Auburn’s knee jerk reaction!

What is going on in the SEC this year? First Phil Fulmer is forced to step down in Tennessee, then Sylvester Croom is forced out at Miss St. and now Auburn forces Tommy Tuberville out in Auburn even though he was given an extension last year. This is a total knee jerk reaction by the administration at Auburn. If Alabama wasn’t 12-0 and playing for the SEC and possibly the National Championship, Tuberville would probably have a chance to turn around their 5-7 season next year. But because they lost to the Tide in the Iron bowl and the Tigers had one bad year, they have now set back their program even more. In the nine years before the this season, Tuberville averaged nine wins a year, was 49-23 in the toughest league in college football, won or shared four SEC West titles, won the 2004 SEC championship with a 13-0 team, and was the consensus national coach of the year in 2004. Overall, he was 85-40 with the War Tigers and that is not bad! One bad season should not negate what Tuberville has accomplished at Auburn. I think it is now obvious who really runs the Auburn football program, not the AD, but the big money alumni! Bobby Lowder, Auburns biggest contributor, has wanted Tuberville out for a while. Who can forget Jet Gate back in 03?

As a Georgia fan, I am glad to see Tuberville get tossed out. I have a great deal of respect for him and we had a hard time beating his teams. Now if we can just get Florida to do the same thing all will be well. I don’t know who Auburn thinks they are going to get as a coach, there aren’t any big time names out there right now. Even if there were, I would be weary of the job knowing they would can you if you had a mediocre season. The couple of names that are being thrown around at Mike Leach from Texas Tech, Brian Kelly from Cincinnati, Paul Johnson from Georgia Tech, and even Bobby Pertrino from Arkansas (also from the infamous Jet Gate). If Pertrino gets the job, that will mean that he will have left three different teams high and dry in three years. How could you ever trust that guy? Who ever they hire needs to be a big name and I don’t see any of those guys as being big enough to make a splash. Therefore, their recruiting is going to suffer and that will mean several more years of mediocrity.

I really think Auburn blew it! Why force out a guy who is a winner? They are going to suffer for this mistake for some time as will the SEC. Not only in wins and losses but also in image. The three coaches who were let go in the SEC have established solid programs and have done tremendous jobs with their teams and deserve better. But I guess their big buyouts will help ease their pain, in Tuberville’s case, it is 6 million dollars!

Now Coach Mark Richt has the longest tenure in the SEC. That is crazy to think, I seems like we just hired him a couple of years ago!