Here are the facts. Since the SEC went to divisions in 1992 Auburn has 180 regular season conference losses. That is only second to South Carolina’s 182 regular season conference losses. I believe that if you consider the fact that South Carolina has had to play Kentucky one more time than Auburn every season in that time that you have to say Auburn is the worst basketball program in the conference since the SEC went to divisions. Kentucky is BY FAR the best team in the conference since the SEC went to divisions. There is no one remotely close to their 234 regular season conference wins. The second best total is 181 wins by Florida. South Carolina has had to play them twice every year as well.
The last post was about my memories, this post is about my takes on various things regarding Auburn basketball through the years and on current events, let’s get started…
THE BUILDING
Mausoleum:
1 : a usually stone building with places for entombment of the dead above ground
2 : a large gloomy building or room
I believe I can safely say using the paragraphs above as evidence that most of Auburn’s teams have been “the dead above ground” and WOW I think everyone can agree that Beard Eaves was a “large gloomy building”.
As I have stated in detail, I have seen a lot of basketball games in that dump. I also jogged in it, saw concerts in it and graduated in it. I still do not have anything good to say about it. It has always been “The Mausoleum” to me. I could not believe some of the nauseating sentimental takes I read before and after the last game against Miss St this year. I mean give me a break. The women had a few moments in there but trying to talk about all the men’s basketball memories in the mausoleum? I think I covered most of them in my last post . There just are not that many and I do not think anyone has ever walked in that tomb and said “wow what a great place to play basketball”.
A LARGE GLOOMY BUILDING… Good bye and good riddance Beard Eaves Mausoleum. I will not miss you and will feel much better when you are a PARKING LOT.
THE COACHES
Before I start I would like to establish a point of reference. Who is the best basketball coach Auburn has ever had? It is not even close. It is the man whose name is part of the sorry building I talk about above. Joel Eaves. He certainly deserved a better building to put his name on. Coach Eaves did coach in a different era of basketball but it was not like the Auburn job was any easier back then. I grade a coach on their conference record and Eaves’ conference record was spectacular. His teams went 124-75 in conference. He still holds the record for most wins and most conference wins in Auburn history. He went 213-100 overall. He is the best pure and simple. The only other basketball coach at Auburn to compile a winning conference record has his name on the football stadium…
Sonny Smith
Sonny Smith was obviously a good coach as our greatest NCAA tournament success was under him. However as good as that tournament success was his teams never had really good regular season conference records. In fact Smith finished his career with a losing record in conference. To me as I said above that is the biggest indicator of how good a coach was. Sonny Smith went 173-154 overall and 84-114 in conference.
Also all of his tournament success was when had Chuck Person on the team. We won the SEC title and advanced to the Sweet Sixteen in 1985 and made it to the Elite Eight in 1986 with Person. Without Person or at least an experienced Person we went out in the first round in 1983 to Richmond in Charles Barkley’s last game. We did not make it past the second round in 1987 or 1988. So you kind of have to give a lot of credit for that tournament success to Chuck Person and that squad of guys.
However you still have to give Smith credit for leading the program to five straight NCAA appearances. Our administration missed one of their best opportunities to help the basketball program after we reached the Elite Eight. I believe starting plans for a new Arena and doing various other little things could have helped the program immeasurably but of course that did not happen.
Smith, like most of our coaches, was an older coach who was on the backside of his career. He was unable to continue the grueling work needed to recruit in basketball at Auburn and the bottom fell out in 1989 with a 2-14 conference record leaving Smith scrambling to Virginia Commonwealth.
Smith’s legacy though is Charles Barkley and Chuck Person and the tournament success Auburn had. It is also about him being a great person overall and his humor and wit. Overall his tenure at Auburn was one of the better runs in Auburn’s less than stellar basketball history.
Tommy Joe Eagles
First and foremost it is still extremely sad that it has been over 15 years since Eagles passed away. I probably know his time at Auburn better than most as I was a student there during that time. Eagles had done a good job at Louisiana Tech. It seemed like a decent hire. His time at Auburn was a lot like Jeff Lebo’s. His teams played very hard but he just could not seem to get any talent especially big men.
Eagles only managed one winning season and a brief NIT appearance at Auburn. There is really not much else to say.
Cliff Ellis
Auburn had the all-time great 1999 season under Cliff Ellis. His part in that must be recognized. However other than that I think he was the most overrated coach in Auburn history. First and foremost he got us on probation twice and that is completely unacceptable to do even once. The four years before 1999 were all losing records in the conference. Ellis always covered that up by scheduling a lot of preseason cupcakes. That is why I judge the success of an Auburn basketball season by the conference record. That tells the truth. It was also why I did not want Ellis to pass Joel Eaves in overall victories because his conference record next to Eaves was not even close. Ellis went 186-125 overall and 73-87 inconference.
Auburn have everyone coming back but one person in 2000 from the great 1999 team and managed to completely disintegrate and not even win the division after a great start. Things went quickly downhill after that and nothing else good happened other than Ellis recruiting Marquis Daniels and him leading us on that little run his senior year to the Sweet Sixteen. However that Auburn team only had an 8-8 record in conference. Auburn went right back into the tank after that and Jeff Lebo was left with things just as bad as ever.
So all-in-all it appears that 1999 was the exception and not the rule of the Cliff Ellis era. An era produced one great season and three NCAA tournament berths but one that also only had two winning conference records in 10 seasons and two NCAA probations. I guess things ended up on the positive side because we got 1999 out of it but otherwise it was a wash and the program was left in the same shape that it was when Ellis started, if not worse.
Jeff Lebo
I think everyone is in agreement on the Jeff Lebo era. He was a good guy and he got his teams to play hard but he could not recruit many good players especially big men. Lebo got to this past season with nearly nothing to show for two whole recruiting classes. I know all the reasons why it is hard to get good talent to Auburn but you at least have to find a few guys that will stick around.
THE ADMINISTRATION
Here is where the buck stops and the blame ultimately lies. The Auburn administration, leadership and power brokers are to blame for the school having the worst basketball program in the conference since the SEC went to divisions. They absolutely did NOTHING to help the program and did not even do enough to keep the program at a mediocre level. It is just shameful and actually pretty stupid to treat your second biggest revenue producer like this even at a football school.
I think the people who are now giving our AD and administration kudos for the new arena are naïve and wrong. Anyone who thinks this AD and this administration built this new arena for the good of the basketball program is blind. It is obvious that it was going to cost more long term to fix up and maintain Beard Eaves than build the new arena. It is as simple as that. It was a simple financial decision. I mean it would have been for the good of the basketball program if it would have been done about a decade earlier. Instead they waited till Beard Eaves was literally falling down.
There are also numerous other things that could have been done to help the basketball program but they were not done. It was just left out to rot and that is just what it has done till now.
THE FUTURE
Regardless of the reasons now, there is the new Auburn Arena and what appears to be a pretty good coaching hire. Maybe just maybe Auburn basketball can start a new legacy next season. I sure hope so. I also hope the Auburn administration and leadership will now make changes as well and at least give the basketball program decent support from here on out.
Auburn will never be a top basketball school but there is no reason it has to be the worst program in the conference. That is completely unacceptable. I look forward to next season and am actually excited about all aspects of an Auburn basketball team and program for like the first time… ever?
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