Football
Associated Press 16y

Tuberville declines to discuss Texas A&M reports

AUBURN, Ala. -- Tommy Tuberville said Tuesday he's worrying
about Georgia and Alabama, not a potential job opening at Texas
A&M.

No. 18 Auburn's coach declined to discuss reports that his name
is high on the Aggies' wish list of candidates if embattled Dennis
Franchione is fired at Texas A&M.

"As I told our players, that's the least of our worries or
anybody's worries," Tuberville said. "The players, the coaches
and the fans look forward to these two games, and we're not going
to ruin it by discussing any of that stuff because anything I say
will be looked at, turned around and flipped around. It doesn't
make any difference."

Tuberville, a former Texas A&M defensive coordinator, said he
will meet with university President Jay Gogue and athletic director
Jay Jacobs after the season as usual to discuss the program and any
possible contract negotiations "and we'll go from there." Jacobs
was in meetings Tuesday afternoon and not immediately available for
comment.

Tuberville's name has surfaced regarding the Texas A&M job in
the past couple of weeks, including in reports Monday that the
university planned to fire Franchione at season's end. On Tuesday,
Franchione denied reports that he was negotiating a contract
buyout.

Texas A&M said in a statement Monday that athletic director Bill
Byrne planned to wait until the season ended before evaluating
Franchione.

The Tigers (7-3, 4-2 Southeastern Conference) have an open date
next week, but Tuberville said he didn't plan to use that time for
contract talks.

"We've talked. It's better to wait," he said. "We do it every
year. That's how it is done. There's no reason to change that.
There's no urgency about anything. I told them this is what our
players work for, to play these two games. We don't want to break
stride from that at all. We want it to be for the players and the
fans, and everything else will take care of itself."

Hiring Tuberville would be expensive. It would cost $6 million
to buy him out of the seven-year, $18 million deal he signed after
the Tigers went 13-0 in 2004. Tuberville is making $2.6 million
this season.

Like Tuberville, the Auburn players insist they're focusing on
Saturday's game at No. 10 Georgia, then will turn to the
season-ender in two weeks against No. 21 Alabama. They've started
hearing the rumblings about Texas A&M, though.

"We're not going to let it be a distraction," defensive end
Quentin Groves said. "We're just going to go out and play
football. Right now, he's Auburn's head coach and he's our head
coach.

"If it happens, it happens. We've got Georgia. We can't focus
on, 'Is he leaving or is he going?"

Groves and several other players said Tuberville hasn't
addressed the rumors with the team.

"The rumor's going around, but he hasn't told us anything about
it," defensive tackle Josh Thompson said. "The coaches haven't
mentioned anything about it, and I just found out about it probably
two days ago. It doesn't really affect us or distract us."

Tuberville has led the Tigers to a 40-8 record over the last
four seasons, fifth-best among Football Bowl Subdivision teams. He
is 78-32 in nine years at Auburn.

Tuberville had a one-year stint coaching Texas A&M's defense in
1994, when the team went 10-0-1. Tuberville left to become head
coach at Mississippi.

Asked why his name has surfaced so prominently with the Aggies,
he said: "I've got friends out there, obviously."

"They've probably got 15 other people on the list," he added.
"That's the way it is. It's good talk, that's all it is."

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