It was believed heading into the weekend that Tommy Tuberville WOULD be safe for another year as long as his team wasn’t blown out by rival Alabama.  Final score: Bama 36, Auburn 0.

So how does that leave things?  Here’s the news from The Plains:

Kevin Scarbinsky of The Birmingham News believes Tuberville is safe.  His sources tell him that athletic director Jay Jacobs let the coach know three days prior to the Iron Bowl that he would return next year.  Yeah, but a 36-0 loss can change a lot of peoples’ minds.

And, if this is so, why wouldn’t Jacobs make his decision public, thus aiding Tiger recruiting?  Some part of this HAS to remain up in the air it would seem.

When asked if he’d been told he’ll return, Tuberville said, “No, I have no clue where that came from.”

Scarbinsky also believes that Tuberville will have to blow up some of his long-time offensive assistants… and he’s privately mentioned Chuck Long and Guz Malzahn as his top choices for the coordinator gig.  (Long was just fired as head coach at San Diego State which makes him a more likely “yes” than Malzahn, who might not want to jump on a ship that might be embarking on a final, one-year cruise.)

Yesterday, the coach said that he would give the new coordinator the freedom to hire his own subordinates.  If he’d given Tony Franklin that opportunity, there’s no telling how AU’s season would have turned out.

Tuberville is moving forward with his job as though he has been told he’s returning.  Of course, what else is he supposed to do?  Yesterday, he revealed plans to meet with several recruits in hopes of calming their fears about his job status.

“I plan on being here.  I think it’s an opportunity that coaches look to in terms of knowing that you can get the job done.  We’ve done it here eight out of 10 years, having better than average football seasons, and we’re going to continue to have that.  There’s no doubt we can get this thing turned back around.  I didn’t turn into a bad coach overnight.”

UPDATE: Tuberville has his team behind him “100 percent,” according to cornerback Jerraud Powers.  Center Jason Bosley (as pointed out in this Tony Barnhart column for CBSSportsline) eloquently explained where dismissal talk comes from thusly: “At a university, the cream rises to the top.  But so does the turds.”

When asked about the offensive coordinator search, Tuberville sounds like he understands his past mistakes.  “We haven’t had a very consistent offense in a long time and we’ve had some offensive coordinators come and go.  This time we’re going to get somebody that understands this program, number one.”

As if Tuberville needs more worries, Utah State has contacted Auburn in hopes of talking with defensive coordinator Paul Rhoads about their open head coaching position.



Here’s our take: zip up a couple of paragraphs and read Tuberville’s comments on his Auburn tenure.  It’s all true.

Now realize that he’s willing to make changes to his staff to try to fix the problems on offense.  Sure it’s not a “you go, we go” Backdraft-ian sacrfice like the one Sylvester Croom apparently made at Mississippi State, but from a business standpoint, it shows a willingness to do whatever is necessary to put Auburn back on top.  (Or at least closer to the top.)

Tuberville’s troubles come from behind the scenes relationships, not wins and losses.  In our view, with the available coaching pool, AU would be making a mistake to jettison a recently successful coach because of what is literally one bad year.

This entry was posted on Monday, December 1st, 2008 at 9:13 am and is filed under Homepage, News . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.