07/25 at 12:35 AM

HOOVER — If you’re looking for answers, specific answers, you might not want to ask Gene Chizik.

Auburn’s head coach doesn’t like to divulge much.

There’s playing it close to the vest, then there’s wearing it under your skin.

Oh, he’ll answer your question, but depending on how personal or how sensitive it is to what he’s trying to “accomplish at Auburn” it won’t be the answer you’re looking for.

“That’s a great question” is usually followed by “I don’t know …” or “I don’t like to talk about …”

He claims not to know much about what other people think. He’s too focused on Auburn, his team and his program.

Believe him?

It doesn’t matter.

He is who he is.

“I don’t pull any punches,” he said. “I do keep things close to the vest.”

Chizik says he doesn’t deal in hypotheticals.

He won’t talk about specific injuries or how long those who are injured will be out.

He’s reluctant to talk about his freshman, because “we haven’t even had a practice yet.”

He doesn’t talk about things he doesn’t know, or wants to forget.

He says he doesn’t live in the past.

“I’m not trying to be flippant,” he told the hundreds of media in attendance Friday during the last day of SEC Media Days. “That’s just not the way I operate.”

So how does he operate? And why should we care? Because right now, Chizik seems more robotic than Urban Meyer before Tim Tebow came into his life.

Speaking of Tebow, Chizik also doesn’t like to talk about whom he votes for. Oh, he finally gave up that information during his talk, but it was very, very begrudgingly.

“I tell you, I don’t like really discussing the issues of who we voted for, whether it be teams and people,” Chizik said. “I did vote for Tim Tebow. I certainly don’t want to open myself up for discussion for here and ever more. Those things are confidential.”

And that’s the way Chizik wants to keep most of his information.

It’s already how he deals with the outside world.

He says he doesn’t know what the public opinion is of Auburn. He just knows what he, his staff, his players, his administration and his fans say about the Tigers.

Really?

Is Chizik that naïve? Or is he that consumed with Auburn?

Believe it or not, it could be both.

“(When he was named coach) He said he was going to bust his butt to make us the best football team in the country and get us back to where Auburn football was,” fifth-year senior tight end Tommy Trott said. “When he left here, he left a 13-0 football team and he was going to get us back there.”

And considering Auburn just had a 5-7 season and Chizik’s only been on the job seven months, it doesn’t leave much time for reading the Internet. Right?

“Coach Chizik is about business,” senior defensive end Antonio Coleman said. “He’s about doing everything right. Just getting up there in front and just being blunt and speaking the truth. He’s all about business when he’s in front of the cameras and he’s all about speaking the truth.”

To hear Chizik tell it, even if he did have time for leisure activities, he wouldn’t spend it seeking attention. He’s got football games to win and expectations to fulfill.

“I’ve got three children and my wife, I get plenty of attention when I get home,” Chizik said. “I don’t need to go out and get attention for myself … This isn’t about me. This is about Auburn.

“So I don’t care to draw a lot of attention to myself. It’s just who I am.”

And he might be the only head coach in the country who can say that with a straight face.

Even though the ones hearing it Friday in Ballroom C at the Wynfrey Hotel were smiling.

But Chizik doesn’t work for the media. And even though he says he respects everyone and the job they have to do, he’s not going to lose sleep over it.

Or the fact that his Auburn team is picked fifth in the SEC West by the media.

“Everybody’s got an opinion,” he said.

And in his opinion, it’s all about Auburn.

“I respect everybody’s job and everybody wants information, and I really want everybody to do their job to the best of their ability,” Chizik said. “But I also want to make sure I answer everything and protect Auburn and Auburn football and our players.”

It’s fitting the Tigers wear Under Armour.

Chizik is all about protecting his house.

It’s just who he is.

MIKE SZVETITZ is sports editor of the Opelika-Auburn News. He may be reached at 737-2513.