Tommy Tuberville Introduced at Cincinnati While Texas Tech Football Looks to the Future

In less than a day, now-former, Texas Tech Football head coach Tommy Tuberville (pictured: above, right) resigned his position, was hired by the Cincinnati Bearcats and was introduced to his new fanbase.

Tuberville said of his new school, "I want to be a leader that helps this university go to the next level. Not that there haven’t been a lot of accomplishments, and there have. There have been a lot of great wins, champions. A lot of great things have happened, but there’s always a next step. I’m going to get questions on why did you come to Cincinnati. I want to help Bearcat Nation take that next step forward. That next step so that we can get better every day as a group and as a university.”

Tuberville's abrupt departure surprised Tech officials. Texas Tech Athletic Director, Kirby Hocutt, discussed the timeline of Tuberville's departure on Saturday afternoon, “It started for me at 9:15 this morning.  I was at my son’s soccer game.  And I got a phone call from an Ohio number that I did not recognize and subsequently listened to the message and it was the athletics director at Cincinnati saying that he intended to visit today with Tommy Tuberville about their head coaching position.

Hocutt continued, “I did not return the phone call.  And then at 10:30 this morning received a call from Coach Tuberville, had the chance to visit with him, and he notified me at that time of his resignation and his intention to accept the job at Cincinnati.”

Hocutt thinks the future is bright with the Red Raider Football team and that a top-notch coach will be hired to replace Tuberville, "I want to be very clear, very clear, that we have a great football program.  This is a great university and a football program that is steeped in tradition.  We have 35 Bowl game appearances.  This year will be our 35th as we go to Houston and participate in the Mineke Car Care Bowl.  We’ve participated in postseason Bowl games, 11 of the 12 past college seasons.  It’s a football program that has 11 conference championships and a football program that has had 48 All‑Americans.  This is a program that has tremendous athletic facilities. Texas Tech University has invested over $230 million into our athletic facilities over the past decade.

Hocutt continued, “Our resources at Texas Tech are great.  We have a passionate fan base, a fan base who set tremendous records this year.  We set a school record for our highest average attendance in Texas Tech football history.  We have a great city to live in.  Lubbock, Texas is a great place to live.  You will find some of the greatest people in the world right here in West Texas in Lubbock.”

The Texas Tech assistant coaches, minus offensive coordinator Neal Brown, have committed to coaching Tech at the Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas in Houston. An interim head coach will be named in the coming days for Texas Tech’s bowl game. Meanwhile, Brown is currently interviewing at other schools for a new coaching position.

Some of those assistants may be already packing their bags. Just an hour after Hocutt’s press conference, Tuberville announced that some of his now-former assistants will be joining him at Cincinnati after Tech plays in the Meineke Car Care Bowl and Cincinnati in the Belk Bowl.