Meanwhile, Paul Finebaum piles on by suggestion that Tuberville will stay, but that he's a lame duck. The tone of the article belittles the Auburn program spectacularly well. It's a must read for Auburn Haters everywhere.
Personally, I think Auburn would be nuts to fire Tuberville. His achievements include:
- 1 Undefeated Season
1 SEC Title
2 SEC Championship Game Appearances
4 or 5 SEC West Co-Titles
7-3 record against Alabama
5-5 record against Georgia
Tuberville's primary problem seems to be that he went 3 years without recruiting an elite quarterback, and he misread his problem by firing Al Borges. Then he compounded his issues by hiring Tony Franklin. Those are very real problems for which is should be held accountable, but they are fixable problems.
The bigger issue. Who is better that they can realistically land? Mike Leach is already having discussions with Washington, and Texas Tech is preparing to make him a major offer. While Brian Kelly has said he's staying put in Cincy.
So who's the better candidate for Auburn? Better yet, who is a more proven candidate?
This Dawg fan is hoping Auburn fires Tuberville because they won't do better.
PWD
14 comments:
Auburn is what it is, as you say. They're always tough, always good, but seem to lack the ability to be a championship team most years. Of course, those SEC rings are hard to come by for everyone. Having said that, Auburn would be damn fools to fire Tubs. As I've said in this blog before, if Auburn does fire him, UGA should immediately hire him as defensive coordinator for an obscenely high coordinator's salary. Don't poo-poo the idea as unrealistic - he and Richt are, reportedly, friends since they visited the troops together. I have the feeling an experience like that could bond men such as Tubs and Richt. Perhaps it would be easier to replace a friend, Martinez, with another friend that could substantially add to the program. IMHO.
I hear Pat Dye and Terry Bowden are available...
Spot on. Other than writing Butch Davis or Mike Leach a blank check, there really isn't a better option out there than Tubs.
Clemson, being in the ACC, offers a more realistic shot at competing for championships and BCS bowls on a yearly basis; and even they couldn't find a better option than a guy who's never been a coordinator before at any level.
This has to be an administration/boosters/Tuberville issue. Every Auburn fan I know is adamant that he should absolutely not be fired.
How ironic would it be if AU fired Tubs and hired Leach who runs the exact same offense that Franklin runs?
I'm praying that they fire Tuberville so that it will absolutely devastate their program for the next 10 years. I mean, think about it: what sane coach would want to coach at a school who just fired their coach after losing to their biggest rival for the first time in 7 years? Even if there were some good names available (there aren't), I seriously doubt any of them would want to put up such insane expectations. And that doesn't even take into account that AU is essentially run by Lowder in a good ole' boy kind of way.
I'd honestly take the Washington job over the AU one, and I bet many coaches feel the same way. At least at UW you have nowhere to go but up, with realistic expectations. You also have good facilities, a great stadium, and a good history overall to boot. At AU, there's no way you're going to break even against Bama in the coming years, let alone put up the kind of record Tubs did.
Its a no-win situation for any new coach, IMO.
Finebaum is usually an idiot but I think he absolutely nails one thing in this article:
"For all of Tuberville's savvy, he often can be his own worst enemy."
Indeed. He regularly gets mediocre QBs, above average RBs, and above average offensive linemen and what does he do with them? He installs some pass-wacky spread nonsense. The last season he almost got fired he had Williams and Brown in his lineup and completely gave up on the run against Georgia. The guy is smart but his ego and his desire to look smart tends to be his undoing. I'm not so sure they can do better but if he didn't present me with some plan that involved him staying far far away from the offensive clipboard, I'd at least try.
I just don't see how you fire a coach who has won won what is basically a NC by going undefeated while in the SEC.
All the Auburn fans must read about UGA fans and see all the criticisms we have on Mark Richt and think we are nuts too. An Auubrn (get it?) blog some where reads similar to your opening sentence, only insert Richt for Tuberville and Georgia for Auburn.
Richt's accomplishments are better, minus undefeated season, than Tubs in a shorter time. And we consider a nine win season a disappointment.
DAWG NATION: WE DON'T WANT TO SOUND LIKE AUBURN FANS!!
"The Auburn fan is hoping Georgia fires Richt becasue they won't find any better."
is anyone else kinda hoping to take a peach bowl bid to play tech again instead of a probable capital one agaist michigan st??
Georgia will never fall to the Peach.
And yeah, I know the whole "the fans won't come" argument. Heard it last year too from various concern trolls who thought the Sugar would pass us for Florida. We packed the Superdome, easily.
i was there, our fans always travel..
i dont think that we'd actually fall to the peach, but maybe we should decline bids to the capital one, outback, cotton, whatever other bowls as long as it isnt a BCS(which it sure as hell will not be) just so we can play tech again in atlanta.. the peach bowl isnt as bad a bowl as it used to be, they take the ACC's number two team, so, i say lets go there and get redemption, just so i dont have to continue to hear it from tech fans all year long
Anon@4:15 is correct.
UGA announced Sunday night that we've already pre-sold 10,400 Capital One Bowl tix ... Each team is alloted 12,000 and we sold 87% of them before the season was over.
I totally agree with Anonymous that we do not and should not start acting as impatient and irrational as some of the fan bases out there. Our situation at Georgia is very blessed right now with Richt. For a program to have a short attention span and an even shorter fuse with coaches is a curse. So I'll take continuity over risk, unless you are going for a coach or coordinator that is special and has a great deal of potential.
I wish the UGA Athletics Dept was more like the Texas AD. That is a VERY professional, intelligent program. UGA is definitely respectable, but look at what Texas is doing with their football staff right now. They went after their TOP targets at o-coordinator and d-coordinator in a measured, intelligent way. They didn't fire anyone. They changed some titles and made some demotions, payed some extra money, and more. They gave and they took. It's paying off already. Going forward, they might retain a couple of the best coordinators in the NCAA along with an excellent CEO/head coach.
I hope that we at Georgia can bide our time and go after some of the better coordinator talent and make moves that would actually match risks with very high potential rewards.
I'm telling you... let Auburn hire Willie Martinez. It will let CMR go find a real defensive coordinator and will prevent Auburn from beating us for the next few years!
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