I’ll preface my remarks by saying I think Tommy Tuberville should be retained by Auburn. He’s shown he can win and has done a good job. However, I believe he will be fired—the handwriting is on the wall for any who wish to read it. With that disclaimer out of the way….

One trend I’ve noticed within the Auburn family is to defend Tommy Tuberville by saying they are happy with him, but not so much with his assistants. Fans suggest one remedy is to fire two or three or four assistants and bring in new thinking on the offensive side of the football.

One Auburn blogger wrote this: “I’m still very much on board with hiring a spread-first, spread-second guy. Find one with better people skills than Franklin, let him build his own staff, and let’s see what happens. Tubby saying he wants someone who “fits into what we’d like to do” and that Auburn’s offense “is still going to be multiple” doesn’t sit entirely comfortably with me. I guess we’ll see.”

Having watched the Alabama program for many years, I can safely say that is loser think.

If fans and boosters have to hire and fire assistants then you’ve got big problems on your team. I can assure you that Tommy Tuberville knows more about how to win football games than bloggers and message board posters. And if he doesn’t know more—then you need to fire him. This was a big reason I advocated firing Mike Shula. My cat and dog knew more about how to coach a football team than Shula.

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If you force a coach to make staff changes then you likely have serious leadership issues within the football program. And it will only be made worse by forcing staff changes.

You can easily fracture a football staff when the staff is cobbled together containing philosophical differences. To overcome conflicts on a staff you need a head coach who is in charge.

If you have an offensive coordinator who brings in his own staff (this has to be the dumbest idea I’ve ever heard), then for whom do these assistants work? The OC? The head coach? If you think things were bad on the Auburn staff with Franklin then look out. Forcing a coach to make staff changes undermines the coach’s ability to lead the program.

What happens when a coach isn’t leading the program?

See Alabama under Mike Dubose. During the Dubose era at Alabama there was nobody in charge. What happened? Chaos. If you force Tuberville to make changes then you are only asking for that chaos because Tuberville won’t be in charge of the program. There will be a power vacuum.

What Auburn fans need to ask themselves is not what type of offense they want or what offensive coordinator would work.

What Auburn fans need to ask themselves is ‘Do I trust Tommy Tuberville?”

If you trust Tuberville, then leave him alone. Let him make whatever changes he wants to make.

If you don’t trust Tuberville, then fire him. Meddling in the program would only serve to delay fixing the problem—and would likely make things worse.

5 thoughts on “Do you trust Tommy Tuberville?”

  1. Cappy, I mostly agree with what you are saying. I do trust Tubs, and I think he would make the right moves on his staff regardless of outside pressure. The thing I hated about Spina running his mouth was that if Tubs fires any assistants now, it will look like he was forced to whether it was truly his decision or not. I also think the idea that Tubs should have fired these asst’s before thsi year is a little over blown. No one complained about these guys before this year because Auburn was winning. Why the hell would he have fired them before this year? (The sole exception is receivers coach Greg Knox. Auburn has not had a single 1st team all SEC receiver in ten years, even with Obomanu, Aromoshadu, Mix, and Taylor. Should have been fired years ago).

    I think Tubs will get rid of some offensive assts after this year regardless of outside pressure, mainly because Tubs is both smart and ruthless. He certainly realizes now that some of the offensive assts can’t coach any kind of wide open attack. I think Nall will be gone after this year, because he’s just not suited for a different kind of offense. Knox is toast. I think it would be stupid to fire Eddie Gran. They guy’s coached 5 different Running Backs who have gone on to start in the NFL (6 if you count Brandon Jacobs).

  2. To the owner of the smart cat and dog,

    Mike Shula will be a great coach and Nick Saban is a great coach.

    What did Mike Shula have to work with when he came back to Alabama? Ask Nick Saban what kind of football coach Mike Shula is. One statement makes your entire comments irrelevant. Mike Shula took a team without any direction and was building a program that would have been successful to any standards outside unrealistic expectations in Tuscaloosa. We all are or should know that what is happening at Alabama now is unrealistic. However, what Nick Saban is building on Mike Shula’s foundation will be much greater than Mike Shula could have ever dreamed, and this program is now heading toward the expectations of Alabama football fans.

    Thank Shula first and Saban second for this season.

    I would be interested in purchasing your dog.

    Roll Tide Roll

  3. Are you serious? Mike Shula was the worst head coach..EVER!!!! Franchione left Shula with a pretty decent foundation. He had some decent players…that were competetive…but it was absolutely impossible for them to win games due to Shula’s coaching. If anything, Shula coached them to defeat. How many Bama games were blown because of ridiculous calls or non calls by Shula? I was calling for Shula’s head after his 2nd season…because I knew then, that this guy had absolutley no idea of what he was doing or was supposed to do. He GAVE away numerous games against Arkansas and Tennessee. He left Croyle in the game against Auburn…when it was clear to everyone that Croyle was scared shytless in that game and laid down on the field when he thought he heard footsteps. Not to take away any credit from Auburn’s defense in that game….but out of the 11, 12, or 13 sacks that they had that game…only about 6 of them were legit. Croyle’s scared ahss panicked and laid down on the field whenever he “thought” pressure was coming….and when the genius, Shula, finally decided to put Wilson in the game…the sacks ceased and Bama moved the ball.

    So I say Shula was an idiot, as far as coaching is concerned.

  4. Mike Shula: Good guy, great family man, and phenomenal quarterback… but horrible head coach.

  5. Legion Field and NYC,

    Horrible and worst are inaccurate. Franchione left Shula with what. Give me the names of the great NFL players today that Frachione recruited to BAMA. Franchione has proven his salt since leaving Tuscaloosa. Do you remember Franchione’s last game? How about Shula’s first game? In 2005, how did Shula pull of a 10-0 start. We know things went south after that. K. Darby was not the same after the LSU game, and what had Franchione left behind him? I never said Shula did a great job. He had an obvious discipline problem, and his and his staff’s game time decisions were horrible offensively, but his preparation had the team ready to play. It was only when things happened that were not be in the script when the wheels feel off. Something like Arkansas in 2006. He played those decisions by the book and it cost him most likely the season and his job. His recruiting and Saban’s wisdom has given you what you see at the present. My comments were directed to “smart as my cat and dog.” Mike Shula will make a great head coach after he has more experience in the game and in life. You and I both were tired of the on the job training, but he was working out of the darkest days BAMA has ever seen. You need to give credit where it is deserved. If you can’t see it that way, that is your opinion. Wrong, but yours. Thanks for your unrealistic expectations. I have them also. Why? Because we have seen The Crimson Tide pull of the unreal, and we live to see that day once again,. Just maybe, we are seeing it now. We will know more by this time tomorrow.

    Two years from now; it will be realistic.

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