AUBURN FOOTBALL NEWS – 10/10/08 (ENSMINGER TO CALL PLAYS)

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Lot more news and opinion coming out of Auburn this morning regarding the dismissal of offensive coordinator Tony Franklin.

First, the news:

Long-time Tuberville assistant Steve Ensminger (at left) has been tabbed to take over the play-calling duties for the Tigers for the remainder of the season.  Tuberville did not name Ensminger, currently his inside receivers coach, his offensive coordinator.  He still plans to hire someone from outside the staff for next season (if he can find anyone that would be crazy enough to take the job… since Tuberville has now run through six offensive coordinators in 11 years on The Plains).

Tuberville said his team practiced well yesterday, but many still wonder what type of offense they will see against Arkansas on Saturday.  “We’re not changing anything.  The difference (between) what we were doing last year and what we ran the last few weeks is just the tempo.  We want to keep all that.  We think all of it’s good.  Obviously, what I want to do over the next few weeks after this game is go back and simplify a little bit of it, try to do as much as your players can handle.”  How much more can they possibly simplify… other than simply running the ball more out of quarterback-under-center sets?



And now for the opinion pieces:

Kevin Scarbinsky of The Birmingham News writes that Tuberville has “given the people who supported Jetgate five years ago a reason to question his leadership again.  A good reason.”

Tommy Hicks of The Mobile Press-Register writes that Ensminger “might want to run the ball.  A lot.”

Al Borges, fired after last season, and Franklin are now both being paid NOT to coordinate Auburn’s offense.

This Birmingham News believes the spread offense isn’t to blame for Auburn’s mess, it’s the Tigers’ lack of a quarterback and their offensive line.  We’ll see about the offensive line, but we’ve been saying for weeks that the spread only works if you have a quarterback who can run and pass with equal talent, and Auburn doesn’t have one of those.

Franklin once wrote of Tuberville’s loyalty to his assistants.  But it was that loyalty to his assistants that cost Franklin his job when clashes over personality and scheme bubbled up. 

And here’s a wrap-up of what many national sports reporters are saying about Franklin’s mid-season boot.



My final take — have you even known a boss that wants to be buddies with the workers?  The boss talks with the workers all the time, laughs with them, trusts them, likes for them to like him?  I have. 

And those bosses run through managers constantly.  Because the workers have the boss’s ear… and the managers do not. 

That’s how you explain the number of coordinators Tuberville has run through, while he’s kept his assistant coaching staff intact. 

There’s a reason the military is set-up in such a way that you have to deal with your superior officer first and foremost.  If private could run to generals with every complaint, what kind of power would the captains and majors have?



Hey, know what?  Auburn is playing Arkansas on Saturday.  Two of the leaders of the Hogs’ defense are both redshirt freshmen.  Which might explain when Arkansas is struggling so much on that side of the ball.