AU not bogged down by woes of past, says coach

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AU not bogged down by woes of past, says coach

Ray Melick

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

Is it too early for Auburn fans to start believing in this football team that Tommy Tuberville has assembled?

Is it too early to buy into this audacious attitude that these players seem to play with?

Saturday's 7-3 victory over LSU vaulted Auburn into a prime position for a spot in the BCS national title game. Certainly confidence is high in a team that passed its first major test of the season, and has the advantage of playing two of its remaining three big tests (Florida, Georgia and Alabama, if you still consider Alabama a test for Auburn) at home.

But the victory over LSU seemed to mean more than that, at least to Tuberville, who used the win as a platform to announce a new Auburn, an Auburn he says is no longer bogged down in petty infighting, no longer hurting itself with internal power struggles, no longer overly occupied with its neighbors to the west, east, north or south.

"When we got to Auburn in 1999, (Auburn) didn't have the best reputation in the world of playing good and playing hard," Tuberville said Monday during his annual visit to the Birmingham Monday Morning Quarterback Club. "There were a lot of politics involved in the program. Our coaches and fans have done a marvelous job of overcoming a lot of things.

"We've had some problems over the last 20 years. We've had some bad publicity. But hopefully, the things we're doing will overcome a lot of that."

Read what you want into what Tuberville is saying. Maybe he's saying the era when trustee Bobby Lowder wielded unchecked power on campus is over. Maybe he's suggesting Auburn has gotten past the days of former coach and Athletics Director Pat Dye, his reputation sullied by major NCAA violations, who continued to influence athletic department decisions even after his departure.

Or maybe Tuberville isn't firing shots at the past at all, but is simply announcing a new day on The Plain, one in which Auburn fans no longer have to feel like second-class citizens in their own state.

"Every time I speak to alumni or fans, I tell them the same thing," Tuberville said. "I know there is competition and rivalries and bragging rights and all that. But for Auburn to succeed, we have to worry about ourselves and not worry so much about what other people are doing.

"When I got here, the (Auburn) reputation was for worrying so much about other people, what they were doing and what they were saying. Everybody was not on the same page. We had to change, to start getting everyone pulling in the same direction, and we're working toward that."

The past, Tuberville declares, is gone.

Auburn rivals may not like to hear it, may think it's arrogance, may see it as pride going before the fall.

But that's why Tuberville is telling Auburn to pay attention only to Auburn.

Certainly these days, it's a lot more fun.

Ray Melick's column appears Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Write him at rmelick@bhamnews.com.

Birmingham News

[Guest Tigrinum Major]

I endorse Coach Tuberville's attitude and example fully and unequivocally without reservations.

[GalensGhost 0]

I endorse Coach Tuberville's attitude and example fully and unequivocally without reservations.

Swear it, I'm turning over a new leaf. Time to start living what I believe.

[DKW 86 7,426]

I endorse Coach Tuberville's attitude and example fully and unequivocally without reservations.

Swear it, I'm turning over a new leaf. Time to start living what I believe.

Ditto. If CTT believes it is time, then we should march on.