Auburn head football coach Tommy Tuberville was fired today after 10 seasons. He was 85-40 at Auburn, and 5-7 in 2008.
It took me a hell of a long time to warm up to Tuberville. Since he first took the head gig at Mississippi, I’ve consistently thought his press was a good 30% better than he was.
Today I still wouldn’t call myself a fan, but there’s little doubt the guy has a lot of talent. His career is one of a consistent winner and a tremendous big game coach.
Coach Saban had some pointed words on Auburn’s decision. I hear what he’s saying, but the ship sailed (-5) long ago. Nebraska fired Frank Solich in 2003 after he went 9-3 (and 58-19 in six years!).
I think Tuberville deserved another year, but there’s been little reason in these things for some time. After Jetgate, Tuberville had earned a legitimate opportunity to be smug in 2004, and the little detail that Auburn didn’t lose that year made it much sweeter. But it seems clear that he did absolutely nothing to repair relationships after his victory lap. Consequently, when he had a mediocre year, he had no political capital to spend. He hadn’t rendered unto Caesar. He hadn’t kissed the ring.
The problem—hardly Auburn’s exclusively—is that there shouldn’t be a damned ring to kiss in the first place.
In terms of political maneuvering and nonsense, I really hope Alabama football bottomed out in December 2006, when it was post-Shula but pre-Saban. Given the incredible (read: unprecedented) amount of control Saban assumed when he took the position, I suspect that’s the case.
Here’s hoping Auburn is at a similar point of purge and lands a similar superstar hire—with a certain bothersome trustee’s testicles in a mason jar waiting on his desk for him on day one. Coach should be Coach, folks. Get him in and stay the hell out of his way.
I want to say a little something to my Crimson Nation brothers and sisters, too: please don’t (excessively) delight in Auburn’s troubles. For one thing, in case you haven’t noticed, we’ve had a few ourselves (mote, beam, all that shit). For another, it’s in all of our interests for Auburn to be good. I’m a Tide man through and through, but I still appreciate a good Auburn football team as an ambassador for our state. (Plus, don’t you want them to be good when we beat them?)
Good luck and godspeed, Coach Tuberville. Good luck, Auburn.
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Tubby should have been let go last year after the losses to USF and Miss State. The wins over FL and AL we’re what bought him another year. He never seemed to get back on track after the undefeated 2004 team was passed over for the national championship.
Lee: He was 29-9 from 2005 to 2007, inclusive, including 11-2 in 2006, and there was also the “little” streak over Alabama 2002-07. Do you not think that’s pretty damned good?
I don’t think sanity dictates the guy get canned for his first sub-.500 year since his first year on the Plains. (Unfortunately, we’ve been without such for quite a while now.)
I should have mentioned in the post that firing Tony Franklin in the middle of the season was one of the most lamebrained things I’ve ever seen a coach do. That was a huge error, and I think a certain humility concerning his staff’s composition for ’09 was definitely indicated.
“Pretty damned good” isn’t quite good enough in division I college football any more. Tubby was a good recognizer of raw talent, a solid recruiter, and overall a good coach.
His downfall was that almost every year, his teams lost one or two games they should have won due to either being poorly prepared or having an ill designed game plan. Last year’s game against USF and this year’s game against Vandy are perfect examples. Had Auburn stayed with the I during the second half against Vandy (recall they moved the ball at will in 10 yard chunks during the first half) instead of trying to force the Spread to work, Tony Franklin would still be offensive coordinator and Tubby would still be head coach. That loss sucked all the air out this year’s team.
9-2 or 8-3 year after year are great if you strive for mediocrity. Shed no tears for Tubby however. He walks away a multi-millionaire for coaching a bunch of 18-23 year olds to play a kid’s game.
I’m not delighting in their misfortune. In fact, I’m not really concerned about what’s going on down there. Got bigger and better things to worry about over the coming days.
But I am glad that even though it’s a high profile coaching search in the state of Alabama, this time it doesn’t involve UA.
Now everybody’s all atwitter over Tuberville’s mom saying he was fired (the official version of the story is that he resigned, and that the AD was “shocked” that he did). Of course he was fired. My word selection, in the title and first sentence of this post, was considered and deliberate. If they’re paying the buyout, then he’s leaving against his will. Period.