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Dec 4, 2008 12:15 PM
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Tommy Tuberville "resigned" yesterday as the head coach at Auburn University. Unfortunately, no one bothered to tell his assistants, who were out on the road recruiting, completely unaware that they no longer had jobs. As you can imagine, their families are not too happy about that, so a couple of assistant's wives did what anyone would do in that situation—call a sports talk radio show.
Donna Dunn, wife of d-line coach Don Dunn (Don and Donna Dunn?), called the local sports talk station to complain that her husband found out he had lost his job when the coach of a recruit he was visiting told him. Her son, who is a student at Auburn, found out when a classmate interrupted a presentation he was giving to tell him his dad was unemployed. All of the other coaches and their families found out from media reports or friends.
Amy Enzminger, wife of offensive coordinator Steve, said her hubby found out while he was on a recruiting visit in Maryland. She also called up to rip the administration for their handling of the situation. You can listen to the calls here.
Oh, and she also accused Nick Saban of buying players, but that's just a minor detail. For those who don't know the "Jetgate" scandal, she's referring to Bobby Lowder, a powerful Auburn trustee who got the president of the university fired in 2001 and tried to hire Bobby Petrino behind Tuberville's back in 2003. (The year before Auburn went 13-0.)
Even Tommy's momma is pissed. Olive Tuberville told a newspaper, “He didn’t resign. He was fired.”
Asked if she felt her son was betrayed by the school he led to 85 wins and an SEC championship over 10 seasons, she replied, “I would say yes to a certain extent.
Saban, for his part, actually defended Tuberville and sympathized with his plight.
“I guess we’re 5-7 away from the same thing ... I really question some of the judgment relative to how it is for our game that people with those kind of relationships and done that kind of job and affected so many people in a positive way and have had a reasonable amount of success relative to their circumstances would not be given more respect and consideration than what these guys have been given.”
When pressed further, Saban didn’t duck. After being asked if his success at Alabama had contributed to Tuberville’s demise, Saban raised his eyebrows in disbelief during his answer, and he paused once for a few seconds to search for the right words.
“When you see a program start to lose toughness or discipline, that’s one thing,” Saban said. “That’s not the case. It wasn’t the case at Tennessee, and it wasn’t the case at Mississippi State. It wasn’t the case anywhere.”
He added ... "They didn't even give him a chance to break his contract and go to the NFL! That's not right."
Sports Call Archives [93.9 FM]
Mother of Tuberville said coach was fired [EnterpriseNow]
Saban Rips Administrators [NY Times]
Tuberville Out: Fans react [NBC13]
Send an email to Dashiell Bennett, the author of this post, at dashiell@deadspin.com.
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