Tuberville, Jacobs and Gogue DID meet Monday
By Andrew Gribble
Auburn University Beat Reporter
Published: December 1, 2008
Amid multiple reports that coach Tommy Tuberville did not meet with athletic director Jay Jacobs or president Dr. Jay Gogue today, I, along with the rest of Auburn’s beat writers, just received this e-mail from Assistant Athletic Director for Media Relations, Kirk Sampson, that says the exact opposite.
President Gogue, Jay Jacobs and Coach Tuberville did meet Monday to have their annual end of the season meeting. Further conversations between Jay Jacobs and Coach Tuberville will take place in the following days to discuss Coach Tuberville’s plan to make improvements for the program moving forward under his leadership.
Twelve minutes earlier, I received a reply from my earlier e-mail to Brian Keeter, Gogue’s director of public affairs. He seconded that the three important men got together this morning.
Here’s some other information I’ve thrown together on the situation in grammatically correct, inverted pyramid-styling for tomorrow’s newspaper.
Tommy Tuberville met Monday morning with athletic director Jay Jacobs and president Dr. Jay Gogue, but Tuberville left the Auburn Athletic Complex in the late afternoon without any further affirmation that he will return for the 2009 season.
“Further conversations between Jay Jacobs and Coach Tuberville,” Assistant Athletic Director for Media Relations Kirk Sampson wrote in an e-mail Monday evening, “will take place in the following days to discuss Coach Tuberville’s plan to make improvements for the program moving forward under his leadership.”
Gogue’s director of public affairs, Brian Keeter, also confirmed that Gogue, Jacobs and Tuberville met Monday morning for their annual end-of-season meeting.
Dressed formally in a shirt, tie and dress pants, Tuberville was in the Athletic Complex during the late afternoon before departing around 4:45 p.m. He said Sunday that he planned to be on the road Monday talking to certain recruits who may be wavering on his uncertain status.
Tuberville’s 5-7, 2008 season was his worst at Auburn since 1999 – his first year with the program. He is 85-40 all-time with the Tigers and has led the team to eight bowl games in ten years, including an undefeated 2004 season where Auburn was left out of the National Championship game.
Last year’s meeting, amid speculation that Tuberville was interested in the open coaching job at Arkansas, resulted in Tuberville’s signing a two-year contract extension, which included a $200,000 annual raise. The extension elongated his contract through 2013 and included a buyout that currently stands at $6 million. It will drop to $5 million in 2009 and $4 million after that if Tuberville leaves for another job or is fired.
In his postgame press conference following Saturday’s 36-0 loss at No. 1 Alabama – the most lopsided Iron Bowl result since 1962 – and during a Sunday teleconference, Tuberville said he planned to return and stumped for his job.
“There’s no doubt that we can get this thing turned back around. I didn’t turn into a bad coach overnight,” Tuberville said Sunday. “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.“
