The Tommy Tuberville supporters have finally come out of the woodwork. Good for them. It was sad that I was one of the few publicly supporting Auburn’s fine coach. However, the Tub lovers need a better argument than they’ve come up with. What are they saying? The economy sucks.

Yes. We know that. A recession is a reality (though it looks like we avoided a depression.) But is keeping Tommy Tuberville because the economy is bad really a good reason?

Here’s the mainstream media beginning to boost Tuberville’s cause:

Buying out the remainder of Tuberville’s contract would cost $6 million. It would also require paying Tuberville’s assistants, some of whom are on two-year contracts. Auburn is already paying two offensive coordinators (Al Borges and Tony Franklin) not to coach.

There’s also an ex-baseball coach and his assistant being paid this year. Fans grumbling about Jeff Lebo and the men’s basketball team should be aware that it would cost $2 million or more to buy out his contract, and it would take an equally large sum to lure a big-name coach to take his place.

The basketball teams will move into a new arena in a couple years, and the athletic department needs money to pay for up-front costs now and bond debts in the future. Other facilities projects are wrapping up, ongoing or about to get started.

And, of course, all of this is happening in the midst of one of the country’s worst economic climates in decades.

Can Auburn raise the money needed to do all of the above? Of course. But should it? Is it really worth raising an obscene amount of money to oust a coach who has one of the league’s best records since the last time he was almost fired in 2003?

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This was the same lame argument used to defend Alabama’s Mark Gottfried. We were told over and over by people around the program (and by members of the press) that it would cost too much to terminate Gottfried.

You can’t forget the bottom line, but is this the best way to view the economics of a coaching change?

Maybe not.

The Sports Economist blog provides a valid counterpoint in the example of Tommy Bowden:

The fundamental point is that buyouts are not the key economic issue. They key issue is that coaches salaries, particularly in Tommy Bowden’s case, are proxies for player talent. Bowden was paid $1.8 million per year in part because of his ability to stock the Tiger dressing room with loads of (largely uncompensated) talent.

The $3.5 million buyout is being paid out of a “rainy day” fund that has been built up specifically for this, or some similar purpose. The contract states that it will be paid out over six years, or about $600,000 per year. This is the right context: buyouts are a form of insurance in a high stakes game; tragedy triggers the “lump sum” buyout, but it is effectively an annual cost, part of the cost of doing business in major college football. Moreover, $600,000 is not a ton of money in today’s college football world. And in the context of Bowden’s salary and ten year’s of coaching at Clemson, it’s a decent reward for a pretty good job. Further, if Tommy takes another FBS job, I’d bet those payments will cease.

When coaches fail to deliver either recruiting success or success on the field of competition, then triggering the insurance policy would be a wise move. Why endure smaller crowds? Why endure declining interest in fans at the game (buying concessions and spending dollars in the town) or fewer people buying pay per view football? Why endure no NCAA tournament money?

The economics of winning or losing is easier than Gottfried or Tuberville supporters want us to believe. Win=more money for the program. Lose=less money for the program.

Does it make sense to continue losing because you are afraid of paying a little bit of money. And in the big world of college athletics a million or two isn’t that big of a deal. As an investor, one of the most important things you can learn is when to cut your losses and walk away. Being afraid of walking away when you should is a recipe for losing your investment.

Is it any different in the world of athletics?

And has Tuberville descended into equality with Gottfried? Is this the only thing Tuberville supporters can cite as a reason to keep him?

6 thoughts on “Tommy Tuberville=Mark Gottfried?”

  1. Just remember Gottfried won at the expense of the barn’s NCAA sanctions and Tubs won at the expense of Alabama’s NCAA sanctions.

  2. Thats a load ranger. Bama lost at the expense of hiring of crappy coachs not NCAA sanctions.

  3. Oh yeah Ballplay, those sanctions didn’t hurt us at all, hell man you are the one that said it was next to the death penalty, I would like to see how the turd farm operated under those sanctions, maybe two or three games a year tops.

  4. Bamaman….By the death penalty , the NCAA almost took away your football program. Literally. As far as sanctions go, they didnt have near the affect on your program that Mal Moore had bro. Dubose, Fran, Price, Shula. Those are the reasons for your suckage. Do you honostly think that this years number one class is the reason yall are undefeated ? Shulas players are the ones that are making the difference. Caldwell , Smith, Coffee, and even JPW. Those are the reasons for your succes. The talent level at Bama, while not so deep, is as good as anybodys. If you dont believe it, look at your average recruits star rankings over the last five years. If I am not mistaken, its higher than Auburns. I am not going to sit here and say it didnt have any affect , because it did. Just not as big as yall like to claim. In your minds, you think the only way that Bama could have sucked would be because of some outside force cheating its way into yall sucking. Not so. Yall did it to yourselves. And Im not talking about the cheating, Im talking about hiring bad coaches. Honostly, Mike Shula ? How did that make any sense ? At a school like Bama , there is no excuse not to have a marquis coach. It was a lesson that was learned the hard way by the Bama nation. I hope that if Auburn hires a coach , that we will have learned something from your experience. You cant afford not to hire the best coach money can buy.

  5. Ballplay, I will also tell you who is making as big a difference, their name is Mount Cody, Donta Hightower, Mark Ingram, Julio Jones, and Rolonda McClain to name a few, known of which are Shula’s and some of the same ones that you said would have no impact as a freshman. It looks like AL is the one laughing last after all that shit about the four million dollar man we heard from the Aub’s, it don’t seem like too much now does it? You know and I know that Saban will beat Tubs ass recruiting year in and year out while ears is out duck hunting.And for the record, Price never coached a game and we can’t help if Fran bailed on us like the chicken shit that he is. Tubs is about to catch us hiring as many oc’s as we have had coaches since the beginning of footall.

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