Five In Five: Please, Temper Your Excitement For Tommy Tuberville

Previous Installments:

Tommy Tuberville, Nick Saban, and Paul Pasqualoni have a lot in common. All three have been in the coaching business for almost twice as long as I’ve been alive, all have coached in the football-crazed South, all specialize in defense, and all are approaching the twilight of their careers. Most importantly, none of them have ever coached a down of football under the Bearcats flag.

Yet some segments of the fanbase would have you believe that the head coach they hired nine months ago, Tommy Tuberville, will automatically resemble a Saban with his multiple rings and dominating teams more than a Pasqualoni who is about one more sub-.500 season from being axed by UConn. There’s an infatuation with Tuberville that’s swept through the fanbase and in this era of schools shifting conferences and rivalries being thrown by the wayside, having a little optimism is a good thing. Mission accomplished, right, Whit? But it’s mind boggling to me why fans are automatically assuming Cincinnati has inherited a “Saban” in Tuberville as opposed to a “Pasqualoni” without the man coaching even a single game for the Bearcats.

Consider the facts:

Tuberville went just 20-17 in three years at Texas Tech
He won just 9 games against Big XII opponents during that time
A defensive-minded coach, his defenses got shredded in Lubbock (although much of that was due to the conference in which he was coaching)
It’s been 7 years since he posted double-digit wins in a season

On the other hand I can totally see why that part of the fanbase is so elated by this hire:

Tuberville walked into a terrible situation in Texas Tech and was never fully embraced by the fans
When he was at Auburn, the Tigers were one of the most feared teams in the SEC
He’s assembled a grade-A staff of recruiters
His name speaks for itself – It’s Tommy Tuberville!
Offenses in the AAC will not be like they are in the Big XII so his defenses will be far more effective

I think what’s really going on here isn’t that Cincinnati’s new head coach is Tommy Tuberville. It’s that he isn’t Butch Jones.

Since leaving Cincinnati for Tennessee Jones has been everyone’s favorite punching bag. People truly feel betrayed by Jones because of the way he spoke about how his family loved Cincinnati and preached “representing the C” at every turn. Those seemed like hollow words when he up and left for Knoxville just days after the Bearcats’ final regular season game. It would make anyone see red.

Those feelings are perfectly understandable but that’s no reason to forget all the good he did here. Jones vastly upgraded the talent on the Bearcats’ roster by signing the best classes in UC’s history in 2011 and 2012. Additionally, he worked tirelessly behind the scenes to revamp the team’s nutritional regiment and fundraising organizations. Jones would also fight and die for his players, and they knew it. He was an outstanding motivator who convinced them to believe him themselves and willed them to greatness. All of that led to a few little, minor accomplishments like winning two Big East championships.

Still, because of many things such as his quirky sayings, parts of the fanbase have written off Jones while simultaneously praising Tuberville as a savior of the program. But it makes no sense since all he’s done thus far is shake a few hands and say all the right things. And it’s Tuberville’s ability to be a “straight shooter” rather than talk in rhymes like his predecessor that has made UC fans fall in love with him.

Honestly, I could care less if half the words out of Butch Jones’ mouth were idioms and cliches. Some people, those who forget all the good he did at UC the last 3 years, would like you to focus on that. But for me, college coaches are meant to do just one thing; win. And that’s what Jones did at Cincinnati. He could grow a rat tail as long as he won. He could only speak in haiku at his press conferences. He could dress in a clown costume on the sidelines and squirt water out of a flower on his chest at players for all I care. Hell, he could be this guy.

But as long as the head coach won football games and filled the trophy case at the Lindner Center, none of that matters.

Yet Tommy Tuberville can’t even say that at this point in time and by that extremely important measure Butch Jones has the edge. Of course there’s no reason he can’t bring more championships to Cincinnati (by all means the schedule in 2013 is set up perfectly for this). Overall the deck is stacked in Tuberville’s favor here with the Bearcats. All I’m proposing to the fanbase is that they give it just one season before passing judgement on UC’s new head coach. Is that really so hard to ask?

So what kind of coach do the Bearcats have in Tuberville? Someone near the Nick Saban or the Paul Pasqualoni end of the spectrum? Saban at the age of 60 is arguably in his prime, winning national titles in three of the last four seasons and making more money as a college coach than many of his counterparts in the NFL. On the other hand, it seems that at a similar stage of his life, Paul Pasqualoni’s best years are behind him as he still seeks to win more than 5 game in a single season at UConn. Which one most resembles Tuberville?

Maybe Saban, maybe Pasqualoni, maybe neither for all we know but the fact remains that Cincinnati’s new head coach still needs to prove he can win at UC before we can rank him up there with Kelly. Or even Jones and Dantonio for that matter. Tuberville has done all the right things off the field thus far and hopefully that translate to victories on the field.

It remains to be seen just how this new era under Tuberville will treat the Bearcats football program but it will be an exciting time one way or the other.

Photos courtesy AP and buffzone.