Tuberville: ‘I plan on being here’—Part 2

By Andrew Gribble
Auburn University Beat Reporter
Published: November 30, 2008

Tommy Tuberville has a contract that says he will be the head football coach at Auburn until 2013. That’s why, among all the speculation that he may or not be kept along for 2009 and beyond, Tuberville says he is living and acting as if nothing will be any different.

“I plan on being here,“ Tuberville said. “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.“

As he did after Saturday’s 36-0 Iron Bowl drubbing in Tuscaloosa, Tuberville stumped to be back with the Tigers next year and said the team is a few pieces and playmakers away from returning as an elite tackle football team.

“There’s no doubt that we can get this thing turned back around,“ Tuberville said. “I didn’t turn into a bad coach overnight. I know this program better than anybody. I know what it takes. I know the type of people that you can get to come in. I know their strengths, I know their weaknesses and I’m fully committed to doing it.“

Tuberville had no news to share on when he plans to meet with athletic director Jay Jacobs and President Dr. Jay Gogue. It won’t be in the coming days, as Tuberville will be out ‘cruitin, but Tuberville said it likely could be sooner than later “because of the publicity and all that.“

While he is on the recruiting trail this week, Tuberville said he will target specific players who may be wavering because of his up-in-the-air status.

“I want to hit those guys first,“ Tuberville said. “There’s probably four or five of those, but we won’t bring up any names.“

A column that ran in Sunday’s Birmingham News said that Tuberville has already received word that he will return for next season.

“I have no clue about where that came from,“ Tuberville said.

Asked if it were true, Tuberville remained ambiguous.

“No,“ he said. “I have no clue where that came from.“

In other news:

Tuberville spent a good amount of time talking about Auburn’s offensive coordinator vacancy and the fallout that could occur once a new face is brought into the mix.

Saturday night, Tuberville said on his postgame radio show that he would be open to the new coordinator bringing in his own set of assistants. He elaborated Sunday.

What I want to do is I want an offensive coordinator to give him the freedom to bring in somebody is he has someone in mind. He’ll probably want to visit with the ones here on the staff, which I would allow him to do.

We’ve got to have an offensive coordinator that feels confident with what he’s doing. If he’s got anybody that he thinks can help him put his program in, maybe that he worked with in the past. Sometimes that happens, sometimes it doesn’t. I’ve not been around too many coordinators that had people that they wanted to bring, but obviously, we’ve got to do something on offense and we’re going to. We’re going to get the problem solved. We’re going to get some consistency.

I talked with all of our coaches last night. They understand the situation. They understand this program and what we got to do. 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 he wants to whittle down his list to four or five “experienced” candidates, which is close to coming to fruition, he said. Once that happens, Tuberville said he will interview each candidate with an open mind before determining his front-runner.

“We’re going to get the best coach out there that wants to come and be part of this program that can get us an offense that’s consistent,“ Tuberville said. “We haven’t had a very consistent offense in a long time and we’ve had some offensive coordinators come and go. And they’ve left for different reasons. 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.“

***Tuberville said that he and defensive coordinator Paul Rhoads will discuss Rhoads’ alleged link to the head coaching search at Utah State in the next week or so.

“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.“

***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.

***Offensive tackle Lee Ziemba will be the first of several Auburn players to undergo surgery this week, 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. He has struggled – we all know that – mentally and physically. A lot of people were wondering about him having offside problems. It’s probably pretty tough. We don’t know what you go through in an injury like that in terms of pain in going through a game and putting pressure on that. He’s a tough young man. I think overall, considering the knee, I thought he had a very good sophomore year.“