Auburn AD: Tuberville's resignation came as shock

Saban was critical of coaches' tenuous job security in the wake of Tuberville's departure. The top-ranked Crimson Tide beat four teams whose coaches have since been fired or resigned: Clemson (Tommy Bowden), Tennessee (Phillip Fulmer), Mississippi State (Sylvester Croom) and now Tuberville.

"So I guess we're 5-7 away from the same thing," Saban said.

Jacobs said he offered Tuberville a chance to leave for another job without having to pay a buyout to the university, but that the coach said there was no other job.

"He said he wants to be here for about a year," Jacobs said.

Tuberville's contract did not require that he be paid a buyout if he resigned.

But Jacobs said that because of "Tommy's willingness and assurances that he wants to continue to be a member of the Auburn family and also for what he's done the last 10 years, Dr. Gogue and I thought that was the right thing to do."

He didn't set a timetable for making a hire but said the search would be "as efficient as we possibly can."

"We're going to be thorough," Jacobs said. "We're going to be strategic and we're going to hire the best person for Auburn, regardless of the timeline."

Tuberville met with the players briefly Wednesday evening to tell them he was leaving. Cornerback Jerraud Powers said they were surprised by his departure.

"We weren't expecting this day to happen," Powers said. "Nobody looked forward to this day and when he came in, he tried to talk, he tried to but the emotional side of it took heart of it. We all got together and prayed one last time and that was it."

Jacobs said assistant coaches will be paid for the duration of their contract and gave them the option to stay on and help with the recruiting process. It wasn't clear how many would take him up on the offer.

Asked if Tuberville had been ordered to fire members of his staff, Jacobs said: "No, not at all. He wasn't given any mandates at all."

Auburn has had at least five of 26 recruits withdraw their verbal commitments since Tuberville stepped down.

Jacobs had asked Tuberville to draw up a plan for getting the program back on track. It was to include how the coach planned to get Auburn competing again for SEC and national championships, recruit at a high level nationally and keep the coaching staff stable.

Tuberville hired and fired Tony Franklin as offensive coordinator within about a 10-month span. The discussions never got to the point of presenting the requested plan before Tuberville resigned, Jacobs said.

"I said, 'Tommy, we've been visiting for two weeks and you haven't said anything about this,'" he said. "He said, 'I've been thinking about it a long time.'"