Auburn fires Franklin amid offensive struggles

[October 09, 2008]  AUBURN, Ala. (AP) -- Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville fired offensive coordinator Tony Franklin on Wednesday just seven games into his tenure, pulling the plug after the Tigers' rocky transition to his spread offense.

The 20th-ranked Tigers have struggled offensively all season after entering as the favorites to win the Southeastern Conference Western Division. They have dropped league games to LSU and Vanderbilt after beating Mississippi State by a score of 3-2.

"It hurts. It hurts bad," Tuberville said after practice Wednesday. "It's a difficult situation. It's a difficult thing to do in the middle of the season. My responsibility is to this football team and it always will be. Tony's a good person. When it all comes down to it, it's about production. I didn't think over the last few weeks we were making any progress."

Tuberville said he made the decision Wednesday morning and told the players before practice.

He said he and his remaining offensive staff would discuss Wednesday night who would coach quarterbacks and call plays Saturday against Arkansas. Tuberville also said he remained committed to the spread offense.

He has had five offensive coordinators during his 10-year tenure at Auburn, but none brought quite as much attention as the hiring of Franklin. He declined comment to reporters as he loaded his car in front of the football complex.

No players were made available after practice.

Franklin brought an offense to the Tigers (4-2) that was a big departure from the more smashmouth, conservative style Tuberville had long favored. It received an abundance of attention leading up to the season but never clicked, and Franklin frequently criticized his own performance.

Tuberville, who indicated he would take a larger role in the offense, said there was "no personal conflicts" or disagreement that precipitated his decision.

"There's no really unknown reason, but you've just got to go with your gut feeling," he said. "We'd played four conference games and we just hadn't done that well."

Auburn (4-2) is ranked 104th in total offense out of 119 major college teams and quarterbacks Kodi Burns and Chris Todd have alternated most of the season. The starting spot is still unsettled.

Tuberville, whose background is as a defensive coach, had staunchly defended the spread offense a day earlier and says he will stick to it.

"This is what we're going to run," he said Tuesday without mentioning Franklin. "We're going to run it, we're going to keep running it and we're going to get better at it. Sometimes people will say, 'Why don't you go back to doing what you did?' Well, if you do that, then you are asking for major disaster."

On Wednesday, he said Franklin's dismissal is "not going to change our philosophy. This is a good offense. Our guys like it. They understand it. They're getting better at it."

Tuberville hired Franklin from Troy last December after firing Al Borges, who has not landed another coaching job. Franklin led the offense in the Chick-fil-A Bowl -- a victory over Clemson that heightened anticipation over the new offense -- as well as the first six games this season.

But the Tigers have had troubles across the board. They rank 103rd nationally in passing offense, 105th in pass efficiency and 111th in red zone offense. They even started the Vandy game with 14 straight runs before reverting to the spread with modest results, leaving some players to express confusion over the strategy.

Franklin spent four seasons at Kentucky, serving as offensive coordinator and receivers coach during the 2000 season for an offense that finished second in the country in passing.

His hiring led to plenty of excitement among Auburn fans, and Franklin also signed Todd, who had committed to play for him at Troy. The Trojans led the nation in offensive snaps in his fast-tempo, no-huddle attack last season. They averaged 453 yards a game, seventh-best nationally. The tempo had never reached that pace this season.

Franklin spent 16 years at seven high schools before that, and his "Tony Franklin System" has been installed at high school programs across the country.

[Associated Press; By JOHN ZENOR]

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