Auburn notes: Tuberville targets early January for offensive coordinator hire

AUBURN — Tommy Tuberville said Wednesday that he expects to have a new offensive coordinator hired by the first week of January because “he doesn’t want to mess with anybody’s season.”

“When you’re talking about coordinators,” Tuberville said in his weekly SEC teleconference, “as long as you’ve got the month of January to have somebody go out and visit with recruits and start setting a plan for spring practice, I think that’s plenty of time.”

Tuberville said he has narrowed down his list to “a dozen or so” candidates and will kick the process into higher gear following the Iron Bowl. Most of those candidates, he said, will be participating in a post-season bowl game, while some will not.

“I’m not in a real big hurry,” he said.

As he has said repeatedly since he fired Tony Franklin, Tuberville said he wants a coordinator who understands the spread, but can also run an effective offense by pounding the ball on the ground.

Auburn has considerably downsized its spread formations since Franklin’s departure and has more resembled the offense Franklin’s predecessor, Al Borges, ran in his tenure with the Tigers.

“If you look at everybody in this league, the people who are pretty much at the top of the league are going to have a good running game,” Tuberville said. “Whether it comes from your quarterback in the spread, the two-back system, you still have to have a plan.

“After going through the spread this year, I think it’s a great offense. We’re still running 50 percent of it, and that’s probably what we’re going to continue to do.”

When we meeting? Tuberville said he was unsure when he plans to meet with president Dr. Jay Gogue to discuss his future with the program, but it won’t happen any sooner than Tuesday.

Tuberville said he plans to be out of town the Sunday and Monday after the Iron Bowl for recruiting trips, but plans to be around the following Tuesday and Wednesday.