The announcement of new Auburn offensive coordinator Scot Loeffler happened quickly, with reports surfacing yesterday just before the school confirmed the hire.
Today, a press conference was set up for the now-former Temple OC. But it was during that presser that Auburn coach Gene Chizik said the process of finding Loeffler -- he said the list of candidates was short and Loeffler was interviewed last “by design” -- took as long as it did because of how thorough the search was.
“One thing I was going to make sure is I did my due diligence to bring in the best man for Auburn,” Chizik said. “We think we got that done.”
Loeffler spent just one season as Temple’s offensive coordinator. The Owls finished in the Top 10 nationally in rushing offense, but struggled mightily in the passing game this season. In 2009-10, Loeffler was Tim Tebow‘s quarterback coach at Florida.
“It was very important to me to bring in somebody I knew had a reputation for developing quarterbacks,” Chizik said.
We’ll let you decide whether Loeffler did a good enough job with Tebow.
As for Loeffler’s philosophy with the Tigers, suffice to say the replacement for Gus Malzahn had an interesting perspective.
“It’s our job as an offense to protect that defense. And at the end of the day, it’s our job to score football points.”
You can check out more quotes from the presser HERE and the Birmingham News’ recap HERE.
(Photo courtesy of the University of Florida)