Scarbinsky is seeing the light too.

[DKW 86 7,440]

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What will AU's AD choice mean for Tuberville?

Sunday, December 19, 2004

Auburn is going to hire an athletics director. Someday.

It could happen Monday and be announced Tuesday. That's what school president Ed Richardson said Friday.

Maybe this time he means it.

One thing is certain. Unlike the NFL, the NCAA doesn't levy heavy fines if schools don't conduct at least one good-faith interview with a minority candidate for such a high-profile position.

Lucky for Auburn.

Exactly who the new AD will be continues to be a secret, though some signs point toward an in-house battlefield promotion for Jay Jacobs.

Precisely what the choice will mean remains an even bigger mystery, but everyone has a theory.

Here's a popular one: If it's Jacobs, it's a signal that the Age of Enlightenment at Auburn has been a short one. That the separation of administration and board of trustees, if it ever really existed, is over.

That the school is off SACS probation and back in business.

The evidence for this theory is that Jacobs played football at Auburn and got his start in the administration there under Pat Dye.

It's unfair to consider Jacobs a puppet of the old guard without further evidence, but he would be viewed with caution until he proved otherwise.

It's not lost on some Auburn people that, for all the changes that have taken place at the school, some things haven't changed.

The trustees connected to last year's ill-timed and ill-fated Jetgate - Earlon McWhorter, Byron Franklin and all-purpose bogeyman Bobby Lowder - remain on the board.

A corollary of the old-guard theory maintains that Tommy Tuberville won't be thrilled if Jacobs is promoted to AD. Why not? Jacobs is a Dye guy. Dye is a Lowder guy.

And Lowder hasn't always been a Tuberville guy.

Never mind that the football coach hasn't answered to the AD during his six years in Auburn and, after a 12-0 season, he isn't about to start now.

More than one Auburn supporter is concerned that now is not the time to do anything but give Tuberville what he wants as soon as possible. Like, say, $2 million a year for seven years. Guaranteed.

Isn't that what Florida's paying Urban Meyer? And isn't LSU about to have an opening that could mean, if nothing else, more leverage for Tuberville?

Trouble is, there's a problem with that line of thinking. No matter what Tuberville might think of the LSU job, he can't think much of the LSU fans. The worst of them once verbally abused his family in Tiger Stadium. They wouldn't welcome him back as the LSU coach.

The rap on Auburn is it can't stand prosperity. Does a forever-and-a-day search for an AD during a once-in-a-lifetime football season prove it?

Stay tuned. Maybe there is no struggle between the old guard and the new wave. Maybe there is no debate about keeping the job in the family or not.

Maybe the AD search has taken this long because the position pales in importance next to that of the head football coach.

Fair or not, Jacobs is caught in the middle. Maybe, for a man who wants this job, it's good practice.

[cadillacattack 0]

If it's Jacobs, it's a signal that the Age of Enlightenment at Auburn has been a short one. That the separation of administration and board of trustees, if it ever really existed, is over.

Yep, I'd say Scarbinky gets it......

[Proud Tiger 4,261]

If it's Jacobs, it's a signal that the Age of Enlightenment at Auburn has been a short one. That the separation of administration and board of trustees, if it ever really existed, is over.

Yep, I'd say Scarbinky gets it......

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Scarbinsky's article is just as speculative as most posts here. Read it and count the ifs, maybes. etc. The only sentence you quote starts with "if." Heck I could write this kind of article about most anything without getting into trouble. His best advice is.....stay tuned. I guess my question is is he seeing any light or just rehashing old foggy inuendos.