Tuberville: Big 12 won’t last long

As a guest Tuesday on Rivals Radio, new Texas Tech coach Tommy Tuberville said he didn’t think there was much of a future for the Big 12 in its current incarnation. “I don’t think this conference will last long because there is too much disparity between all the teams,” Tuberville told host Bill King. “In the SEC, for instance, Vanderbilt makes as much money in the television contract as Florida. Everybody is good with it. Everybody is on the same page. Everyone gets the same votes.” – Yahoo! Sports

Tennessee, Auburn pay largest severance expenses

Bloomberg News filed open-records requests with public universities in the Atlantic Coast, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Southeastern and Pacific 10 conferences seeking financial statements for the fiscal years ending in 2007, 2008 and 2009. The reports show the largest severance expenses were at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville ($7.0 million), Auburn University in Alabama ($6.8 million) and the University of Nebraska in Lincoln ($6.6 million) during the three-year period, with most of it going to coaches and top athletic administrators. Former Tennessee football coach Phillip Fulmer was due to get $6 million; former Nebraska football coach Bill Callahan, $3.9 million; former Nebraska Athletic Director Steve Pederson, $2.7 million; and former Auburn football coach Tommy Tuberville, $5.1 million, according to the schools. – Bloomberg

Auburn paying $7.1 million in buyouts

During the past 18 months, Auburn University has proven it isn’t afraid to pay whatever it takes to win on the playing field. That has meant paying about $7.1 million in football and basketball buyouts during that time, including a $1.5 million payment to Jeff Lebo, who was fired last week as the Tigers’ men’s basketball coach.  – Decatur Daily

Tuberville to start new tradition at Texas Tech

Texas Tech football is set to host its annual spring game April 17 at 1 p.m. on campus at Jones AT&T Stadium, the University announced in a release. The Red Raiders hope to simulate a “real-gameday” atmosphere, and Texas Tech coach Tommy Tuberville hopes to set the tone with a new tradition he wants to instill called the “Red Raider Walk.” Tuberville has said he hopes to have the Red Raider football team walk through tailgates on their way to the stadium on gamedays later this fall. The new tradition will kick off before the spring game. – Dallas Morning News

Texas Tech blaming Craig James for Leach saga

As the Mike Leach-Texas Tech saga continues to unfold, it is appearing more and more likely that the University is looking to put a large part of the blame for what transpired on ESPN personality Craig James. A recent statement from Texas Tech’s attorneys to the state Attorney General stated, “Craig James threatened on Dec. 20 to sue the University if it did not investigate the actions of then-head football coach Mike Leach.” And that may just be the tip of the iceberg of James’s involvement in this bizarre saga. – SportsbyBrooks

Jay Jacobs is in control of Auburn athletics

Jay Jacobs is the most powerful Auburn athletics director since Pat Dye.

For 10 years in the big office, David Housel’s options were limited in a lot of areas. When it came to hiring and firing coaches in major sports and other major decisions, there were lots of fingers in the pie.

It became obvious just how dysfunctional the situation was when Housel, trustees Earlon McWhorter and Byron Franklin and president William Walker sneaked away to interview Bobby Petrino two days before the Iron Bowl in 2003.

The trip, along with its atrocious timing, wasn’t Housel’s decision. It was Walker’s. That, along with SACS probation that hit shortly thereafter, changed the way the Auburn athletic department runs.

Even before Housel officially retired, Hal Baird took over as the man in charge of Auburn athletics. But Ed Richardson, who followed Walker as president, was determined to make final hiring decisions. He wouldn’t seriously consider hiring Mike Anderson as basketball coach. He rejected John Pawlowski as baseball coach.

Six years later, Jacobs is firmly in charge of Auburn athletics. He made the call, controversial at the time, to hire Gene Chizik as football coach. He’ll make the call on whether Jeff Lebo returns as basketball coach and he’ll make the call on who replaces Lebo if a change is made.

President Jay Gogue puts it very succinctly: “I don’t fire coaches. I fire athletics directors.”

And that’s as it should be.

No one operates in a vacuum. I’m certain there are people who Jacobs turns to for advice and counsel. But the final decisions are his. The Board of Trustees and president have their proper roles to play, too. But, in the final analysis, for the first time in a long time, the drama and intrigue that were so much a part of Auburn athletics for so long are gone.

And that is refreshing.

Article courtesy AuburnUndercover.com

Texas Tech reports recruiting violations

Texas Tech filed a report with the NCAA in the summer of 2009, acknowledging violations in three sports, including football, of the NCAA’s ban on text-messaging recruits. Tech has already self-imposed penalties in football that included giving up one scholarship for 2010 and reducing the number of campus visits to four fewer recruits than the program’s average over the last four years. New Tech coach Tommy Tuberville recruited under those restrictions in the month leading up to Wednesday’s national signing day. – Lubbock Avalanche-Journal

Texas Tech looks to hire Alabama assistant as DC

It looks like Alabama may have a spot to fill on its coaching staff in the very near future. The Tide’s inside linebackers coach and associate head coach James Willis has been targeted the last few days by new Texas Tech and former Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville to become the Red Raiders defensive coordinator. – CrimsonConfidential.com

Texas Tech Hires Tommy Tuberville

Former Auburn head coach Tommy Tuberville has agreed to become the next head coach at Texas Tech. AuburnUndercover.com has confirmed that Tuberville will be named Sunday to replace Mike Leach, who was fired after being accused of mistreating a player. Tuberville resigned at Auburn in 2008 after winning 85 games in 10 seasons. He did not coach this season, dabbling in broadcasting with ESPN. Tuberville and interim head coach Ruffin McNeill were apparently the only candidates interviewed for the job replacing Leach, who won 84 games in 10 seasons at Texas Tech. Tuberville is 110-60 in 14 seasons as a head coach, four of them at Ole Miss. – AuburnUndercover.com

Tuberville, Bowden Surface at Texas Tech

Texas Tech’s hunt to replace Mike Leach could include two Tommys, both of whom have a resume item that’s hard to come by: an undefeated season. Tommy Tuberville, who guided Auburn to a 13-0 campaign in 2004, and Tommy Bowden, who led Tulane to a 12-0 record in 1998, are on Tech’s list of four to five candidates to replace Leach. Tuberville will get an interview with Tech on Wednesday, Tech athletic director Gerald Myers said. Tuberville declined to comment Monday, but he told The Avalanche-Journal on Sunday he’d keep the wide-open Leach offense in place. “He expressed some interest in the job, and we talked and we’re going to talk to him,” Myers said. “That’s about all I can comment on.” It’s unknown whether Tech will offer the job before the search process winds around to Bowden, who is another of the four or five candidates under consideration. – Lubbock Avalanche-Journal

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