SEC Coverage

I did not know that Tommy Tuberville dabbled in finance in between coaching stops at Auburn and Texas Tech, but he did, and now he's being sued over it. He and his partner at TS Capital are being sued for $1.7 million on the allegation that they conspired to defraud investors. It's not been a good couple of weeks for Tuberville. Last Monday word broke that his wife might face manslaughter or criminally negligent homicide charges after an 87-year-old man whose car she struck last fall passed away.

Carlos Mainord (former Safeties/DB coach under Leach) has retired, but his son Tommy Mainord has been hired from Lamar to join Tuberville's staff.

It's looking that way, and, if it turns out to be the case, it's a good hire. David Cutcliffe has been a successful SEC head coach (one bad season at Ole Miss that got him undeservedly canned notwithstanding), he has been relatively effective at Duke (albeit not at Spurrier-scary levels), and, unlike Lane Kiffin, he regards Knoxville as an ultimate destination rather than a way station. Coach Cutcliffe isn't a splashy pick, but his history with the Vols suggests that he was to Phillip Fulmer as Ralph Friedgen was to George O'Leary or Erskine Russell was to Vince Dooley. The Fridge went on to have some stellar seasons at Maryland (though not lately) and Erk had a Hall of Fame-worthy career in Statesboro from start to finish. If Tennessee is looking to strike fear into the hearts of rival fans, David Cutcliffe isn't the way to go, but, frankly, every guy they might have gotten who would have frightened me (Will Muschamp, Charlie Strong, Tommy Tuberville) is off the table, so they should opt for restoring their program to respectability. David Cutcliffe does that. Go 'Dawgs!

Not that it affects us...just putting it out there

I know the movie version of The Blind Side has been discussed and dissected many times over, so I don't want to belabor the point. But, this is the first version of the trailer I've seen to have coach cameos in it. (H/T Chris Low) Included are Phil Fulmer, Lou Holtz, Tommy Tuberville, and Nick Saban. Fulmer is seen wearing a Tennessee hat (with stand-ins for what I presume to be Ron Zook and Tommy Bowden behind him) and delivers an over-acted "wooooow" line. High comedy, if you ask me, since it's more emotion in two seconds than Fulmer typically showed in an entire season's worth of press conferences.

Another viewpoint on Auburn, Iowa State and race. A very nuanced and even-handed look at whether Turner Gill would be rushing into the BCS had he taken the Auburn job. (This gets into one of my pet peeves, which is that the Black Coaches' Association doesn't pay enough attention to building up an infrastructure of coordinators and mid-major coaches, but that's neither here nor there.) I don't know that I agree with everything Whitlock says, but it's an interesting take on the situation. He also makes another good point: Where is the outrage over Tommy Tuberville getting fired to begin with? (HT: Georgia Sports Blog)

I'm not usually one to indulge in conspiracy theories, but this here's a good'un.

Weird.

My criticism: who will replace him? Sure, Tuberville did poorly this year, but the lack of candidates makes me think this is a bad move. Muschamp has Texas lined up in a couple of years. Petrino has supposedly denied interest. Mike Leach is a friend of Tony Franklin and at any rate is a candidate for the Washington job. Paul Johnson is supposedly a candidate, but why would he want to leave GA Tech? Doesn't look promising for Auburn to get a known quantity, although I guess you never know. What does everyone think? Good move or bad by Auburn?