Auburn players buy into ‘Do What We Do’ mantra

When his record fell to 0-3 in his first season with the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars, Jack Del Rio entered the locker room with a massive tree stump and an axe in his hand.

The symbolism Del Rio was trying to promote revolved around the idea that the Jaguars needed to embrace a piecemeal approach to their improvement, taking things one at a time like a lumberjack knocks down a tree with one swing after another.

The team responded by finishing the season 5-11 and, on the way, punter Chris Hanson sliced his foot open when he — without permission from the head coach — took a hack at the stump, completely missed and ruined his only value to the team.

It wasn’t the first time a wacky coach gimmick crashed and burned. And it certainly won’t be the last.

In a new age littered with younger coaches and proven theories on how to motivate athletes, these supposedly outside-the-box tactics are as commonplace as the spread offense.

Auburn, of course, is no different.

Though, in typical Gene Chizik fashion, the Tigers are erring on the side of bland and basic.

The Tigers’ mantra for the 2009 season is simple, yet seemingly carries on a different meaning to whomever you ask.

Do What We Do.

Chizik, the brains behind the slogan, said there’s really no origin behind it.

And, even after hearing him explain it, there’s really no clear-cut explanation to what it exactly means, either.

“When you repeatedly do something, you become basically a product … your habits become that. You become a product of that,” Chizik said. “This is what we do on offense. This is what we do on defense. We’re not trying to reinvent the wheel every week.

“The game unfolds, we’re not playing on one side or the other … that doesn’t have anything to do with the calls. We’ve got to execute it better.
We’ve got to do what we’ve planned to do.

“It’s nothing revolutionary.”

No kidding.

To Auburn players, though, it’s been something to attach themselves to one year after many admitted that the team lacked any sort of identity on its way to its worst record in a decade.

“It means exactly what it means. It’s do what we do,” wide receiver Tim Hawthorne said. “Whatever we do, do it to the best of our ability. And we don’t have to change a lot of things when you’re playing other teams in conference games. You’ve just got to stick the basics and perfect what we’re doing. And do it as good as we can.”

If the 4-0 record heading into Saturday’s primetime matchup with Tennessee isn’t enough, Chizik has multiple, in-game examples that have proven the phrase’s worth.

When the Tigers gave up 17 unanswered points to Mississippi State, wiping out a 14-0 lead to start the game, Chizik saw little panic on the sidelines — another commonplace instance from last year’s team that seemed to crumble whenever adversity struck.

Auburn came back on the very next drive, rushed five straight times before Onterio McCalebb scored the go-ahead touchdown and went on to outscore the Bulldogs, 35-7, the rest of the game.

The same scenario unfolded the following week against West Virginia, only this time the Tigers were down 14-0 less than 5 minutes into the first quarter. The comeback was slow and methodic, but Auburn took control late on its way to a 41-30 victory.

The response in the Tigers’ first two major bouts with adversity had Chizik feeling good about another phrase he’s dropped about 100 times since he’s arrived on the Plains.

Plan your work. Work your plan.

“If we’re not working the plan night now, we’ve got to get back on track working the plan the way it’s supposed to unfold,” Chizik said. “More is not necessarily better. What we do, we know if we do it and execute it well, we know it’s sound and it works.”

There’s really not much else the Tigers can do, especially with a glut of young players and a set of offensive and defensive schemes that are still not fully installed.

And, even if Chizik isn’t getting his interpretation of the phrase ingrained in all his players’ heads, it’s inspired some positive reaction regardless.

“It just means going out, working hard in practice — the hard work we put into this football program since Coach Chizik came in and carry it out,” defensive end Antonio Coleman said. “That’s what I think it means all the whole way through.”

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