The reality of high expectations

Expectations play an oversized role in college football. That is nothing new, and it is why coaches try to keep those expectations under control. Some first-year coaches exceed them. Some fall short. Neither is necessarily a good predictor of what is to come.

By the time the 1981 season arrived, first-year coach Pat Dye had convinced Auburn people better days were coming. But after beating TCU in Dye’s first game, the Tigers lost to Wake Forest as the result of a fumbled kickoff, fumbled at the goal-line at Tennessee and lost 17-3 at Nebraska. They went on to finish 5-6.

Tommy Tuberville, the pitch man that he was, never claimed his first season would not be difficult. But expectations grew anyway. In his first game, the Tigers had to score in the final minutes to be Appalachian State, which was an FCS program and did not resemble the Appalachian State of today. His first team went 5-6. Both, of course, went on to much better days.

There are opposite examples, too. Terry Bowden went 11-0 in his first season. Gus Malzahn went 12-2.

But this season is quite different. With almost two dozen transfers, it’s difficult to hazard a guess on what Hugh Freeze’s first Auburn team will look like. Could it be like Dye’s and Tuberville’s first teams and have a similar record. Sure it could. Could it be like Terry Bowden’s first Auburn team and go unbeaten or like Malzahn’s first team that won the SEC championship and played in the BCS Championship Game? Highly unlikely.

Reality will probably be somewhere between those extremes as Freeze begins his Auburn football journey.