Tuberville to meet with Auburn athletics director on Monday

AUBURN — Auburn football coach Tommy Tuberville and athletic director Jay Jacobs will meet today to discuss the coach’s future at Auburn.

Sunday, at least one of Tuberville’s possible suitors appeared to cross him off its list.

Several media outlets reported that Texas A&M is seeking to hire Houston Texans offensive coordinator Mike Sherman as its new head coach, replacing the departed Dennis Franchione. Tuberville had long been rumored to be a candidate for Texas A&M.

Speculation won’t be entirely put to rest until A&M makes a hire or Tuberville agrees to a new deal at Auburn. But Tuberville said neither he nor agent Jimmy Sexton nor any other representative had spoken to any schools about his availability.

“I don’t expect to be contacted,” he said.

Still, Tuberville has been rumored as a potential candidate at Nebraska, which fired head coach Bill Callahan on Saturday. The Camden, Ark., native
could also be a candidate if Arkansas parts ways with head coach Houston Nutt.

Today’s meeting will almost certainly go a long way toward determining Tuberville’s future. Auburn is expected to offer Tuberville a raise and a contract extension. The two sides could also discuss pay raises for Tuberville’s assistants and improvements to AU’s football facilities.

If the two sides agree on changes to Tuberville’s contract or those of his assistants, the process could be a long one.

“It’s going to last probably about a month, if anything is changed in the contract,” Tuberville said. “I’m not saying anything is going to be changed.
“But if you change anything in terms of any kind of contract with your assistants or yourself, there’s a process you have to go through. There probably won’t be anything released until it’s all approved. Several people will have to approve anything.”

Both Tuberville and Jacobs have said there is no formal agenda for the meeting.

“It’ll be talk about the season and, of course, the president will evaluate our performance,” Tuberville said. “I’ll make some recommendations and we’ll go from there.”

The coach also said he didn’t expect any changes to his coaching staff, unless his assistants are offered better jobs by another school. In the past three seasons, running backs coach Eddie Gran has interviewed for the head coach’s job at Middle Tennessee, while wide receivers coach Greg Knox interviewed at Tulane.

Several other assistants, including offensive line coach Hugh Nall and offensive coordinator Al Borges, have been linked to openings in recent years.
Tuberville said he would “make some phone calls” this week to determine interest in members of his coaching staff.

“They’re good guys,” he said. “I was a coordinator one day, and my aspirations were to be a head coach. I’m going to do everything I can, if there’s interest.”

Speaking to the media Sunday, a day after his record-setting sixth consecutive win against Alabama, Tuberville kept his answers short. He admitted he was tired after a grueling 12-game season.

“It’s been a long year,” he said. “It’s kind of the day after, you know?

“You’re worn out. Your mind’s going in different directions.”

After an early-morning stop at the Auburn football complex, Tuberville spent most of the day with his wife, Suzanne, and the couple’s two sons.
“Today is Thanksgiving with Suzanne and the boys,” he said. “We didn’t get it Thursday, so we’re kind of having Thanksgiving today.”