Poor health? No. Tired? No. Negotiating buyout? No. Burned out on recruiting? No.

Any possibility Auburn head coach Tommy Tuberville plans to retire or move on at the end of the season? Not according to him. Tuberville addressed most of these rumors Monday, making it clear that he plans to remain at AU for a long time.

"I've been here 10 years. I plan on being here 10 more," Tuberville said. "I'm looking forward to it. All these rumors get started. I'm 10 years an Auburn man and I'm 10 years more of an Auburn man than most because I put my heart and soul in this thing and we ain't going to stop now.

"We're going to keep working and striving to get better because we do have a good football team."

Tuberville made the statements during the opening address of his weekly press conference, which was moved from Tuesday to Monday due to AU's game against West Virginia Thursday night.

"I just want to let everybody know that everything is going good," Tuberville said. "I did not have a stroke. I am completely healthy. As a matter of fact, about three months ago I had a full physical.

"I'm not tired of coaching. I'm fired up as ever. You know, I've been here 10 years as head coach, this is my 30th year to coach, and I feel as good right now as I ever had about coaching football and young guys. I still have that drive. You pretty much have to, 14-, 18-hour days this time of year. I read that my drive was gone.

"No, we did not negotiate a contract last week. That's another one that came out. I don't like recruiting anymore. Well, I went 2500 miles last Thursday and Friday and covered a lot of high schools and talked to a lot of coaches and I loved every minute of it. Our recruiting is going great.

"It's just amazing the rumors that go around when things are not going as good as you would hope. No matter what happens anywhere, you're going to have years that things are not going to go perfect. That's my job to get it straightened out."

A 4-3 start including two straight SEC losses to Vanderbilt and Arkansas, plus an off-week has added to the rumors floating about Tuberville's future at Auburn.

...More... To continue reading this article you must be a member. Sign Up Now for a FREE Trial