Sept. 27, 2016
By Charles Goldberg
AuburnTigers.com
AUBURN, Ala. -- The ever-intense play-calling Gus Malzahn is history says the man who ought to know.
The Auburn head coach, who turned over the play-calling responsibilities to his offensive coordinator last week, says he's now more relaxed, is able to see the big picture and is better in tune with his players.
The first results were positive for the New Gus Malzahn. Auburn beat LSU 18-13 last Saturday.
"For me, during the game, it was very refreshing from the standpoint that I could be there for the special teams, the defense. I wasn't caught up in the next play. It will definitely help me," Malzahn said at his Tuesday press conference. "It will help me during the week, too, to be there more for our players, which is really the most important thing."
Defensive back Rudy Ford saw a difference immediately.
"He was more calm, more relaxed. He just let us have more fun. He came in energized throughout the whole week. He told some jokes on the screen, played music. He just had us all relaxed and let us go play ball," Ford said.
Malzahn was upbeat talking about his transition.
"It was very refreshing for me and that's what I'm going to do moving forward," Malzahn said.
"The biggest difference is I'm not going to be in that film room for 20 hours a day. I'm going to let them do it. I'll still be on top of things and involved, but it's going to allow me there for my players more.
"It was very refreshing last week from my standpoint as far as a preparation standpoint overall...just being more of a head coach, game manager and everything that goes with it."
Malzahn's self-evaluation led him to believe he was "coaching angry."
"At times. At times. You saw the looks on my face, didn't you?"
Malzahn added that "angry" may not be the right word. "Maybe negative. I felt like I was too negative the first couple of games. That's probably the best thing way to put it. I was living and dying with every play.
"It was real refreshing for me to be on the opposite end of that, where you don't live and die with every play. You can kind of look ahead and see the big picture. That's probably the best way to put that."
Gus Malzahn is giving up play calling to see big picture, and 'that's 100 percent best for our team.' Watch, read:https://t.co/9K6ucoZgiK pic.twitter.com/qVV7wmBYCK
-- Auburn Gold Mine (@AUGoldMine) September 27, 2016
Malzahn said he's handing off the offense to Rhett Lashlee. "After one week, I feel very good about that moving forward."
Malzahn had decided in the offseason to be more of a coach and less a CEO. Now, he's taken another step.
"Sometimes reality hits you. In this day and time in this league, to be the head coach and call an offense is not realistic, at least for me," he said. "It hit me after that first game. What's best for our team, 100 percent is what's best. We've got very good offensive coaches that will definitely do a great job with that, I believe. I think we'll get nothing but better.
"For me during the game it was very refreshing from the standpoint that I could be there for the special teams, the defense. I wasn't caught up in the next play. It will help me during the week, too, to be there more for our players, which is really the most important thing. That's how it got to where it's at.
"I feel very good about moving forward with where we're at. We've got the potential to grow a lot on offense."
Malzahn said there's still work to do, specifically in the red zone, after beating LSU on six field goals.
"We've just got to solve our red zone issues. That's our No. 1 focus right now. We're going to spend more time in practice. We're going to evaluate the whole deal in the red zone. If we can solve that, we can be a pretty good offense."
Charles Goldberg is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: Follow @AUGoldMine