AU’s Slater resigns from baseball post

The Tom Slater era of Auburn baseball ended Saturday, just moments after the final out of Tigers’ final game of the 2008 season.

The school announced Slater’s resignation in a six-paragraph press release, handed out to media members immediately after Saturday’s 11-7 loss to LSU.

Athletic director Jay Jacobs said he telephoned Slater early Saturday morning to request a meeting. The two men met shortly thereafter; the meeting ended with Slater offering Jacobs his resignation, which Jacobs accepted.

Slater was 115-113 in four seasons at Auburn and 43-77 in Southeastern Conference play. The Tigers didn’t have a winning season in the SEC and never finished better than ninth in the conference standings.

This season, Auburn was 28-28 and 11-19 in the SEC. The Tigers haven’t made the NCAA Tournament since 2005, Slater’s first season, and haven’t made the SEC Tournament since 2003.

“Bottom line, we didn’t win enough games,“ Slater said.

It’s unclear whether Slater received any payment from AU. Slater had one year remaining on his contract, with a scheduled base salary of $130,000. Jacobs said the school “would honor” Slater’s contract.

Jacobs said the school’s search for a new baseball coach would begin immediately. Auburn has retained the Gainesville, Fla.-based search firm of Carr and Associates to assist in the search. Carr also assisted in the school’s 2004 search for an athletic director, which ended with the promotion of Jacobs, who previously headed the athletic department’s fundraising arm.

For more on this story, check out Sunday’s Opelika-Auburn News.