Somewhere, on an undisclosed beach in a tropical paradise, Tommy Tuberville sips a pina colada and smiles.  Oh, it's more than just the $5.2 million he'll be getting from Auburn over the next three years.  Tubs is grinning because his former employer just cemented his legacy by hiring Gene Chizik as Auburn's new head football coach.

Say what you want about Tuberville and the poor year that Auburn had this year, but probably nothing Tubs could do could rival what may happen under Chisik.

A respected defensive coordinator at UCF, Auburn and perhaps Texas, Chisik was hired two years ago to turn around football fortunes at Iowa State.  Chisik didn't improve the fortunes, he drove them straight into the ground going 5-19 in two years.  This season, Chisik's Iowa State team went 0-8 in the Big 12 and didn't play Texas, Oklahoma or Texas Tech, the three best teams in the league. My high school Principal, Mr. Howard was a rabid ISU football fan and if he wasn't already dead, Chisik's stewardship would certainly have killed him.

Yet, the geniuses at Auburn, unable to get former assistant Bobby Petrino a couple of years ago (and perhaps this time around) and former assistant Wil Muschamp, settled on Chisik to lead their program.  This sounds more like a move Mississippi State would make instead of Auburn.

Forget his miserable record at Iowa State for just a second.  Beyond that, how does the hiring of a fairly competent defensive coordinator and so far failed head coach help Auburn recruit against Nick Saban at Alabama?  Or Lane Kiffin and his dad at Tennessee?  Or Urban Meyer at Florida?  Or LSU?  Or even Ole Miss and Vanderbilt?  In the grand scheme of things, Gene Chisik is a name that's off the radar of most recruits.  He's been gone from the SEC for four years after being there only two and if he can't do anything in the weak Big 12 North, how does anyone expect him to compete at Auburn in the tough SEC West?

It's obvious Auburn AD Jay Jacobs got his marching orders from Auburn trustees.  But as passionate as guys lie Bobby Lowder and Jimmy Rane are to win, why would they hire what appears to be a stiff as head football coach?  Word out of Auburn has it that Chisik has been described as "a young Pat Dye" and the old coach himself gushed to administrators about Chisik.  What remains to be seen if Chisik will go down in history as another Pat Dye or another Doug Barfield.

One thing is for sure.  At this point, Tommy Tuberville is smiling.  So, believe it or not,,is Nick Saban.