ann Arbor. 

Now most of you might know Casey Dunn.

Casey Dunn, former Auburn catcher, is the head coach at Samford in Birmingham, Alabama. Dunn has been the head coach at Samford since 2005 where he has a 272-247 career record and 142-101 in SoCon play. Before he took the job in 2005, Dunn worked one season for Auburn in 2004. Dunn’s best season as a coach was in 2012 when Samford won the Southern Conference Tournament and went to a NCAA Regional.This past season Samford went 27-29 and 12-17 in the SoCon. While at Samford, Dunn’s teams have been very constant averaging 30 wins a season. Much like Coach Bakich of Michigan, Dunn is regarded as one of the top young coaches in America. He would seem to be a seamless fit into a place he already knows so much about. Also knowing the recruiting area would be an easy transition for Dunn at Auburn. Whispers were he was on the list and had a chance to be named coach when Pawlowski got the job in 2009. 

Another name you may or may not know... Coach Chris Pollard of Duke.

Coach Pollard just finished his first season at Duke, where the Blue Devils finished 26-29 with a 9-21 ACC record. Before taking the job at Duke, Pollard was the head coach at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina for eight seasons. While at Appalachian State, he went 244-210 with six straight 30-wins seasons and seven straight Southern Conference Tournaments. The Mountaineers went 107-119 in the SoCon with Pollard at the helm. When Pollard took the job in 2005, he was taking over a program that was coming off back-to-back 10 win seasons and was a doormat in the SoCon. Pollard’s best season as a coach was in 2012 when he guided his team to the 2012 SoCon regular season championship (21-9). That year they also set the school record in wins at 41, and made the school's first regional since 1986. Pollard would also be a somewhat reach as he is also a first year coach at Duke. However Auburn would be a step-up for either coach because we all know a coach wants to be in the SEC. 

The last name on our list is a bit of a “dark-horse” candidate, Gabe Gross. 

Gabe Gross is Auburn's assistant coach. Gross would be a reach, as he has no head coaching experience and only 2 years as a college coach at Auburn. The positives are he is young and knows the areas in which to recruit at Auburn. He also knows the players that will return and is, as we all know, an Auburn alum. With that said there is not much more that we can say about Gabe, other than he is one of our own much like Dunn. 

So those are the few names we found that could be the next head coach of Auburn, if the need to find one arises. Those are just are names of course, but who would you want if they needed to find a new head coach? With Selection Monday coming up we may also find out the fate of coach John Pawlowski, as well as if the Tigers will make the postseason (fingers crossed). -JABA 

BREAKING NEWS: NCAA Regional announcement just made.

Auburn will once again miss the NCAA Tournament. This is the thrid straight year that Auburn has failed to make the field of 64. We will dive deeper into who is in and why Auburn may have missed out. -JABA