Tony Franklin throws Tommy Tuberville under the bus

by OSGSports on Jun 17, 2009 4:35 PM CDT Comment 22 comments

Fired Auburn offensive coordinator Tony Franklin let his old boss have it yesterday, talking with Chuck and Chernoff on Atlanta's Sports Radio 680 the Fan.

One of the things Franklin said yesterday was that even though Tuberville is a good coach, he did NOT help coach the team during the week. On Saturdays, when Tuberville actually tried to help coach the Tigers, he said things any John Q. Public fan in the stands would say...

Visit OSG Sports Radio to hear the interview, and get the full story!

OSG

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I have heard this from numerous people...

including players’ parents…

War Eagle

by WarEagle86 on Jun 17, 2009 4:53 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

lol!

Attn! Mr. Franklin. I would have fired you too

by aubies_biggest_fan on Jun 18, 2009 8:33 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Peddle you wares elsewhere

this is old news

"Jay Jacobs can't go to the bathroom without Bobby Lowder's permission" - Paul Finebaum

by GumptownTiger on Jun 18, 2009 9:34 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Franklin should have thrown Tubbs under the bus! Look, Tuberville was a good coach for us and I’m appreciative of everything he did for us, but what he did to Franklin was sorry! Hiring Franklin to come in a install a no-huddle, spread offense and not allowing Franklin to bring in any of his assistants that know the spread and can teach it? Franklin is out there trying to teach this offense to both the players and the coaches, who only know the line-up-and-run-it-down-your-throat offense. Not to mention the entire coaching staff was against Franklin from day one because they didn’t want to buy into what he was doing and weren’t willing to change. It was Franklin vs. Tubbs and the entire coaching staff. Talk about an uncomfortable situation. He had absolutely no chance to succeed. I don’t necessarily think Franklin is the greatest OC in the world, but I don’t think he’s nearly as bad as everybody made him out to be last year. It would’ve been interesting to see what Franklin could have done IF he had been allowed to bring in his own staff. Like I said, I like Tubbs and am thankful for everything he did for Auburn football, but I just can’t support Tuberville when it comes to this. It was a terrible move on his part.

by mspirate on Jun 18, 2009 2:29 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Agreed

Almost word for word.

War Eagle

by WarEagle86 on Jun 18, 2009 2:41 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Franklin got axed because of his tirade.....

during practice and calling out players by name (burns and ziemba) as well as at least one position coach in front of every one. Franklin either couldn’t coach up burns or refused to try….either way he dug his own grave.

I would have gone to bammer if my grades hadn't been good enough to go to AU

by Todd92 on Jun 18, 2009 3:41 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

I totally agree,, franklin ‘s a small time coach at a big time school,, couldn’t handle it.. needs to stay in the troy, uab,, and high school ranks. and coach franklin, comb your hair

by tigertracks on Jun 18, 2009 4:48 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

I couldn’t disagree more. Tell me what Tony Franklin had to work with in terms of coaches. Yes, Kodi Burns was bad, but so was Chris Todd, and if you want to blame the season on bad QB play, fine, but it goes way beyond that. The QBs were bad. The O-line couldn’t blocked. No play that we called ever worked. Franklin didn’t have the support of any of the coaches on Tubbs’ staff. The only thing that you can really blame on Franklin was the brilliant idea of making the O-line shed weight. What he was thinking with that strategy is beyond me. But besides that, he wasn’t allowed to bring in any of his assistants. NOT ONE. Tommy Tuberville wanted to change the offense, but then again, he didn’t because he wasn’t fully committed to letting Tony Franklin take the reins of the offense and letting him run his entire system. He limited Frankin. When you’re trying to “change offensive philosophies”, you can’t change somewhat. You have to be fully committed to changing the offense and realize that it might not be pretty the first year, but in the long run, the offense that you are fully adjusted to is going to be successful in the long run. They didn’t even have the players to run Franklin’s offense!! That was real fair. “Yeah, Tony, come in here and install your offense. Run it with players that are used to playing power-I football and coaches who only know how to coach smashmouth football. If you can’t get it done with these players, sorry, but you’re going to get fired.” I don’t see how any of this is Franklin’s fault besides taking the job in the first place, which he repeatedly admits is his fault. He didn’t get fired because of his tirade at practice. He even said that in the recent interview with the Atlanta radio station. He got fired because Tuberville isn’t an offensive coach and didn’t know what he was doing. Now, like I said earlier, I don’t think Franklin is the best offensive coordinator in the world, and frankly, I’m pumped that we now have Gus Malzahn, but what happened while Franklin was here was not his fault.

by mspirate on Jun 18, 2009 4:26 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

I couldn’t disagree more with Todd92, I mean

by mspirate on Jun 18, 2009 4:26 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Your right...

it does go way beyond QB play….it goes to the complete disfunction of the coaching staff last season. No one in his right mind would say that we failed last season because of players or positions….it was coaching. And Franklins coaching was as suspect as any of the coaches……and his melt down less than 24 hours from his firing was the primary reason he was fired WHEN he was fired…..had he not completely lost his cool and went on his self proclaimed General Patton tirade he would have at least kept his job til the end of the season. Tony Franklin is just another baggage toter who always has an excuse why its not his fault. He’s running around to anyone who will listen and kicking the dust up because he knows CTT won’t stand up and say bullshit to him because Tuberville doesnt need to pump up the media for the attention…..he needs to get over it and work on the offense at Middle Tennessee or which ever directional school that hired him instead of getting his appearance money for radio talk shows…..which in my mind makes him look even more pathetic.

I would have gone to bammer if my grades hadn't been good enough to go to AU

by Todd92 on Jun 18, 2009 5:04 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

didnt bother reading

try breaking this stuff up into more than one paragraph

"Jay Jacobs can't go to the bathroom without Bobby Lowder's permission" - Paul Finebaum

by GumptownTiger on Jun 18, 2009 4:27 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Well you need to read it. Sorry, it is a bit long, but I had a lot to say and it’s a good post. I’ll try to break it down next time I have a lengthy post.

by mspirate on Jun 18, 2009 4:28 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Aww, Grump..

Come on its not that hard to read. Its true that it would be easier reading with a few paragraphs but its not as hard to follow as say… The Bible. Now thats tough to read. Gotta have a Bible for dumbies….Hehe.

by Paratiger on Jun 18, 2009 4:38 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

dude,, your a jerk

by tigertracks on Jun 18, 2009 4:51 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Where did that come from?

by Jumpn_JackFlash on Jun 18, 2009 5:27 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

First off

I hope I didnt hurt your feelings. Secondly I wasn’t talking to you. Third I was giving him advice, if he wants his stuff read the chances of that happening will go up if it isn’t one giant paragraph.

And aren’t you the guy who verbally assaults anyone fan of another team that comes here? Thanks for the opinion, but coming from you, I really don’t give a sh!t

"Jay Jacobs can't go to the bathroom without Bobby Lowder's permission" - Paul Finebaum

by GumptownTiger on Jun 18, 2009 5:34 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Agree 100%

I loved Tubbs. i hated when the administration went behind his back. Not only for the University but for Tuberville. I knew it would be awfully difficult for him after he decided to stay. Even if he could trust the administration and it was all in his mind, It was justified paranoia. He deserved better than he got thats for sure.

However, The franklin experiment was doomed from the start. It was never really given a chance to work because of the devotion that Tubs had for his assistants. We all knew that it would be tough if Tony couldn’t have his own assistants to help out, but i think we all believed that what we saw in the Bowl Game against Clemson made any of that an after thought. (Shame on us).

I do believe now that it was all coming to an end anyway and Franklin simply allowed himself to get wrapped up in it at the wrong time. Tony knew he wouldn’t get any assistants to help him. He’s right, He shouldn’t have taken the job in the first place. Hopefully its a lesson learned on his part and ours.

But i do not hang this all on Franklin. We knew what we were getting when he was hired. We knew that he was an open person. Hell, in the beginning we appreciated his honesty. Now we are wanting him to shut up when asked about it…..? It just doesn’t work that way. I, for one, want to know what happened. I’m glad that he has been this open with it all. I get so sick of not knowing whats fact and whats fiction, its relieving to finally hear the truth.

I hold no ill will towards Franklin and wish him good luck in all future endeavors.

by Paratiger on Jun 18, 2009 4:31 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

The problem is....

that when you only hear one side of the story you only get part of the truth and half truthes are as harmful as lies.

I would have gone to bammer if my grades hadn't been good enough to go to AU

by Todd92 on Jun 18, 2009 5:07 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

i can see that.....

So do you think that he and Tubs were friends? Point of view and one side of the story does mean alot. But its not as though he is blaming anyone but himself in this situation. He doesn’t blame Tuberville for anything. Or Auburn. He knew what was expected of him and what kinda tools he was gonna be given to work his magic with. He said that he has no one to blame for this but himself. All he did was tell what he saw.

Looking at the facts as they’ve been presented, I can believe him when he says that there was obvious tension between the staff and the administration. After 2003, how could you not? I can believe him when he says that he felt uncomfortable and alone. He came into their camp with a totally new thing that no one was really buying into, but tuberville. After watching the games i can totally see that as one of the problems. Our guys looked lost.

I’m not saying that it isn’t possible that he is embellishing things or making things out to be more than you and/or anyone else might not think is a bad thing. But what he is saying isn’t out of the realm of possibility. Maybe there was more religion than there really should have been. Or atleast there was in his eyes.

All i’m saying is that i can see where the man is coming from and i don’t think he deserves all the flack he catches from Auburn fans.

by Paratiger on Jun 18, 2009 10:16 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

As an agnostic.....

I can relate somewhat to his feeling uncomfortable with a prayer meeting taking place before or during every team meeting or halftime talk. But that being said its what it is and it is not his place to say whether that was earnest or not on behalf of those involved…..and he should certainly not speculate on whether he thought that it was used as a tool by the staff…..its just not his place to evaluate the faith or beliefs of others.

As far as the administration and coaching staff relations…..no kidding we all knew it before Franklin was there and we don’t need him to tell us about it after he’s gone. I am not sure that the problem was the coaching staff not “buying into it” as much as it was just so foreign to them that they didn’t know how to teach it….in either scenario the results are the same. I know that Nall made the statement that they did their best to learn it even going to seminars and camps to help the process. What I do know is that Franklin had a huge meltdown calling out players and coaches by name and was fired less than 24 hours later after getting Tubervilles vote of confidence.

And the biggest part of my objection is his willingness to throw people under the bus that he knows will not counter what he says. And he would not be catching the flack if he weren’t putting himself on his soapbox…..as soon as he does that he’s fair game.

I would have gone to bammer if my grades hadn't been good enough to go to AU

by Todd92 on Jun 19, 2009 11:14 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Ahhh....

“it is not his place to say whether that was earnest or not on behalf of those involved…..and he should certainly not speculate on whether he thought that it was used as a tool by the staff…..its just not his place to evaluate the faith or beliefs of others.”

On that statement alone i could not agree more. Even if it made him feel uncomfortable. It is something that he should have taken up with Tuberville. And if Tubs was the man that we all believe that he was then i think Tubs would have understood his position, and possibly helped ease his anxiety. But now who knows.

Nicely written rebutal Todd92. I knew i always liked you…Hehe. Not in a, " you wanna go out sometime" way but in a “that guys pretty level headed” kinda way…..lol.

I still say that we knew what he was and if it didn’t work out, we all knew what he would do. He’s done it before and he’ll do it again. Thats Tony Franklin. Its who he is as a person. Its like asking the scorpion not to sting the frog as he is carrying him across the river. Its in his makeup to do so and nothing will ever change that.

by Paratiger on Jun 19, 2009 1:41 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs