What if Tide hired Tuberville? Tuesday, June 28, 2005 8Tub
Of all the charges and countercharges in the nearly 3,000 pages of documents released recently in the case of Ronnie Cottrell vs. the NCAA in Tuscaloosa, one of the most titillating comes from Phillip Fulmer. No big surprise there, since the Tennessee coach did more leaking in this case than the Exxon Valdez in Prince William Sound. However, in one of his now-infamous missives to SEC commissioner Roy Kramer, Fulmer said something that got me wondering about what might have been. In a memo dated April 13, 1998, Fulmer details a laundry list of Tide players he believed Memphis booster Logan Young had steered to Alabama. Fulmer indicated Tommy Tuberville, who was at Ole Miss at the time, was aware of these allegations but was reluctant to talk. "He won't talk about Logan because he wants the Alabama job," wrote Fulmer. "Logan likes Tommy and will let Tommy 'keep a few.'" Imagine for a moment if Tuberville had ended up in Tuscaloosa instead of Auburn. Where do you think both programs would be today? Interestingly, Tuberville's name was briefly floated in some circles for the Alabama job when Mike DuBose was hired. It's widely believed he wanted the job and who could blame him? However, Alabama elevated DuBose and the rest is history. At the time of the Fulmer memo, though, DuBose had already been hired and was coming off an appalling 4-7 record in his rookie season -- which included the infamous swing-pass blunder at the end of the 1997 Iron Bowl. The famous Fourth-and-Dumb call cost the Tide an almost sure victory at Jordan-Hare Stadium and there was already talk in some circles DuBose's time could be brief at Alabama if things didn't turn in a hurry. So perhaps Tuberville was thinking Alabama might make a quick change and he'd be considered again. At the time, it's also a fact he had a sharp eye on Auburn as well, perhaps having already met privately with officials about replacing Terry Bowden. Regardless, imagine if Tuberville had ended up in Tuscaloosa. Would it have been a good fit? Would Alabama be in the mess it's in today and would Auburn be on a 15-game winning streak and have one foot on the Tide's throat in this heated rivalry? >From this perch, I think Tuberville would have been a better fit for Alabama >than Auburn. His effusive personality would have worked well and having grown >up in Arkansas, having studied Paul Bryant and having been around another >legend like Jimmy Johnson, there is no doubt Alabama football would have >prospered. But would the same problems have occurred in Memphis? I don't think so. Even though he was friendly with Young and was acutely aware of the rumors in Memphis, Tuberville would have managed the situation much better than DuBose and his staff. Tuberville is a CEO type of football coach and not likely to be run over like was the case at Alabama following Gene Stallings' retirement. I don't think he would have been as reckless to win and cut any corner like the case with DuBose. Tuberville is a very confident, if not cocky, type of coach. He would have felt there were worlds beyond Alabama, had he been hired there and it not worked out. DuBose knew Alabama was essentially his only shot at being a big-time head coach because the truth of that matter is there wasn't another major Division I-A college that would have hired him (in that regard, nearly identical to Mike Shula). So while much of the infor mation coming out now in public documents has been hashed out for years, the Tuberville nugget was most revealing. Considering he recently signed what amounts to a lifetime contract at Auburn, the odds of Tuberville ever making the trek to Tuscaloosa as head coach now are nil. However, considering Tuberville's enormous success at Auburn and the fact he has beaten Alabama four of the last five -- including three straight at Bryant-Denny Stadium -- one has to imagine a few Tide fans are sorry he's not coaching their team now as opposed to coaching against them. Contact Paul Finebaum at: [EMAIL PROTECTED] His column appears Tuesdays and Saturdays in the Register. © 2005 The Mobile Register © 2005 al.com All Rights Reserved. _______________________________________________ RTF mailing list [email protected] http://rolltidefan.net/mailman/listinfo/rtf_rolltidefan.net
