Tuberville couldn't leave Auburn's youthful talent
Head coach Tommy Tuberville signed a two-year contract extension with Auburn on Tuesday, ending a stream of media speculation that he might be leaving the Tigers. His contract includes a $200,000 annual raise that will bring his salary from $2.8 million next season to $3.8 million in six years.
A sticking point in negotiations was the buyout clause. Basically, Tuberville wanted it eliminated or severely lessened. He didn't get it eliminated, but he did get it dropped down some. The current $6 million buyout will continue in 2008 before falling to $5 million in 2009. Then for the remaining four years of the contract, it will be $4 million.
Tuberville also said that the extension guarantees security for his assistant coaches. Facility improvements, another reported sticking point in the negotiations, were not discussed at Tuberville's press conference.
"I don't want any other job," Tuberville said. "I love Auburn. We want to be at Auburn a long time, as long as we can be there. Good things happen slow. We're excited about it."
In the end, the man affectionately called Tubs made the right decision for a variety of reasons. First, he really appears to love the school, and that's important. Second, he's got a great thing going on defense, where the Tigers seem to continually reload. Moreover, he has some excellent assistant coaches in Al Borges and Will Muschamp, not to mention a nice talent pool to choose from in the state of Alabama and surrounding areas.
But even if some of that wasn't the case, how could he have ever walked away from the youthful talent on offense he has right now?
First, Tuberville has a great athlete in Kodi Burns, who is likely the future at the quarterback position. Then there's the three freshmen who have started on the offensive line -- Chaz Ramsey, Ryan Pugh and especially Lee Ziemba. Can you imagine how good these guys are going to be in a year or two?
Further, there's also a couple of youngsters in the backfield -- Ben Tate and Mario Fannin -- who have tons of talent and a couple of high-potential tight ends (Gabe McKenzie and Tommy Trott).
And that's only the tip of the iceberg. In the end, if Tuberville hadn't stayed, plenty of people would have been lining up to take his place. There are several reasons -- Auburn is a big-time SEC program that gets plenty of television exposure -- but the returning talent on offense no doubt would have factored in.
After all, it almost assures the Tigers a measure of success in the years to come. Now, that success will be Tommy Tuberville's.
And rightfully so.
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