Sayonara Tuberville

Auburn releases Tuberville after a decade on the Plains
by John Buzbee

First off, let's get one thing straight: Olive Tuberville is right. Nothing says anything different than Tuberville was canned. Ousted. Axed. However you want to put it, Tubs was fired. Whichever way the administration wants to call it, nobody gets paid $5.08 million (the prorated amount of the full $6 million buyout) if they just walk away. Or resign. Or quit.

I'm about a week late in chiming in on the Tuberville saga, but in the past week Tubs has shown more class and respect than he's been given over the past seven years. Of course, I could find a similar inner strength if I was being handed a check for $3 million at New Years, and another at Christmas 2009.

Tuberville averaged 8.5 wins over his 10 years at Auburn, and while I'm not willing to round that up to 9, it's not too shabby considering a 50-win run between 2003-2007 (and many people will forget that the bulk of those years came without Cadillac, Ronnie or Jason Campbell), an SEC Championship, an unbeaten (unlucky) 2004 season, and countless SEC West Championships (countless, because I hate counting up the ties).

Auburn slide over the past two years, that fact is evident. But more importantly, people had gotten tired of watching Tuberville-style football. Florida and LSU were putting up mega-points on the way to their national championships (though the Gators were 0-2 and LSU 1-1 against Tuberville in those years). Georgia had become a formidable opponent with an excellent offense. And Auburn, even with a stout defense, was scrapping by offensively and looked to be left behind.

Tuberville heard the grumbling and made a change. Obviously, in hindsight, he would have done things differently. Tony Franklin was not a good fit at Auburn or Tuberville's philosophy. The question though: should Tuberville be fired for that decision? That was answered by the Board through their puppet.

Most know how Auburn's brass attempted to fire Tuberville during the 2003 season. When that went awry, the rank-and-file Auburn fans circled the wagons around Tuberville, the local and national medias glorified him, and he became untouchable by the higher-ups. And word is, he let them know it. As much as Alabama fans hate Tuberville for putting up a new finger for each win over the Tide, the Auburn upper echelon hated Tuberville for getting all the credit. Wasn't it Bobby Lowder and Co. that stole him from Ole Miss? How dare Tubs continue to rub their treason in their face and gloat and be celebrated by the media and everyday fan. Now, with his base grumbling after two poor seasons, the powers-that-be realized they could finally strike down Tuberville. And strike they did.

But aside from a special position to the President - a so-called 'ambassador' of the university - Tuberville is gone, and now all Auburn has left is the puppet that is Athletic Director Jay Jacobs. And in the past week, it's become clear who is running the show at Auburn.

Lowder wanted Tuberville gone, and he didn't care who Auburn would get to replace him. The first round of candidates says as much; not one of those is in the same league as Tuberville: Brady Hoke, Patrick Nix, Rodney Garner, Charlie Strong, Derek Dooley, Gary Patterson, Todd Graham, Turner Gill (And if anyone can tell me how Gill is a great prospective coach, I'd like to hear it. Anyone whose first argument is how he'll bring in great recruits is a racist; and ignorant to college football recruiting.) The best coaches mentioned have been Houston Nutt and Paul Johnson - which are lateral moves at best - and both of those used Auburn to get raises from their current school.

Now Auburn fans are being told that the first group was a smoke-screen for the real candidates. That Auburn's main agenda is to get Steve Spurrier... or Will Muschamp... or Gene Chizik... or Jim Grobe.. or Butch Davis. Of course, most schools work from the top of their wish list to the bottom. Jay Jacobs apparently believes in doing that in reverse. Which may be clever until Nix or Strong or Dooley realize what's going on, and turn-down the Auburn 'offer.' Then it looks like Auburn can't get a third-rate coach, much less a great one.

Auburn has gotten itself into a mess, and it's exactly what the brass wanted. Anyone was better than the smug Tuberville. Unfortunately, Auburn fans now see that those who really run the program care less about competing for SEC championships than showing who should share the spoils.

For Auburn, though, I doubt there's going to be anything to share.