Tuberville would listen to LSU pitch
By TONY BARNHART
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 12/26/04

If LSU officials choose to contact Tommy Tuberville about replacing the departing Nick Saban, the Auburn coach is willing to listen.

A person with direct knowledge of the process told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Sunday that Tuberville's agent, Jimmy Sexton of Memphis, has been given the green light to talk to LSU if the school has any interest.

Saban, who also has Sexton as his agent, announced Saturday that he will leave LSU for the NFL's Miami Dolphins after coaching the Tigers against Iowa in the Jan. 1 Capital One Bowl in Orlando.

The AJC has also learned that a key LSU booster has already contacted Sexton to determine if Tuberville would be interested in coaching at his third different team in the SEC's Western Division. Tuberville was the head coach at Ole Miss from 1995-98 before coming to Auburn in 1999.

Tuberville's team leaves today for New Orleans to prepare for the Jan. 3 Sugar Bowl against Virginia Tech. New Orleans is only 80 miles from the LSU campus in Baton Rouge.

Tuberville was named The Associated Press national coach of the year last week. His Auburn team is 12-0 after winning the school's first outright SEC championship since 1987. As a reward, Auburn has offered Tuberville a new contract that runs seven years and is worth almost $16 million. That contract, however, has not been signed.

But Tuberville may consider an LSU offer, if it comes, because of what happened late in the 2003 season. Auburn was ranked No. 1 by some publications in the preseason that year, but was struggling at 6-5 heading into the final regular-season game with Alabama.

Auburn beat Alabama 28-23 but later it was learned that less than 48 hours before the game, several school officials had flown to Louisville to secretly meet with Cardinal coach Bobby Petrino about replacing Tuberville. That group included school president William Walker, athletics director David Housel and two members of the school's board of trustrees.

The clandestine meeting proved to be a major national embarrassment for Auburn. Tuberville was retained and given a one-year extension to his contract. Walker has since left Auburn and Housel has retired. Jay Jacobs was named Auburn's new athletics director last week.

Tuberville never personally lashed out at those who were trying to oust him at the time. He made some changes on his coaching staff, hiring Al Borges as offensive coordinator, and now the Tigers still have a chance to share the national championship with a win in the Sugar Bowl.

"I learned a lot last year from what we went through at the end of the season," Tuberville said last week. "I've been more relaxed this season."

One of the reasons Nick Saban took the job at LSU in 2000 was because he wanted to be the head coach of the dominant university in a state. At Michigan State, he had fought a difficult battle with Michigan for the state's football hearts and minds.

In just his second year at LSU, Saban won an SEC championship. In his fourth year, he won the BCS national championship. In five years at LSU, Saban won 48 games, the best such stretch in school history.

He leaves the talent cupboard at LSU well-stocked. Each of his last four recruiting classes has been ranked in the nation's top three. A total of 13 true freshmen received playing time on the current 9-2 team.

That kind of opportunity could be interesting to Tuberville, who, by contrast, would be in a rebuilding mode at Auburn next season. The Tigers have a strong senior class of 18 that includes running backs Ronnie Brown and Carnell Williams, plus quarterback Jason Campbell and All-America cornerback Carlos Rogers.

Tuberville, who turned 50 on Sept. 18, is 50-24 in six seasons at Auburn and has either won or shared the SEC Western Division four times.