Auburn football coach in 'sticky situation,' former kicker Al Del Greco tells Hoover chamber
Auburn football coach Gus Malzahn is in a “sticky situation” as Tiger fans look for more wins, former Auburn and NFL kicker Al Del Greco told the Hoover Area Chamber of Commerce today.
After a 7-6 record last year and a “curious first game” this year, “Auburn fans, I think we’ll all agree, are kind of on edge a little bit,” Del Greco told the 180 or so people at the chamber's September luncheon at the Hyatt Regency Birmingham — The Wynfrey Hotel. “We need to expect and we need to see more when it comes to wins.”
Del Greco said he was in the stands when Auburn lost to Clemson 19-13 in the first game this year on Sept. 3.
“It was almost like you couldn’t get mad because you didn’t really believe what you were seeing with the shuffling of all the quarterbacks and stuff,” he said. “It was a plan that went awry. It was not a good idea when all was said and done.”
Auburn kind of rebounded with a 51-14 win over Arkansas State on Sept. 10, but it’s tough to tell how good Arkansas State was, with 14 or so players in the hospital with a stomach virus, Del Greco said. “We’ll have to wait and see what happens.”
The matchup against Texas A&M this Saturday will be a good test for the Tigers, he said.
Auburn quarterback Sean White is doing an incredible job, Del Greco said. He’s got a good-enough arm and keeps the football enough during the run to disguise the plays, which can be effective, Del Greco said.
The defense is better than it has been in years, with a good seven or eight players up front, counting the backups, he said. And kicker Daniel Carlson is doing well on kickoffs and field goals and feels like he can kick a 60-yard field goal, which is impressive, Del Greco said.
Across the state, at Alabama, is arguably the best coach in college football, Del Greco said.
“I really respect what he’s done. To think that you could win four national championships in a seven-year period in today’s day and age really is quite remarkable,” Del Greco said. “As an Auburn fan, it pains me to admit that, but you’ve got to give respect where respect is due.”
Ole Miss quarterback Chad Kelly this weekend will try to become the first quarterback to beat a Nick Saban-led Alabama team twice in his career, Del Greco noted.
Del Greco, who now is the golf coach at Samford University and a sports radio show host on JOX 690-AM and 94.5-FM, also talked about what it was like being a kicker. Kickers, typically smaller than most of the other football players, aren’t usually recognized as much as the others, he said.
When he played for the Tennessee Titans, he once was mistaken by a fan as the team’s noseguard, and when he played as a celebrity in the Bruno’s Memorial Classic Pro-Am golf tournament years ago at the Greystone Golf and Country Club, he was mistaken for Chi Chi Rodriguez, even though Rodriguez is a good bit older, he said.
But Del Greco said he has truly been blessed to have been able to play and break records in the National Football League, play in so many golf events, coach golf and football at Spain Park High School for 10 years and now coach golf at Samford and do the radio show.
“I never dreamed I would have the opportunity to do something like that,” he said. “It’s been a blessed career.”
He now is trying to help grow the golf program at Samford, which is a smaller program in Division I, he said.
“It’s a challenge that I think I look forward to very, very much,” he said. “Hopefully, we have a lot of success going forward.”
He tries to use his experiences in life to help guide the young people at Samford, as well as his own children, he said.
He really enjoyed sharing the jubilation of the Super Bowl experience with his children but also the great lessons learned by the disappointment of not winning the Super Bowl or being cut from NFL teams three times, he said.
“It just doesn’t always work out the way that you would like,” he said. “Sometimes, you’re just dealt the hand where you have to fight back and find a way to get things done.”