Monday, December 10, 2012

Tuberville Says Famous Last Words Again

by Jake Adams

People don't change.
There's only one possible explanation for why Tommy Tuberville wanted out of Texas Tech so bad that he took a backwards move to Cincinnati - he wanted to get out while the gettin' was good. In three years as head coach at Tech Tuberville was 20-17 and 9-17 in the Big 12. Red Raiders fans were accustomed to better under Mike Leach and getting restless. Tuberville had another year or two in the bank, but he could sense the shifting winds. After starting this season 6-1 the Red Raiders finished a disappointing 7-5, losing four of their last five games. Disenchantment with the ex-Ole Miss and Auburn coach was growing, and stuck in a league with superior teams like Texas, Oklahoma, Baylor, Kansas State and Oklahoma State, Tuberville knew it would only get worse.

But where could he go? After losing four of his last five and slapping the headphones off an assistant coach for the world to see it's not like he was going to be welcomed back into the SEC this season, where he coached Ole Miss from 1995 to 1998 and notoriously said he'd never leave unless it was in a pine box before leaving in a moving van for Auburn where he was Chizicked in his 10th year after a 5-7 season.

That's why when Tuberville met with Texas Tech AD Kirby Hocutt on Friday and gave him his "commitment" to Texas Tech, what he really meant was "nobody else wants me so I guess I'm here a little while longer."

Ole Miss fans learned long ago that commitment means nothing to Tuberville. Opportunity means everything, and the only thing he could see in Lubbock after three lackluster years was a dead-end road.

When that telephone rang and the Big East's Cincinnati was on the other end Tuberville saw the perfect out. Things will be easier in Cincinnati. That's the place he needs to be if he wants to get that one last major coaching gig. It worked for Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly and new Tennessee coach Butch Jones. Why not 58-year old Tuberville? That's his ticket back to the big-time. Turns out Tuberville's "commitment" to Tech was only as deep as the length of time it took to find the next train out of Lubbock. The train just came much earlier than he anticipated.

And this time, he doesn't have to cram himself inside that pine box to get out of town.