Auburn Coach Complimentary, But Bad At Math
Atlanta Constitution-Journal staff writer Bill Sanders spoke to Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville about his team’s upcoming Cotton Bowl game.
Q: Nebraska. Just the name gets you ready for football, doesn’t it?
A: Yeah, it really does. They’ve got a lot of tradition. They love football there. I coached against them three times when I was at Miami and was always impressed with the passion they had.
Q: But does this generation of Auburn players realize just how special Nebraska once was?
A: There’s been a little drop-off while they were looking for a new identity, a new philosophy. And no, our players are not as up to date on them as we coaches and older fans are. But our players are pretty intent on focusing on playing different universities and schools, and Nebraska is one of top ones over the last 25 years.
Nebraska won the first of its five national championships in 1970—36 years ago. And the program has been winning BIG since coach Bob Devaney’s arrival in 1962—44 years ago. But who’s counting?
December 28th, 2006 at 7:57 am
Coach Tuberville was trying to be both diplomatic and complimentary in his comments, so he was intentionally general and vague with his math. Should he have been more direct and blunt in pointing out that Coach Loserhan has piled up enough losses in his less-than-3-year tenure than Tom Osborne suffered over his entire last decade of coaching, or that Loserhan has amassed almost double the amount of losses than even Frank Solich had in his first four years? The “drop off” quote is directly attributable to Callahan, as was the asked question “…how good Nebraska ONCE was”. Now, they’re merely the 4th highest ranked team in the Big 12, and Callahan’s record would have been 7-7 or worse this year if NU played in the Big 12 South with some good teams instead of the cupcakes in the Big 12 North. Throughout the NFL and NCAA, the Huskers coaching staff is seen as a joke, and a shadow of its former self.
December 28th, 2006 at 9:58 pm
Tell Bob A. that probation called and they still remember who the Auburn Tigers are vividly. Two more words……Terry Bowden.