Auburn's Coach Tommy Tuberville was criticized alot last week after he fired his offensive coordinator half-way through his first season. He set himself up for the criticizm when he fired the architect of the spread offense, but then said that they were going to stay with the offense. How do you do that? I think this was just example on a long list of the Tub making hasty decisions.
Last year, Nick Saban preached to the Alabama fans that you cannot have high expectations when you do not have the talent. He has preached "the process" and has had success with his recruiting efforts. The longer he is at UA, the deeper the pool of talent will be and results will eventually come.
Tuberville must have a similar process. If he wants to run the spread, he has to recuit talent that is capable of running the spread. Obviously, they do not have the right tools and talent in place at this time, and should not expect immediate results. It seems to me that a more logical approach would have been to maintain an offensive style similar to what they used in past years, and slowly build the spread offense system by practicing it during the week, executing it late in a game where a lead exists, and follow up by continued recruiting. The result cannot be immediate, as Tub must have expected, but will be positive after a couple of recruiting classes. Most of us refer to this process as planning.
I was reading an article today about Tommy Bowden's dismissal and was really disappointed in the lack of respect that some of his players are displaying. One of them, former starting quarterback Cullen Harper, said that Bowden deserved it. Harper still has a chip on his shoulder about being benched, so I didn't really expect him to say anything positive. It was what Harper's dad, Jeff, said that really got my attention:
".....I think anytime a head coach or someone in a leadership position starts to place blame on his coaches and players, it weakens their respect on the team. His past experiences have shown he's done that."
Placing blame on everyone but himself is exactly what Tommy Tuberville has been accused of the whole time he has been at Auburn. His offensive coordinators only average about two years with him, and he has had some good ones. Some that Alabama would have gladly welcomed.
Something is in the air at Auburn. As an Alabama fan, I hope it stays there long enough for Alabama to put an end to this streak.
2 comments :
I was shocked when Auburn fired that coach. They could have junked the 'spread' for the rest of the season and then quietly let him go. But now his name is mud- and that's not right. This was a total lack of class.
BTW, congrats on 'bama being #2. I do an on-line vote and I have them as #1 on my vote.
Blazer... I hope you have been doing well. Thanks for stopping in again.
The sad part to the Auburn story is that Franklin left Troy to go to Auburn. You can't blame him for thinking the grass was greener; any coach who had a chance to leave a smaller school for consistent top 25'er would do that. He just do enough homework and didn't realize that Auburn can's OC's frequently.
He was a hero at Troy, which is about the same distance from my home as Auburn is. So you could say that Auburn hired a local guy. www.al.com had a video of his departure..complete with him loading up his car. He was polite to the bystanders, hugged a student, and told everyone to take care. He left with class where some folks, myself included, would probably have driven through the front doors!
Thanks for the comments on Bama. I think they are over-ranked by 7 or 8 places, but it is good to see them in the top 10. They went through alot the last 10 years.
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