AUBURN NOTEBOOK: Coordinator search ongoing

In keeping with the belief that he will be back for 2009, Tommy Tuberville said Sunday he is close to whittling his list of potential offensive coordinators down to four or five candidates.

Those candidates, Tuberville said, must be experienced because he’s “not into training somebody.”

“We’re past that point,” Tuberville said. “We should be able to get somebody to come in here, and that’s hard … It’s hard to find people that will change jobs to come to a different situation.”

As he has repeatedly said over the past weeks, Tuberville reiterated he does not plan to have anyone signed until early January.

“I don’t have any front-runners or any leaders or anything like that,” Tuberville said. “I want to talk to them, then I’ll have my leader in terms of who I think is the best fit.

“It’s a pretty good process, it’s not going to happen overnight.”

The perfect candidate, he said, will be able to run a marketable offense to potential recruits that can move the ball both on the ground and through the air effectively.

In his postgame radio show Saturday, Tuberville said he would be open to the possibility of the new coordinator bringing in his own set of assistants. He said Sunday that he met with his assistants after Saturday’s game and addressed that possibility.

Tuberville said he’s never forced any of his longtime assistants, many of whom have been with him since his time at Ole Miss, on any offensive or defensive coordinators.

“I think all of them have done a good job, but we’ve got to make sure we get the program going in the right direction in terms of offense,” Tuberville said. “We’re going to get the problem solved. We’re going to get some consistency.”

Auburn finished the season with the 102nd-ranked total offense (302.9 yards per game) and worst red-zone offense out of 119 Football Bowl Championship teams.

Counting Steve Ensminger, who filled in as the team’s play-caller after Tony Franklin was fired midway through the season, Auburn has had six different offensive coordinators since Tuberville’s arrival 10 years ago.

“We haven’t had a very consistent offense in a long time and we’ve had some offensive coordinators come and go,” Tuberville said. “This time we’re going to get somebody that understands this program, No. 1.

“You have to understand your situation and what type of offense you can run with the type of players that you can get.”

More changes?
Changes on Tuberville’ staff may not be exclusive to just the offensive side.

Tuberville said Sunday he plans to meet with all his assistants at some point in the next couple weeks and “talk about their futures.”

“We’ve got great coaches here, they’ve worked hard, they know how to coach,” Tuberville said. “The main thing with them is really going to be is the situation with our (offensive) coordinator.”

According to several published reports, defensive coordinator Paul Rhoads has expressed interest in the open coaching vacancy at Utah State and could be interviewing for the position at some point this week.

Rhoads, who received his Master’s degree and served as a graduate assistant for two seasons at Utah State, deferred any comment on the reports after Saturday’s Iron Bowl loss.

Tuberville said Sunday he will meet with Rhoads next week to discuss the matter.

“That’ll be up to him,” Tuberville said. “He really likes it here. He’d have to decide whether he’d want to go to that situation.

“If they want head coaching jobs, I think that’s outstanding. I think that’s the reason we all get into this.”

Here’s your explanation
Wide receiver Chris Slaughter did not travel with the team for Saturday’s Iron Bowl because an illness in his family prevented him from practicing the entire week, Tuberville said Sunday.

Slaughter finished his sophomore season with 15 catches for 179 yards — all but 48 coming against Ole Miss on Nov. 1.

Calling Dr. Andrews…
Offensive tackle Lee Ziemba will be the first of what is expected to be several Auburn players to undergo off-season surgery, Tuberville said.

Ziemba will have the procedure performed Tuesday on his left knee, which has bothered him all season, Tuberville said.

“He’s fought through it and a lot of us would never have done that,” Tuberville said. “He’s a tough young man that wanted to play and wanted to go through the season.

“Overall, considering the knee, I thought he had a very good sophomore year.”

Tuberville did not have any other names of potential surgery candidates. Safety Zac Etheridge said recently that he will likely have surgery performed on his ailing shoulder.

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