Gump4Heisman's Off-Season Interview with Tommy Tuberville

Gump4Heisman.com

As part of Gump4Heisman’s intense off-season regimen of daily updates, I decided to sit down with Auburn Head Coach Tommy Tuberville, to check in on how Auburn's off-season is/has been going.

The following is an in-depth interview with the longtime SEC coach, where we discuss Auburn's prospects heading into the 2008 season, Auburn's new offense, Auburn recruiting, the philosophy behind it, and Coach Tuberville's views on recruiting rankings...

------

GUMP: Hello coach. Thanks for agreeing to do this interview.

TOMMY TUBERVILLE: Of course.

GUMP: So, How’s the off-season going?

TUBERVILLE: Great. It’s been great. We've seen a lot of guys step up. We're working on our new offense, prepping our guys on defense. It's been a great off-season. Just great. We don’t put a lot of emphasis on recruiting rankings.

GUMP: Oh… OK. Well we’re not even talking about recruiting rankings.

TUBERVILLE: Good. Because we don’t put a lot of emphasis on them.

GUMP: Point taken. Well you guys are coming off an up-and-down but a pretty solid 9-4 season. Auburn lost some guys, but you guys are right in the thick of the SEC West hunt. You want to talk about what you guys are thinking heading into 2008?

TUBERVILLE: We’re thinking about a lot of things. Offense. Defense. Special teams. Not recruiting rankings.

GUMP: ...Well, the offense is a new one. How is everything going with the guys picking it up? Are they taking to it well?

TUBERVILLE: Well they are. But it's a lot to learn, so it's going to take time. The guys have a lot to go over. They have a lot to think about. Other than recruiting rankings.

GUMP: Because no one at Auburn thinks about those, right?

TUBERVILLE: Nope. Nah.

GUMP: What do you think about?

TUBERVILLE: Everything.

GUMP: So you’re thinking about everything BUT recruiting rankings?

TUBERVILLE: Oh yea.

GUMP: Are you thinking about the economy?

TUBERVILLE: Oh yea.

GUMP: Are you thinking about the election?

TUBERVILLE: Oh yea.

GUMP: Are you thinking about the early-90’s sitcom “Full House”?

TUBERVILLE: Oh yea.

GUMP: OK… No you’re not. I threw that out there as an impossibly random example.

...Look, it’s OK if you don’t want to talk about recruiting, but there’s no way you expect me to believe you actively think about a bad 15-year old sitcom.

TUBERVILLE: Oh yea. We do. This staff puts a lot of emphasis on John Stamos. This staff puts a lot of emphasis on the Olson twins. This staff does not put a lot of emphasis on recruiting rankings.

GUMP: Then why do you keep mentioning them?

TUBERVILLE: The Olson twins? How could you NOT mention them? They’re everywhere.

GUMP: C’mon. You know that’s not what I meant. How do the Olson twins tie into recruiting rankings?

TUBERVILLE: I don’t know. We didn’t recruit the Olson twins.

GUMP: No one recruited the Olson twins.

TUBERVILLE: LSU offered the Olson twins.

GUMP: LSU offered the Olson twins?

TUBERVILLE: Oh yea. Mary Kate for sure.

GUMP: Uh huh. And was it a package deal? You offer Mary Kate, you get Ashley too?

TUBERVILLE: Oh yea.

GUMP: OK, that’s just stupid. LSU did not offer football scholarships to the fucking Olson twins. What is with your sudden obsession with recruiting rankings?

TUBERVILLE: How could I be obsessed with something I don’t put any emphasis on?

GUMP: That’s exactly what I’m wondering.

TUBERVILLE: I’m not obsessed with them.

GUMP: It’s all you talk about. It’s all you’ve talked about this off-season.

TUBERVILLE: Exactly. I talk about recruiting rankings a lot to show HOW I don’t put any emphasis on them. That way, when people hear me talk about how much emphasis I DON’T put on recruiting rankings, they’ll see how much emphasis I’m putting to emphasize that I don’t put any emphasis on them. And they’ll see it emphatically.

…So at the end of the day you see, I don’t really put any emphasis on them. Which is exactly why I talk about them so much. It’s like Roy Hobbs.