Tommy Tuberville resigns as head coach at Cincinnati

AUBURN — Former Auburn head coach Tommy Tuberville resigned as the head coach at the University of Cincinnati Sunday afternoon.

Tuberville, 62, had a 29-22 record in four years at Cincinnati with his first two years being 9-win campaigns but this past season ended with a disappointing 4-8 record, which was the program’s worst since 2010. Tuberville has a career record of 159-99 in 21 seasons as a head coach.

"After much thought and reflection, I have decided to step down and resign from my position here at the University of Cincinnati,” Tubberville said in a statement in the university’s release. “I want to thank the board of trustees, the administration, the fans and the University for these last four years. I also want to thank our coaches, staff and anyone associated within our athletic department. Most of all, I will miss these players but know these young men will turn out to be outstanding leaders in the world and for me that is what it’s all about. I am not done coaching and I look forward to my next challenge. Go Bearcats!”

Cincinnati won a share of the 2014 American Athletic Conference title and went to bowl games in Tuberville’s first three years.

“It’s something we’ve worked on together,” UC athletics director Mike Bohn told The Enquirer, speaking of Tuberville’s departure. “It was very professional, very candid.”

Tuberville had previous head coaching stops at Ole Miss, Auburn and Texas Tech. He was 25-20 at Ole Miss from 1995-98, 85-40 at Auburn from 1999-2008 and 20-17 at Texas Tech from 2010-12.

Tuberville took over at Auburn following the 1998 regular season and under his leadership, the Tigers made eight consecutive bowl appearances including five New Year's Day bowl berths. Tuberville’s best season at Auburn was in 2004 when he finished with a perfect 13–0 record including a Southeastern Conference championship along with a win over Virginia Tech in the 2005 Sugar Bowl.

Under Tuberville, Auburn won seven of 10 Iron Bowl games against Alabama including six straight victories over in-state rival.