AUBURN — In the wake of comments from a member of Auburn’s board of trustees and the Tigers’ continued struggles, Auburn Athletics Director Jay Jacobs conditionally affirmed his support for coach Tommy Tuberville.
“As I do with every coach, I evaluate their job performance based on the body of work,” Jacobs said Wednesday evening in a released statement. “That being the case, we will continue to support coach Tuberville and the program as we always have, and are looking forward to the next four games.”
Paul Spina, president pro tempore of the Auburn Board of Trustees, offered support to Tuberville in published reports Wednesday. He said he would “fight” to have Tuberville remain Auburn’s head coach, though “others like to tear things down.”
“I’m a builder. So is Tommy,” Spina told the Birmingham News. “His body of work over 10 years is more important than three or four ballgames.
“I think Tommy is good for Auburn. Given the opportunity, I think he can continue to be good for Auburn.”
Tuberville is 84-37 in his time at Auburn. The Tigers have been SEC West co-champions four times and SEC champions once during his tenure. Auburn went 13-0 in 2004, but ultimately finished second in the BCS rankings.
Spina did say, however, that Tuberville has “made a couple staff mistakes.”
Tuberville fired Al Borges and hired spread-offense guru Tony Franklin as offensive coordinator before Auburn’s appearance in the 2007 Chick-fil-A Bowl in hopes of rejuvenating an offense that had become stagnant over the past two seasons.
Six games into the 2008 season, with Auburn’s offense moving downward in the rankings by the week, Tuberville abruptly fired Franklin.
He has since admitted that hiring Franklin was his mistake.
Tuberville was aware of Spina’s comments after Wednesday evening’s practice.
“You look at it and appreciate it,” Tuberville said. “You just have to do your job. Just keep going and work at it and try to get better.
“You always look for support, obviously. I know we just have to keep trying to get better and win games.”
Auburn currently sits at 4-4, in the midst of a three-game losing streak. The Tigers need two wins in their next four games just be bowl-eligible.
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