Auburn problems

Earlier this season, Auburn Athletic Director Allen Greene said Gus Malzhan would be back next season despite the team falling out of the national polls after being ranked as high as No. 7.

Then after Georgia beat the Tigers 27-10, Auburn President Steven Leath confirmed his support for Malzahn.

The statements from Greene and Leath haven’t prevented more media reports this week speculating about Malzahn’s future.

Auburn Undercover reported that Malzhan is close to accepting an agreement for a reduced buyout in order to return for a seventh season as the Tigers’ coach.

If Auburn fired Malzahn under the seven-year contract he signed after last season when the Tigers beat Georgia and Alabama to win the SEC West, he would be owed a $32 million buyout, including $16 million by the end of December.

“Unbelievable, isn’t it?” Tommy Tuberville, a Camden native and former Auburn coach, said on radio station WNSP-FM, 105.5, in discussing the recent events that bring Malzahn’s future with the Tigers into doubt. “There’s problems in Auburn.

“There’s always been problems in Auburn. And, for some reason, there will continue to be problems in Auburn.”

Tuberville had an 8540 record in 10 seasons at Auburn from 1999-2008.

When the Tigers were 6-5 going into their game against Alabama in 2003, Auburn booster Bobby Lowder and some of the school’s administrators flew to Louisville to talk to Bobby Petrino — the Cardinals’ coach at the time who had been Tuberville’s offensive coordinator at Auburn — about replacing Tuberville.

The media found out about the meeting — dubbed “JetGate” — and reported on it, which shifted public sentiment in Tuberville’s favor with the perception Auburn officials weren’t supporting him before the Iron Bowl.

Tuberville saved his job when the Tigers beat the Tide 28-23. He then led Auburn to a 13-0 record in 2004. He was fired after Alabama beat Auburn 36-0 in 2008.

“You feel like you’re out on an island,” Tuberville said in his radio interview of being an Auburn coach fighting for his job. “There’s no boat. There’s no life preserver to get to a safe place.

“You’re just there. No one is talking to you. You have your assistants, but they’re out on the road. [Malzahn] probably doesn’t have anyone really talking to [him].

“When I had my JetGate, it was during the week of the Iron Bowl. I couldn’t get people I talked to 24 hours before on the phone or into their office. You’re closed out.”

Bob Stoops, the former Oklahoma coach, has denied reports he’s interested in the Auburn job.

“I don’t know anyone out there that wants to get into this mess,” Tuberville said. “Do you think Bob Stoops wants to get into this mess? He dropped a better job than this.”

Tuberville said Purdue Coach Jeff Brohm would be his first choice if Auburn fires Malzahn.

“[Brohm] could get the job done,” Tuberville said. “Is it good enough to catch the runaway train in Georgia and Alabama? No, because no one is going to catch them.

“You want somebody to come in and run Auburn like it needs to be run. Get people on your side. Help raise money. Make Auburn the best you can make it. And, if you can beat the people you need to beat, then you beat them.

“You can’t beat them with everyone trying to add their own ingredient on how they think things ought to be run.”