We break more news at $1.50 Classifieds: 532-4222 SUNDAY / DECEMBER 14 / 2008 A TIMES SPECIAL REPORT By EVAN WOODBERY Times Auburn Write r [email protected] AUBURN – Iowa State’s Gene Chizik agreed Saturday to become Aubu rn ’s new head foot ball coa ch in astunningconclusiontothesearchto replac e T ommy Tu berville. Officials from both schools con- fir med the news Sat urd ay nigh t. “Through my travels in coaching overthe last23 year s, there ’sone plac e that I’ve always wanted to return to and tha t is Aub urn ,” the 46- yea r-ol d Chiz iksaid ina sta tem ent , whic h was rel ea sedat 9 p. m. “The tra diti on of the Aub urn foot - ballprogram,combine d withthe pas- siona te fansandthei r lovefor Aub urn, ar e se co nd to no ne. Myfamil y an d I areAubur n thro ughandthro ugh,and look forwa rd to bein g part of the Auburn family and communit y. ” As word of Chizik’s hiring spread Sat urda y , it app eare d thatmanyin the Aub urn fami ly and com muni ty did - n’ t fee l thesame wa y . Chizikwill returntothePlains with a two- yearrecordof 5-1 9 atIowa Sta te andcarryinga 10-ga me losingstreak, which means his hiring could be a tough sell to Tigers fans, many of whomseemedangryor bewi lder edby Saturd ay’ s news. Popu lar AuburnInternet message board s were almo st unan imous ly neg ati ve, blog s on al. comover flow ed with vitriolic comments, and some fa nsevencameto th e air po rtto me et Athle tic Dire ctor Ja y Ja cobs and school President Jay Gogue and ex- Som e tru ste es as k ab ou t hi rin g, specif ic duties By CHALLEN STEPHENS Times Staff Write r [email protected] Dr . Ca rl Ma rb ury sta ys in the presid ent’ s mansionatop the hill at Alaba ma A&M Uni ver sity . Dow n thehill, he clai ms anoff iceand secr etary ac ro ss thehallfromth e uni - versity comptr oller . But Marbury, technically speaking, is not an employ- ee of Al ab ama A& M. Infact , onApri l 26, Ma r- bury gave an impassioned half -hour speech, aski ng tr ust ee s notto hir e him . He cal ledfor unit y , with drewhis can did acy for inte rim pres - ident, and urged the board to in stead ch oo se th e pro vost , Dr. Bev erl y Ed- mond. The board did just that. Moment s after Marbury’ s spee ch, the boar d name d Edm ond as interim pre si- dent. Less than a month later, Edmo ndturnedaround,and wi th out a vo te of th e bo ar d, hir ed Ma rb ury as a con sul t- ant , labe linghim“specialas- sistant to the pre side nt. ” Marbury, a former presi- dent at A& M, now earn s $12 ,500 a mon th. (Th at work s out to $15 0,0 00 a year.) Someboardmembersare asking what Marbury does toearntha t mon ey . Andthey wa nt to kn ow wh y they weren’t told about the hire, andwhyMarburyisusingthe presiden t’s mansion. “T o tellyou thetruth, ” said E X -P R ESIDE N TB A C K O N HILL Qu es tions aris e over M ar bu ry’s co ns ul ti ng agreem en t, re si de nc e, sa la ry at A& M AU picks Iowa State’s Chizik Michael Mercier/Huntsville Times Hillcrest, the president’s residence on the Alabama A&M campus, is home to Carl Marbury when he is in town. Car l Marbury Be ver ly Edmond Plea se see HILL on A11 Inside David Person explains how he learned of Marbury’s deal. A22 Plea se see CH IZIK on A11 Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford wins the Heisman Trophy, B8 Inside Bill Bryant says fans appear unhap- py with Auburn hiring Chizik. B1