Thank you, for posting/linking that article DFW_POKE. 

 

I'm guessing near-jerk is actually supposed to be KNEE-JERK. And, yes, Pat Dye paid players, but he learned from the best.

The escalades comment came from Vic Koenning the D-coordinator of Clemson. Doesn't really mean it's true. He was joking and the media blew it out of proportion just like they always do.

"Auburn dosent buy escalades to get players like bama so he needed a recruiting advantage"

Oh?  Do tell us all who Alabama bought an escalade for.  That is a pretty snarky comment considering your "ledgendary" coach emetrius Pat "pay" Dye got AU on probably for paying players.

As for Franklin having no buisness at Auburn:  Tommy Tuberville was the one who interviewed him and the one who hired him.  If Franklin couldn't relate to the coaches and kids, then TT should have been able to recognize that and not have hired him to begin with.  It is a responsibility of the head coach to evaluate talent both in players and coaches.  He made a near-jerk decision, possibly at the urgings of influential boosters, and now he has to clean up the mess.

Not so easy now that the other team in the state is getting it's house in order....

Franklin had no buisness at Auburn,his spread is not Auburn football.The only thing I dont like is the great recruiting class we have and kids like Raymond Cotton changing schools.So many kids want to play in the spread that Tubs took a chance.Auburn dosent buy escalades to get players like bama so he needed a recruiting advantage..If Tubs can keep most of these recruits AU will be alright.The reason Franklin is gone has more to do with him and the existing offenseive staff NOT GETTING ALONG.You people questioning Tubs loyality to his coaches need to realize that his core staff has been with him for ten years plus.He wasnt going to let a new unproductive coach come in and push around a staff thats been together for so long,and thats that.

  I haven't seen the video, but if it is what you say, then that is inexcuseable.  I doubt there are many people that would relish the idea of being  video taped leaving the office shortly after getting the boot.  Obviously the guy wasn't getting done what TT wanted, but it's not like he was trying to.   

Also, that same video shows some pretty fresh stitches in Franklin's head. Something went down that we will never fully hear about.

There is some more stuff in that video, but I can't really talk about it. You're just gonna have to check it out yourself. Absolutely classless!!!!

agreed 100%...well said. The only reason anyone is defending Franklin is the way he went out. The video of him packing his car was absolutely classless. (If you have a rivals.com account you can see it.) I don't care who it is. It makes Auburn look bad.

I've heard so many "Franklin Defenders" this week. Too bad none of you were sticking up for him last week. You were all too busy taking shots at Auburn, Tuberville and even Franklin himself--yes, the same poor guy who is the darling of the media(this week anyway).  There is one possible explanation that none of you Franklin-lovers have considered. In every job there are certain things commonly referred to "Firing Offenses", that if you go past that point, you're gone. No second chances. Well, it had been reported around the athletic dept. by some beat writers that Franklin was out running his mouth, saying negative things about Tommy, etc. Perhaps that is true and Tommy called him on it? Franklin is a fiery guy who was feeling disrespected by the coaching staff. Maybe he let his mouth push Tommy past that 'point of no return'. I just believe that if this was at all avoidable that we wouldn't be talking about it today.

Anyway, say what you will, Tommy will have the last laugh. He always does.

Oh, and one more thing. Your comment about our QBs demands a response. We can thank you "good coach and good guy" Franklin for being in this mess. Had he settled on Kodi and stuck with him all the way, he (Kodi) would be way better than 'servicable' by now. Your "guru" picked the teacher's pet--his old buddy Chris Todd--and in the meantime pretty much destroyed Kodi's confidence.

The biggest problem that TF encountered was not having any coaches under him that were familiar with the system. Troy is still averaging over 32 points a game, with the same players that TF recruited. The assistants weren't on-board so it was doomed to fail. Tubbs shouldn't have handcuffed the guy and the offense could've flourished. Sad the TF has to be the fall guy...

tubs has NEVER said he was going to drop the spread! NEVER!

Here are Tuberville's comments . . . .

Dead spread?

Wednesday, October 01, 2008 By EVAN WOODBERY Sports Reporter

AUBURN — Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville said no one in the halls of the Tigers' football complex is panicking about the team's struggling offense, but he acknowledged the spread system upon which Tony Franklin built his reputation has been packed up and put in storage for the foreseeable future.

"One day we'll have the talent that we can say, 'Well, we'll run 100 percent of what Tony likes to run,'" Tuberville said. "Right now, we don't have that talent in some areas."

Auburn already made significant changes last Saturday against Tennessee, putting the quarterback under center occasionally, running the ball more frequently and installing a special "War Eagle Formation" for back/receiver Mario Fannin.

"We don't run Tony Franklin's spread offense," Tuberville said. "This is Auburn's offense. It's like our defense. We're going to run what works and what we're going to match up better with the other team. Everybody has to do that. You can't put a square peg in a round hole. Why would you do that?"

Meanwhile, junior quarterback Chris Todd spoke to reporters for the first time since Saturday's 14-12 win over Tennessee. He said he was surprised to be yanked in favor of Kodi Burns after halftime. Franklin said Sunday that Todd was nearly perfect in the first half and he played Burns to start the third quarter after being directed to do so by Tuberville.

"Yeah, I was surprised, but that's just part of it," Todd said. "That's what they did and you've just got to go with it. You've just got to deal with that and make sure it doesn't affect you when you come back out. You've got to be able to control that."

Burns was not made available to reporters this week.

Tuberville made a joking reference to Franklin's explosive Sunday media session, in which the coordinator forcefully defended Todd while taking personal blame for the struggles of Auburn's offense.

"The one thing I like about Tony, of course, with you all he's pretty blunt," Tuberville said. "I'm more political. Sometimes you can handle the truth and sometimes you can't handle the truth."

Even so, Tuberville added later, "I'm here to win games. I'm not here to win friends and run for public office."

So where does Auburn's offense stand now, with an unexpectedly big game at undefeated Vanderbilt looming Saturday?

Todd said the Tigers are working to eliminate the penalties and mistakes that have interrupted the team's progress while embracing the changes being made to Franklin's core offense.

"It's a different variation of (Franklin's offense), and that's just a part that you've got to adjust to," Todd said. "That's what I'm working on. I'm trying to improve every little part of my game. We have some good athletes in certain spots that we've got to use and that's what we're doing."

Franklin said he spoke with Todd about Saturday's loud group of unhappy fans who showered Burns with cheers and appeared to boo Todd, Franklin or both. "It's never personal," Franklin said he told Todd. "They don't hate you. They hate me, but they don't hate you."

Todd said he realizes that the catcalls come with the territory. The boos have been tougher on his family, and he said his mom had talked to Brandon Cox's mother to get some empathy and advice. Cox was in a similar situation for much of 2007, facing boos as fans clamored for Burns.

Sounds like to me that he said the spread was done.

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