Tuberville shows some backbone

The last time Tommy Tuberville patrolled a college football sideline in 2008, his Auburn Tigers were on the wrong end of a 36-0 pounding at the hands of Nick Saban’s Alabama team.  The verdict on the field that day reflected what was going on off of it as well.

At the time, Tuberville was being beaten by Saban on every front: recruiting, wins and losses, general buzz, you name it.  I thought Tuberville wasn’t putting up as big a fight as he could have against his biggest rival.  In the end, that was probably as big a reason as any why he and Auburn ended up parting ways.

After a season out of the game, Tuberville landed at Texas Tech just in time to get a front row seat for college football’s realignment circus.  That’s one hell of a welcome back, you get settled into your office and then have no idea whether your team will be in the Big 12 in a few years.

As you know, Big 12 commissioner Don Beebe did lose Colorado and Nebraska but managed to keep the remaining schools intact.  But with the league’s revenue sharing model remaining uneven, this isn’t exactly a happy marriage between the members of the Big 12 Minus 2.

Those sentiments were echoed by Tuberville when he appeared on Rivals Radio last week:

“I don’t think this conference will last long, because there is too much disparity between all the teams.  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.  That doesn’t happen here in the Big 12. We have some teams that get a little bit more money and have a little bit more stroke than some of the other teams. And when that happens, you’re going to have teams looking for better avenues to leave and reasons to leave.”

For that kind of brutal honestly, Beebe reprimanded Tuberville for violating what the league calls its “Principles and Standards of Sportsmanship,” which bar coaches from publicly criticizing the Big 12 Minus 2.  Here’s some of what Beebe had to say in the the release:

“In deciding to reprimand Coach Tuberville, I took into account that this is a first-time offense and that he has committed to adhere to the rules and contribute to strengthen the Conference.  If not for these factors, a more significant penalty would be assessed, and will be if there are any future violations.” (Big 12 web site)

Here’s the silly thing about this reprimand:  Tuberville didn’t say anything that wasn’t absolutely, positively true.  The deal that Beebe worked to keep the league mostly intact was great if your nickname is Aggies, Longhorns or Sooners.  Not so much so if your nickname is Red Raiders or Cowboys.

If Mike Leach was still around coaching Texas Tech, do you think he would have hesitated at all in pointing out the disparity in Beebe’s chicken wire and chewing gum job?  Hell no he wouldn’t have, and he wouldn’t have been nearly as civil as Tuberville.

In publicly voicing his opinion, Tuberville showed the kind of backbone that was largely missing in his last season at Auburn.  And I say good for him, I hope that attitude is reflected in the play of his team this fall.  I wouldn’t mind seeing Texas Tech pull an upset or two to really shake up the league’s apple cart.

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