Auburn Fires Coach Tommy Tuberville
According to multiple news outlets Auburn University has fired head football coach Tommy Tuberville after his 10th season.
Personally I am quite disappointed. Yes, the past season was bad. Terrible, even. Sure, watching Kodi Burns fling balls recklessly all over the field gives me no comfort that next season will be any better. And yes, Auburn – particularly Auburn’s offense – has been trending in the wrong direction the past few seasons. There are even rumors that Tuberville’s personal life are in disarray, causing him to devote less than his full attention to the program.
But Tuberville’s complete body of work has been impressive and should have bought him the chance to make amends for the team’s futility this year. He also has run a clean, scandal free program. Just ask Bama fans about the importance of that one. He has also brought in players that I have generally been proud to call fellow Auburn alums. It doesn’t mean much on the field, but it gives me pride in the program.
After this past season Tuberville’s overall record is 85 wins and 40 losses - a winning percentage of 68%. Auburn’s winning percentage over the entire history of the program is 63%. Tuberville’s winning percentage compares favorably to all of the other big name coaches of the modern era:
- Shug Jordan: 68%
- Pat Dye: 71%
- Terry Bowden: 73%
So despite the awful season he was as much a winner as Shug Jordan. Auburn named a stadium after him. Pat Dye won just a little bit more. Auburn named the football field after him. Bowden… well, what Auburn fan would want him back? Tuberville does just about as well as the program’s most storied coaches and he gets fired.
This begs the question: What are reasonable expectations for Auburn’s football coach in the modern era of college football where parity dominates? Let me preface the following analysis by saying that I’m not trying to sound demeaning – just pragmatic. Auburn is simply unrealistic if they expect another coach to do as well as Tuberville over a ten year span. It just won’t happen. Alabama’s recent meteoric rise during Saban’s second season had to have weighed heavily on the minds of the powers that be at Auburn, but even the Bama fans with the rosiest of rose colored glasses can’t truly expect Saban’s teams to go undefeated for the next eight seasons. There will be good years and bad ones. There are very few programs nationally who are consistently dominant EVERY single season. Especially not in leagues as competitive as the SEC.
According to AL.com Auburn is looking at Texas Tech’s Mike Leach. I don’t know much about Leach’s personality beyond him being a bit odd (or eccentric if you prefer). I like watching his teams play because the game seems more like a track meet. (Let me rephrase that: I like watching teams other than Auburn play track meet ball.) Which is the very reason I would be disturbed to see him prowling the sidelines at Auburn. Auburn’s defense is solid year in and year out. Auburn fans take it for granted and enjoy seeing that brand of hard hitting football. Under Leach our vaunted D would look more like a seive. It would be a sad, sad turn of events. And can anyone envision Burns running a Mike Leach offense?
Leach or not, you can’t fire a proven coach unless you are confident you can replace him with someone better. Auburn best have a plan in place to reel in a top flight coach. There are some names that come to mind I most certainly would not be happy with: Phil Fulmer, Sly Croom, or Steve Spurrier. One interesting possibility would be to lure Charlie Strong away from Florida. That may have been made easier by Notre Dame’s decision not to fire Charlie Weis, which means Urban Meyer won’t be leaving for his dream job. I would also like to see them get Will Muschamp from Texas, although they recently anointed him as the head coach in waiting. Personally I like the idea of getting a defensive minded, hungry coordinator instead of the hottest fad in head coaches.
If the rumors that Tubervilleis having problems with his marital life then I can understand the decision, although I still don’t like it. A messy divorce would bring undesired attention to the program, turning it into a soap opera. And, as I previously mentioned, it would be hard for Tuberville to be fully devoted to coaching through such an ordeal.
Some fans may share my feelings, some will not. Ultimately any outrage will dissipateif the new coach turns the program around. As more details of the dismissal leak out my opinions may change. But for right now I think today is a sad day for Auburn football. Hopefuly his legacy with the program will be viewed positively. I WILL NOT (mark my words) be one of the jerk fans who speaks ill of Tuberville regardless of where he goes to coach. I can only hope that the folks steering the ship at Auburn can make the right choices and bring in a quality coach who will continue to make fans and alums proud.
And how can I forget Tuberville’s 7-3 record against arch nemesis Alabama!
Just out: Auburn is calling it a resignation, although the buy out will be paid in full.
as a graduate and fan, i don’t disagree with your analysis. the marital rumors are unfortunate, true or not – we can only hope that they can work it out. at the end of the day, tuberville lost his fire, his passion, that thing that makes you a menace on the sidelines and after 10 years, we need a change (although i hate that “change” word after this year). leach is certainly a fad and not the right choice, spurrier rumors abound but i doubt that will happen. fulmer would never happen. croom, who knows. some are cold on the charlie strong pick, i don’t have an opinion. optimally, it would be muschamp but i think there is an issue with jay jacobs, which coupled with the texas situation probably makes him a no go. everyone says “who could you get better?” i certainly don’t have the answers, but we need to figure it out – and fast.
I don’t think Tommy Bowden was ever the head coach at Auburn.
forgive Brian, Bill…pretty sure he meant Terry. but good catch of his mistake.
Yeah, meant Terry. Probably a Freudian slip since I thought Tommy Bowdern was a cancer at Clemson that I didn’t think they would ever purge. I shudder at the thought of him on the Plains.
I agree with you Brian that his body of work on the field was impressive and warranted a couple of mulligan seasons. I’m also proud of the off-the-field program that Tubs built. However, this season was abysmal off the field. He allowed his coaches to fight and lost the loyalty of his staff. Basically he allowed his assistants, who are also his best friends, to stab him in the back by undermining his choice of offensive coordinators. This off-season was full of reports of fights at practice, the first I can remember in my time as an Auburn fan and his PR was nonexistent. Even if I’m way off in my assessment of what occurred, I think it’s time for Tubs to go because he did nothing to correct the perception of what was occurring and in turn that ate away at the team. I put Bush and Tubs in the same category here. History will probably vindicate both of them on substantive issues, but show their communication of those issues to be lacking and ultimately what did them in.
Finally, I keep hearing Auburn fans talk about how they don’t like Leach because we’ll lose our defense. Why are the two mutually exclusive? What if we kept Rhodes as DC and brought in a great offensive mind? (I must confess that I’m not very knowledgeable of the technical side of football so there’s probably something I’m missing.)
Update: I have it on very good authority that Tommy really did resign. He was not forced out.
PJ – I hope that is the case. It would at least make me feel a bit better about Auburn’s leadership.
They need a “name” . Ole Miss,Arkansas,Bama and UT got a name and it instantly energized the fan base. Can you imagine how Jack Del Rio would go over with Shula as his OC? That would really stir the pot. I also heard on a sports show in Jackson, Tn last night that Titans DC Jim Schwartz is interested in Auburn and he would bring Hudspeth at UNA with him as his OC. That would be an interesting hire.
I find it hard to believe that Jim Schwartz would go to Auburn seeing as to how he is poised to become a head coach in the NFL. He has been interviewing for coaching jobs in the pros and not in college. He could very well take over a head coaching job next year in the NFL.
I’m not saying it would never happen, but I have the impression he wants to make it in the pros – not the college ranks.