October 25, 2005
Tuberville blasts ESPN, Holtz
Don't expect Auburn head coach Tommy Tuberville to receive a Christmas card from the "Worldwide Leader in Sports" or Lou Holtz this year. Don't expect him to be daydreaming about sliding into a cushy analyst job at ESPN upon retirement, either.
In remarks yesterday at a Montgomery (AL) Quarterback Club luncheon, Tuberville unloaded on the BCS and ESPN:
"It's done," Tuberville said. "The national media, led by ESPN, wants to see Vince Young vs. Matt Leinart in the championship game. It's going to be those two teams unless Texas or USC get upset."Last year, they wanted to see the two Heisman Trophy quarterbacks, Jason White and Leinart. After six or seven games, we were out of it.
"If four teams are undefeated at the end of the season, there should be a playoff. There should've been one last year. But it's decided already. I don't like it."
He wasn't finished:
"ESPN has gotten so much power lately, it's kinda scary," Tuberville said. "And most of their analysts are coaches who haven't won any games. That's why they're there. I think you know who I'm talking about."And Lou Holtz gets on there and talks about what a team has to do win that game, and the guy couldn't beat anybody in our conference. These guys will come talk to you and look you straight in the eye and tell you something, then they'll get on the air and say something else.
"ESPN, I'll tell you, I don't have much to do with them anymore."
Whoa, coach. Tell us how you really feel.
Seriously, Tuberville isn't the only person to lament the power that ESPN has accrued (with its sister network ABC) in recent years within college football and sports in general. And he certainly isn't the first person to take issue with one of ESPN's analysts. Face it, there's a reason why Gerry DiNardo, Lou Holtz, and Terry Bowden are talking into TV microphones rather than coaches' headsets these days.
For the record, Holtz never faced Tuberville and Auburn on the field in his six seasons at South Carolina.
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