CTT: "Not rah-rah type coach."

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Pregame talk cheap to 'Tub'

Sunday, August 28, 2005

By PHILLIP MARSHALL

Times Sports Staff pmarsh9485@msn.com

AU coach typically shows emotional side at weekly team meeting

AUBURN - Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville says he's never thrown a chair through a window like former Rice coach Al Conover once did. And he's certainly never eaten a worm like former Baylor coach Grant Teaff did before a crucial game.

In the moments before a game, when the tension is thick in the locker room air and the crowd outside is waiting to stand and scream, Tuberville tries to be a voice of reassurance and confidence.

When Tuberville speaks, assistant coaches have already met with players for last-minute instructions, often delivered in the way only assistant coaches can deliver them. A week's worth of preparation will soon be put to the test on the field.

"If they haven't gotten themselves prepared, nothing I can say five minutes before kickoff is going to change it," said Tuberville, who will begin his seventh Auburn season on Sept. 3 against Georgia Tech at Jordan-Hare Stadium. "You have to make sure they prepare all week long."

Tuberville is more feisty in the weekly Thursday night team meetings than in his pregame speeches. He's been known to cut loose at halftime if he doesn't like what he saw in the first half, even shedding a tear from time to time.

College football lore is filled with legends of coaches whose pregame speeches ignited their teams to do great things.

"That's mostly a myth," Tuberville said. "You don't want players at such a fever pitch that they don't do their jobs. I tell them to do their jobs and don't worry about anybody else's. A football team playing a game is kind of like a motor running. If one part overheats, you are going to have problems."