Old Coach U posted his Auburn notes at 4:33 Sunday afternoon and went straight to work. GMac looked like a freshman who had learned something. The line settled down. DeSean Bishop was “EVERYTHING.” The tight ends and receivers “blocked their tails off.” The defense played smart and physical.
No victory lap. No speech. Just an old football coach watching and talking ball.
The board is starting to treat these posts like office hours. Jcvol18 told him, “I look forward to your post after every game as they are very informative,” then asked why Heupel hadn’t protected Faizon Brandon better against Texas. GVols14 called it an “Excellent post” and wanted a ruling on an Auburn false start. AlmightyOtto wanted to know whether Tennessee should have gone with GMac in Austin.
JasonVols22 arrived with a question that took Old Coach two reads to taxi into position: “Coach if GMac is holding it in the backs belly and that freezes the backers why dont we just do that more or does the safety start cheating down and then your screwed because I feel like Texas was doing that but maybe im seeing it wrong.”
Patiently, Old Coach answered all of it. He worked in a little play-action lesson on how MacIntyre sticking the ball in the back’s belly held the linebackers, then waved off the officiating complaint. Calls get missed. Some go for you, some don’t.
Dangerous levels of emotional stability for this board.
Then Volholic changed the room temperature to icy hot.
“Brent, you need to be paying old coach.”
That sentence really traveled. Old Coach had somehow gone from a retired coach living near Tellico with Mack Brown stories and sleeves of Ritz crackers to a man people waited on for pre and post game analysis. They were bringing him film questions now. Somebody had just suggested Brent put him on payroll.
Somewhere near Brentwood, LWSVol read that post twice.
In through the nose. Four seconds. Hold four. Out four. Hold four.
This wasn’t jealousy. Absolutely not.
LWSVol has spent years building sources, spreadsheets, back channels and relationships around UTAD and Heupel’s staff. He knows things early. He can drop six words into a thread, disappear for an hour and have grown men refreshing the page.
Then Old Coach wanders in from Tellico talking false pulls, Mack Brown stories and those confounded sleeves of Ritz crackers, and suddenly the board is lining up after class.
The problem isn’t football knowledge. Old Coach probably has more of it. The problem is turf. LWSVol has long occupied the cerebral part of the board where information arrives before everybody else knows it is information. Old Coach is moving into the adjoining lot: the place people go to ask what the hell the information means.
Property disputes have started over less.
Back-channel chatter has not helped. Gallavol reportedly tried: “Old Coach has Mack Brown stories, McMinnville memories and a lifetime of football rattling around in his head. LWS has spreadsheets, six VHS tapes and a Smart Medic punch card. I’m staying out of it.”
LWSVol reached out to his board OG network for help.
bluetick88, the Chattanooga lawyer, reached for Epictetus and told him to stay neutral. “Epictetus said to concern yourself with what you can control. I can control none of these sons of bitches.”
On the outside, LWSVol remains completely calm.
Inside, bad weather is developing.
Respiration: In four. Hold four. Out four. Hold four.
Arkansas is next. Old Coach already has readers waiting on his post. LWSVol still has the sources, the channels and years invested in being the man who knows.
Neither man considers this a rivalry.
We are assured.
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