AeroCat
1st String
Posts: 1,463
Joined: Oct 2014
Reputation: 58
I Root For: UC Bearcats
Location:
|
Tuberville
What do you guys make of this interview with Tubs? I just don't care for this guy's lackadaisical style at all, but I wonder if a coach can be successful with his approach or is a more Saban-like approach necessary?
Link
Quote:CINCINNATI -- When Butch Jones was the head football coach at the University of Cincinnati from 2010 through 2012, he was constantly on the move during practice, striding purposefully across the field as he barked instructions through a bullhorn.
At UC practices under current UC coach Tommy Tuberville, you sometimes have to survey the field to see where he is. He moves around as if he's out on a casual stroll in the park.
Tuberville runs the UC program with a calm self-assurance that belies the passion he still has for winning at the age of 60. In 18 years as a head coach, he has posted a 149-85 record, including 18-8 at UC in two seasons with two bowl appearances and a co-championship last year in the American Athletic Conference. He knows what he knows, is confident in his approach, and goes about his business as if he's not looking to impress anyone.
The UC head coach says he has learned to work more productively than he did in his first head coaching job at Mississippi, not wasting time on endeavors that don't directly benefit the program. He hires assistants based on their recruiting ability first, and he delegates authority. He doesn't insist that his coaches work in their office 24 hours a day, seven days a week, but he does insist that they're good at their job
"I've always been pretty laid back because I feel confident that we know what we're doing," Tuberville said, "not just me, but the people that I have put in place. It takes more than one guy to run a football program. I enjoy what I'm doing. I don't have my mind set on other jobs down the road. I never have. I don't think we have to get everything done in the next five minutes. I've worked with different types of coaches as an assistant, some that just felt like if you weren't there 24 hours a day, you're going to lose games, which is totally false."
UC fans have learned in recent years to be wary of the third year of a head coach's tenure at the school. Each of UC's last three head coaches has left after his third year -- Mark Dantonio for Michigan State, Brian Kelly for Notre Dame and Jones for Tennessee.
But none of those coaches had Tuberville's demeanor -- or his coaching profile. He has been to the top of the coaching mountain in the Southeastern Conference and the Big 12 and seems perfectly content at UC as he prepares for his third season, fired up about moving back into a renovated Nippert Stadium after a one-year absence.
"The sky's the limit," Tuberville said. "We've got a lot of room for improvement. Some places, you know what you've got. They're not going to get much better. Here we know what we've got and we know where we can go."
Tuberville is the antithesis of the image of a college football head coach: high-strung, in-your-face, overburdened and compelled to work ungodly hours in the name of winning. He believes in working hard but also believes there are times when even a hard-driving, red-faced football coach needs to get away.
"There's a lot of different coaches, I'm not going to name names, but they think that the only thing in the world is their job," Tuberville said. "I don't believe that. From August 1 until the first of April we work almost every day. And then from April 1, they're out of it. We make sure our kids are in class, we're around them, we recruit, but when we're not recruiting, you go fishing, play golf, spend time with your family.
"A lot of coaches don't do that. If (their assistants) have nothing to do, the head coach wants them looking at the four walls. I don't believe in that because I've done that before as an assistant. A lot of guys are successful doing that, going over the deep end every day, worrying about how many pencils we have in each desk and all the little things, but it's not going to help them win games. You've got to really find time for your family in this job because it can really consume you. You can let it ruin your family life, your personal life. There's got to be a time when you've got to turn it off."
Tuberville can be so self-effacing that at times it's hard to believe he's a football coach. When a reporter told him during spring practice that he wanted to ask him a question about the offensive line, Tuberville joked, "I don't know much about the offensive line."
But he says the fire to succeed burns just as hot at UC as it did at Auburn, Texas Tech or Ole Miss. His goal at UC is to lift the program to a new level of excellence.
"I didn't come here to retire," he said.
Although his initial interest in UC was sparked by a previous working relationship he had with then-athletic director Whit Babcock, it was his conversation with UC president Dr. Santa Ono that sold him on the job and that gives him hope that UC has greater potential than perhaps even its strongest supporters realize.
"He told me his belief in athletics and how it's related to a university," Tuberville said. "He understands. He believes that to make a university be an entire university that helps the student body, athletics is a rallying point. Cincinnati is working up the ladder. We're not near what it need to be or wants to be. There's a lot of schools that are beyond us in athletic programs but he understands it. If you've got somebody that understands it, then you can work with the guy."
Over the weekend, Tuberville moved from Lawrenceburg, Ind., into a new condo in Northern Kentucky, overlooking the Ohio River and the Cincinnati skyline. He seems to truly believe he has landed in a promising situation at UC.
"It's fun to build something," he said. "There's been games that have been won before I got here. Every coach did a good job. Most of them are very different than I am. They liked to control it all. I think if we're going to get to the next level, I'm not smart enough to do it all. I don't want to do it all. I want other people to help."
(This post was last modified: 05-08-2015 09:53 AM by AeroCat.)
|
|