More Tuberville reaction
(GoBearcats.com photo)
Babcock changes the game
Paul Dehner Jr, GoBearcats.com
Approximately 30 hours from the moment Butch Jones informed his team he ditched Cheer Cincinnati for Rocky Top, Babcock emerged with the 2004 AP Coach of the Year in tow. Statement made. Not only did UC football not die with the departure of its latest leader, before the weekend ended it emerged with an injection of momentum stronger than before. Page turned.
Cincinnati takes a big swing with Tuberville
Fox Sports
Its future is still uncertain, but the University of Cincinnati football program is delivering the message that it plans to play with the big boys.
Without a head coach for about 30 hours, Cincinnati athletic director Whit Babcock delivered Tommy Tuberville on Saturday.
Yep. That Tommy Tuberville.
That's pretty good.
CBS Sports: How many coaches in recent college football history have voluntarily left the Big 12 for the Big East? Until Saturday, the answer might have been zero -- but Tommy Tuberville has made that number at least one.
Sporting News Tuberville’s hiring comes as a sizable surprise, given that the Bearcats reside in the Big East, and the conference appears to be crumbling, and that the Red Raiders seemed to be making progress this season under Tuberville, starting 6-1 in 2012 before losing four of their final five games. However, Austin American-Statesman columnist Kirk Bohls noted via Twitter, "That Tuberville wasn't comfortable in Lubbock may have been football's worst-kept secret."
Twitter
"Yesterday, he looked me in the eye and gave me his commitment in leading this program forward." - #Hocutt on #Tuberville #TexasTech
Lauren Bogle (@Lauren_Bogle)
For every UC fan that bashed Jones for leaving his players, are you going to bash your new coach for leaving his?
It's the nature of the business
Wayne Box Miller @wayneboxmiller
Tuberville next UC coach
AP
Texas Tech athletics director Kirby Hocutt was stunned when Tuberville called to tell him he was leaving.
"The first indication I got was at 10:32 this morning when he called me," Hocutt said. "Tommy and I have talked a number of times since the conclusion of the Baylor game this year, and as recently as yesterday he looked me in the eye and gave me his commitment and dedication to Texas Tech football and leading this program forward."
Texas Tech players stunned
RedRaiders.com
“I’ve never been more furious in my life,” tight end Jace Amaro wrote on Twitter, before vowing that Tech would bounce back with a Big 12 title in 2013.
UC football
My reaction
Very little stuns me in sports anymore. This news stunned me. Whit Babcock has stolen December. Babcock delivered a save of Mariano Rivera like proportions. I would think he just hired the most accomplished coach in the history of UC athletics. Anyone else walk in to UC with the resume he has? Fair to wonder, does he believe UC is bound for the ACC or is he getting out of Texas Tech before getting fired?
It was interesting walking from the parking garage into 5th/3rd today and hearing all the fans talking about Tuberville.
What would I do now?:
I would have billboards plastering the city by Monday. The billoard would be photo of Tommy Tuberville. Above the photo: GO BIG, GO BOLD, GO BEARCATS. Below the photo I would have. ORDER SEASON TICKETS TODAY, GET FREE TICKET TO BELK BOWL.
I would offer a dinner and meet/greet with Tuberville to fans purchasing tickets over the next 24 hours.
I would call Nippert "The Tub"....billboard: "FILL THE TUB".
Now, Tuberville does walk away from Texas Tech with a contract that ran through 2015. I will be curious to see what local media types and fans will say about Tuberville leaving his football "family", breaking his "commitment" and leaving his team high and dry for their bowl game. This just in, it happens all the time. To think otherwise is to be naive.
Pluses
Proven resume
Electric offense: 37.8 points per game, 361.9 passing yards, 501.4 yards total offense.
Assistant coaches under Tommy Tuberville who became NCAA head coaches:
Bobby Petrino, Gene Chizik, Paul Rhoads, Will Muschamp.
Negatives
Just 20-17 in three years at Texas Tech/9-17 in Big 12.
Started 6-1 this year and faded by losing 4 of their last 5....2nd consecutive late season fade.
Went through three defensive coordinators in three years.
Was not warmly embraced by the Texas Tech fan base.
Was reprimanded by the Big 12 for a sideline incident with an assistant coach.
Tommy Tuberville Named Football Head Coach
CINCINNATI – Tommy Tuberville, a 17-year head coaching veteran was named the 41st football head coach at the University of Cincinnati Saturday.
Tuberville will be introduced at a 6:30 p.m. ET event inside Fifth Third Arena.
Tuberville, widely regarded as one of the top coaches and recruiters in the collegiate game, comes to Cincinnati after three years at Texas Tech.
“I'm very proud to welcome Tommy, Suzanne, Tucker and Troy into our Bearcats family," director of athletics Whit Babcock said. "Coach Tuberville's record speaks for itself over the past 17 seasons. It also speaks volumes to the visibility and leadership of our University that we were able to attract such an accomplished coach to lead our program into the future.”
In three seasons in Lubbock, Tuberville led the Red Raiders to a 20-17 mark and a pair of bowl appearances. In 17 seasons as a head coach, he holds a 130-77 career record.
He coached one of the nation’s best offenses in 2012 as the Red Raiders finished the regular season ranked No. 2 in passing offense (361.9 ypg), No. 7 in passing efficiency (157.51 rtg), No. 21 in total offense (501.4 ypg) and No. 16 in scoring offense, averaging 37.8 points per game. Tech finished with a 7-5 mark and will play in the 2012 Meineke Care Care Bowl of Texas.
Texas Tech was one of the nation's most improved defenses in 2012, ranking No. 22 in pass defense and surrendering less than 200 yards passing per game (195.8). That defense held than No. 5/4 West Virginia, one of the nation's most prolific offenses, to its lowest point total of the 2012 season in a 59-14 Red Raiders win.
Tuberville assembled the top two recruiting classes in Texas Tech history that placed the Red Raiders in the national Top 25 in both 2011 and 2012.
In his first season at Tech, Tuberville led the Red Raiders to an 8-5 record and became the first coach in school history to win a bowl game in his first season. Armed with a prolific offense and an improving defense, the Red Raiders secured their 11th consecutive bowl bid by ending the regular-season with back-to-back wins.
Tuberville's strong bowl history proved beneficial for the Red Raiders as he led them to a 45-38 win over Northwestern, which gave Tech its third consecutive win over a Big Ten foe. His successful debut led to a one-year contract extention that will keep him on the Tech sideline through the 2015 season.
The excitement for Tuberville's first season was historic as a new single-season school record for season tickets was established with sales peaking at 46,565. Along the way, Tech also set a new standard for home attendance as an average of 57,107 fans attended the six home games at Jones A&T Stadium.
In 10 seasons at Auburn (1999-2008), Tuberville led the Tigers to 85 overall wins, which ranks fourth in school history. The Tigers also won 49 Southeastern Conference games, a number that is the fourth-best mark in the SEC. Tuberville led Auburn to seven-straight bowl appearances, including New Year's Day bowl games in four of those years. More
Twitter reaction:
Spent 30 mins with Tubs Tuesday night in NY and he was anxious to have Lubbock in his rear view mirror.
Paul Finebaum @finebaum
Two Texas Tech alums just texted me and wrote: "Thank you Cincinnati!!!!"
Brett McMurphy @McMurphyESPN
Tuberville's time at Tech was limited the minute his five fingers met the headset.
Jeremy Fowler @JFowlerCBS
Tuberville was never really happy at Tech; never really felt a fit w the culture or fully embraced by fan base that adored previous coach
Joe Schad @schadjoe
Cincinnati feels in Tubs it gets an excellent recruiter who can generate fan base enthusiasm w an exciting offense
Joe Schad @schadjoe
Get ready to play at an even higher level. #BearcatNation We are THE University of Cincinnati. World take note.
Santa J. Ono @PrezOno
Did you know?: Tommy Tuberville has a 7-3 bowl record. He was also twice SEC coach of the year and AFCA national coach of the year.
Doug Mosley @UCDougMosley
Tubs, answering his phone when he sees 513 area code: "I'll take it!"
Matt Hayes @Matt_HayesSN
AP Tuberville went 20-17 in three seasons at Texas Tech, after coaching at Mississippi and Auburn. The Red Raiders (7-5) will play Minnesota in the Meineke Car Care Bowl after missing out on a bowl last season.
Tuberville finds convenient escape
SI
So why would the 58-year-old coach, whose spent his entire career in the Southern half of the country, bolt the powerful Big 12 for a job in the increasingly unstable Big East? Apparently, he really wanted out of Lubbock.
UC coaching search: Raise the bar or risk losing relevancy
Mike DeCourcy, The Sporting News
Nippert does not need luxury boxes. It needs euthanasia. The sightlines are terrible, it’s as comfortable as a pup-tent, and there are so few restrooms that people line up 20-deep at halftime to use port-a-johns. The footprint is too small to address these issues. The Bearcats should be playing home games at Paul Brown Stadium, one of the best football venues in the nation and too often sitting vacant.
The money that isn’t misspent on renovating Nippert could be saved for either retro-fitting Fifth Third Arena or constructing its replacement, whichever turns out to make the greatest sense for the basketball program and other campus events.
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UC basketball
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Butch
50,00+ views already? 40,000+ Twitter followers already?
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32 years ago Saturday: December 8, 1980
Video: Howard Cosell announces death of John Lennon on Monday Night Football.
Must see video: Check out this behind the scenes story from ESPN's Outside the Lines. It is amazing to consider how news is broken today, in a day an ag of Twitter, 24-hour news and blogs, compared to 32 years ago.
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