Wow. Lots to digest here. I'll break Gene Chizik's introductory press conference down as well as I can real quickly before I have to hack away at tomorrow's print stories.

• Chizik did not offer many details about who his staff would be. Reports surfaced late last night that those remaining Tommy Tuberville's crew were informed to seek new employment. No idea if that means they are absolutely out of the loop.

• In the interim, Chizik will lean onformer Auburn assistant Joe Whitt Sr., director of NFL relations Phillip Lolley and director of football operations Jimmy Perry to help him recruit. No word on whether any of those three will be added to the staff full time.

• He emphasized several times how important recruiting will be in the process, especially in the early stages.

• Money does not sound like it's going to be an object in the hiring of a staff. "It's just going to be the best people, in my opinion, who are the best fit at Auburn."

• Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Chizik said money wasn't an issue. "I don't coach for money. I mean, I'm already making more money than I thought I would make in my entire lifetime. That doesn't mean anything to me. That's who I am, so that wasn't important to me. What was important to me was the job."

• Jacobs said the contract will be largely incentive based. "Just like in the business world," he said.

• Chizik has not yet spoken to Tommy Tuberville.

• Former coach Pat Dye and Redskins cornerback Carlos Rogers were in attendance.

Some quotables:

Chizik, on why he left Auburn four years ago

"My desire was to be a head coach. That’s what I wanted to be, and I felt like four years ago, I was ready. As you go into this profession you try to gauge, ‘What is the best thing for me to get to my ultimate goal?’ My ultimate goal at the time was to be a head coach. I had been a defensive coordinator at that time for ten or eleven years. At the time, the University of Texas, where I went, had a great track record of moving guys on to be a head coach. As you make business decisions about your career, just like any of you that are in the business world know, you have to make decisions about what is best for you and your family to get you to the ultimate goal. So I made the move. If you go back four years right now, and I didn’t make that move, I don’t know, maybe I wouldn’t be standing here in front of you today. Would I do it again the exact same way? Yes, I would. Not because I wanted to leave Auburn, but ultimately, if you really look at it, it’s because I wanted to get back to Auburn.”

Chizik, on his offensive philosophy

"I think it is 200 years old to be honest with you. I think on offense right now you have to be able to run the football and I don’t think that has changed since forever. That doesn’t mean that we aren’t going to throw the ball, but in my opinion, in order to win you have to be able to run the ball."

Chizik, on losing 10 straight to finish the season at Iowa State

"Last year was a situation that I had never really experienced. What I learned was perseverance and to keep the kids playing hard, and let them always know what the goal is for every week. We were playing with eleven true freshmen and they played hard every week. But we kept persevering and we stuck it in there. We grew a lot, I grew a lot, and it was tough managing a football team that was under those circumstances because I had never done that before. I wouldn’t trade those two years for anything I’ve done. I did it right, and I enjoyed those two years, but learned a lot.”

Chizik, on balancing recruiting and getting a staff in place

"I think kind of all the way around – doing everything at once. I'll be in the car driving here and you've got to make 10,000 phone calls. I'm trying to get some guys in place. Again, it's kind of a storm. You've just got to do everything in a day as it goes. There'll be a lot of things going on in terms of recruiting and hiring a coaching staff. Those are the two main things, obviously. "

Athletic director Jay Jacobs, on hiring a coach who lost 10 straight games to finish last season

"He made the choice instead of just trying to be a quick fix, he made the choice in his third year he wanted to have a good team. So he started 10 or 11 freshman this past year. The other thing is he had to make some hard choices when he first got there, but he made those in a way that didn't impact them negatively APR. So coming in, to make those changes and get the right quality people in the program, and his vision for where the program was going, and the validation from the AD and president that it was goign in the right direction, all those things matched up with what he told us."

Jacobs, on the initial negative reaction the hire produced

"I'm not disappointed at all. I just stood on Exodus 14:14 and am just going to keep walking by faith and not by sight. And I know that at the end of the day, I'm going to put on my code of honor from Ephesians 6:10, and I know that we got the right guy here to do the right thing for Auburn and our student-athletes are going to have an unbelievable experience playing for a guy that loves them and is going to work them as hard as he can possibly work them, push them to a new limit. And all the people be proud and get on board."

Jacobs, on Charles Barkley saying race was the No. 1 factor in this hire

"Well, my reaction is I was picking the best fit for Auburn."

Jacobs, on if he had any advisers in the process

(Joking) "Some requested and some unrequested."