Take Gus’ postgame answer however you want

VIDEO COURTESY OF AL.COM

Gus Malzahn gave an answer in his postgame press conference Saturday that you can take however you want.

He said he “wants to be” the coach at Auburn next year.

To some that sounded like a commitment. It wasn’t. That’s coachspeak for “if they give me what I want, then I’ll think about it.”

In reality, what do you expect him to say at a time like that? Coaches hardly ever deny that and it certainly wasn’t as strong of a claim as what Nick Saban made back in 2006-07 to questions about him coming to Alabama from the Miami Dolphins.

Remember, that was when Saban said he “was not going to be the coach at Alabama” … and then he was a couple of weeks later.

Even Dan Wolken at USA TODAY thinks Malzahn should head out to Arkansas:

COLUMN: Why Gus Malzahn should escape the craziness of Auburn, go home to Arkansas https://t.co/1OUDd9la0n via @USATODAY

— Dan Wolken (@DanWolken) December 3, 2017

At least one person thinks it will be a Tuesday introduction. We will have an announcement before any introduction, by the way.

Longtime Arkansas Democrat-Gazette sports editor Wally Hall tweeted this:

Here's my guess: Press conference/pep rally Tuesday with Gus and new AD. He's going to make at least one surprise hire. He'll leave soon after to recruit and he'll improve the class.

— Wally Hall (@WallyLikeItIs) December 3, 2017

That is pretty much what I was thinking, too.

There was a Twitter report late Saturday afternoon about the cheerleaders told to be ready for a Sunday pep rally, but the guess here is that’s not going to happen.

There is usually enough of a period of time between the announcement and press conference-pep rally to allow media time to get to Fayetteville.

But, really, nothing would surprise me.