Many of my regular readers may remember back in October, after Auburn blew another halftime lead and lost big to West Virginia, I posted an article stating that the Tuberville firing countdown clock had begun.  Today, the clock struck zero and Tuberville is officially out as Auburn's head coach.  The university will buy out per the contract and look for answers elsewhere. 

Most Auburn fans were calling for his head even before the Iron Bowl, but after being shut out 36-0 last Saturday, everyone knew it was over.  Initially the reports from the plains said that Tuberville would return to coach but after three business days since the Iron Bowl loss, and no official annoucement of his return, speculation about his firing started swirling.  After meeting with the Athletic Director and President, Tuberville was supposed to present a plan to turn things around.  Apparently whatever he was selling, they weren't buying and this evening, Tuberville met with the players first to announce his departure, then released the following statement:

"The last 10 years have been a great time in my life, both professionally and personally," Tuberville said. "It's been a great place to coach and live, and we've had a lot of success along the way. I'm going to remain in Auburn and help the Auburn family however I can. I'm very appreciative of the coaches, players, staff and Auburn fans over the last decade."

Most pundits will point out the fact that he was 80-40 at Auburn, beat Bama 6 times in a row, and led his team to an undefeated season during his tenure.  The fact is, for whatever reason, Tuberville decided to say goodbye to his successful Offensive Coordinator Al Borges and hire Tony Franklin to bring in the spread offense.  It was a risky move and one that proved fatal to his own head coaching career.  Even after firing Franklin halfway into the season and returning to Borges' more traditional offense, things never improved.  The tumultuous season was capped off by a shutout against their arch-rivals and the worst beating in 40 years. 

Where will Auburn turn next?  Initially most thought it would be Muschamp in Texas until it was announced last week that he would be the coach-in-waiting once Mack Brown retired from the sidelines.  Other names in the mix are Butch Davis in North Carolina and Mike Leach at Texas Tech.  The other hot commodity, Brian Kelly, has already eliminated his name from any of the head coaching vacancies.  The Tigers face a tough road ahead.