Tuberville starts anew at Texas Tech

IRVING, Texas – Standing before his new team in a crowded meeting room last January, Tommy Tuberville told the Texas Tech Red Raiders he was sorry.

The instability that had loomed throughout the locker room for months … the ridicule and mistreatment they endured under former coach Mike Leach … the negative publicity aimed toward their program. Tuberville apologized for it all.

Even though he had nothing to do with it.

“This is my profession,” Tuberville said. “I’m a part of it. Someone needed to tell them that. Someone needed to say, ‘You shouldn’t have had to go through that.’”

So Tuberville offered his condolences and then delivered an even stronger message.

“Now it’s over with,” he told the players. “Get over it and move on.”

Seven months later, the Red Raiders appear to have done exactly that.

Ask anyone on Texas Tech’s roster and they’ll tell you that the pirate ship has sailed on Leach, the odd-ball former coach who won a bunch of games but lost a lot of supporters when he instructed a staff member to make receiver Adam James stand in a dark storage shed while the Red Raiders practiced. Leach’s order allegedly came after he was informed that James had a concussion and couldn’t participate in workouts.

The situation provided more than enough ammo for Texas Tech to get rid of the insubordinate Leach and his video game offense. More important, it paved the way for the hiring of Tuberville, who led Auburn to a 13-0 record in 2004.

“We were very fortunate that he was available,” Texas Tech athletic director Gerald Myers said. “We thought, ‘Here’s one of the top coaches in the country, and he’s interested in Texas Tech.’

“Once we talked to him there wasn’t much of a need to look any further.”

The feedback couldn’t be any more positive in Lubbock, where Tuberville has been active in the community and a regular at charity fundraising projects and speaking engagements. As a result, Texas Tech has sold more than 43,000 tickets – a school record – as excitement on campus continues to build.

“There’s no reason everyone in Lubbock shouldn’t be excited about Texas Tech football – unless they’re a UT fan,” quarterback Steven Sheffield said.

Tuberville, who resigned following a 5-7 season in 2008, had spent a year away from coaching and was anxious to get back into the game. He had openly campaigned for the Kansas job that went to Turner Gill and appeared destined for his second straight year of television work before Texas Tech fired Leach shortly before the Red Raiders’ victory over Michigan State in the Alamo Bowl.

After spending 14 years in the SEC – he was the head coach at Ole Miss from 1995-98 – Tuberville said he feels reinvigorated in Lubbock.

“I loved Auburn,” Tuberville said, “but I never could get everyone on the same page. It was time to give someone else a chance.

“[Texas Tech] is perfect for me. Everyone said, ‘Oh, if you had waited a little bit longer you could’ve gone to Tennessee.’ But this is perfect. It’s a different league with different coaches and different recruiting areas.

“I feel like I’m 30 years old again, even though I may not look like it.”

Tuberville didn’t take long to make his presence felt. He outlawed earrings and ballcaps in the Red Raiders’ athletic facility, where players aren’t allowed until they’ve removed their cleats. Tuberville scheduled 10-minute meetings with every player on the roster so he could get to know them. According to defensive lineman Colby Whitlock, one of the most memorable things about Tuberville’s first gathering with the entire team was that it “started on time.”

“I only know one way to do it,” Tuberville said. “At Ole Miss and Auburn, I went in and made it as tough as possible, physically and mentally. It’s ‘Do everything right and be on time. You’ll pay the price if you don’t.’ I haven’t had one player quit the team.

“That’s why I feel like I’ve been at Texas Tech three or four years now, simply because of their attitude and the way they’ve handled a tough situation.”

Players said there’s a sense of professionalism with Tuberville that didn’t exist with Leach, who was almost like a cartoon character because of his fascination with pirates, his guest spots as a TV weatherman and the dating advice he gave on his coach’s show.

Even though Texas Tech was winning games and went to a bowl in each of Leach’s 10 seasons, the Red Raiders often felt like the bearded lady at the circus.

“Everyone thought we were kind of weird, that we distanced ourselves from everyone,” Sheffield said. “We weren’t just a normal college football team.”

The Red Raiders are now – but that’s not to say they’ll be boring under Tuberville, who on Tuesday promised that once-pass-happy Texas Tech will still throw the ball.

“And we’ll throw it deep,” Tuberville said.

Tuberville, though, wants to bring more balance to an offense that sometimes attempted as many as 70 passes in a single game. He said running backs Barron Batch and Eric Stephens will be heavily involved in Texas Tech’s “NASCAR” scheme, which got its name because of how quickly it operates.

Even more important to Tuberville is that Texas Tech’s defense continues the improvement it was making toward the end of last season.

“We want them to know that they’re a part of the team,” Tuberville said. “The one thing I noticed about our defense was that they didn’t have a lot of confidence. There wasn’t a lot of talk about them. If there was, it was about them not playing well.

“I think they played pretty well last year, but it was all about the offense. Everyone has a job to do. Everyone needs to play a role to get the job done. If we do that then we’ve got a much better chance of winning a championship.”

That’s a point Tuberville has stressed since that initial meeting with the team back in January. Strangely, the idea doesn’t seem that far-fetched.

“Before, we’d never really talked about championships around the facility,” Whitlock said. “For whatever reason the subject was always [taboo]. But he walked in on day one and got right to the point. It was awesome. It was great to hear.”

Sheffield agreed.

“He just laid it out there and said, ‘We’re trying to win championships around here,’” Sheffield said. “That’s something I’d wanted to hear for so long.

“He told us this was our team. He said, ‘Y’all have been through so much together. The ball is in your court. We’re going to do what we need to do to coach you. We know how to go 13-0.’”

Someday soon, the Red Raiders may know, too.