Tommy Tuberville became the latest coach to leave his school before his contract was up, moving to Cincinnati from Texas Tech to take the head coaching position at the program.
According to ESPN.com, Cincinnati will introduce Tuberville in a press conference on Saturday night. An official from Texas Tech spoke to the website and said the school was "completely blindsided" by the move.
Tuberville is just one of many coaches over the past few weeks to be hired by a high profile school from another program. Bret Bielema was hired by Arkansas from Wisconsin, while the man Tuberville is replacing Butch Jones, was hired away from the Bearcats by Tennessee.
Over the past three seasons Tuberville has gone 20-17, but never seemed to get comfortable at the school or with the fans in the area. Last season the team went 7-5 and will play against Minnesota in the Meineke Car Bowl later this month
Tuberville signed with Texas Tech after being forced out of Auburn, where he coached for 10 seasons and went 85-40. While at Auburn, Tuberville led the team to a 13-0 record in 2004 and won the Paul Bryant Coach of the Year award. He has a 130-77 record in his career.
Tuberville took over from Mike Leach, who was fired controversially after a scandal involving physical abuse of one of his players during a practice.
Texas Tech went just 5-7 in 2011 and started this season 6-1 before losing four of the last five games. The team lost 41-20 against Oklahoma on Oct. 6 after opening 4-0 and won the next two games, including a 56-53 triple overtime game against TCU on Oct. 20.
In the final game of the season, Texas Tech lost 52-45 in overtime to Baylor, despite gaining 567 total yards and 359 passing yards. The defense was ranked 93rd in scoring in the nation, allowing 31 points per game. The Red Raiders gave up over 50 points four times this season and were ranked second in the country in passing with 361 yards per game.
Tuberville takes over a program that has had trouble holding on to coaches long-term. The departure of Jones to Tennessee makes it three coaches in a row who have stayed three season at the school, including Brian Kelly and Mark Dantonio.
According to ESPN.com, "(Tuberville) worked with Cincinnati athletic director Whit Babcock when both were at Auburn."
Jones was 23-14 with Cincinnati and led the Bearcats to a 9-3 record this season. The team will play against Duke in the Belk Bowl on Dec. 27, but it is unclear if Tuberville will coach the team.
The team started the season with five straight wins, but then lost two straight to Toledo and then-No. 16 ranked Louisville 34-31 in overtime. Cincinnati won four of its final five games of the season, but lost out on a chance to take control of the Big East conference with a loss to then-No. 22 Rutgers 10-3 on Nov. 17.
Cincinnati finished the season with a 27-10 against South Florida and a 34-17 victory on the road against the Connecticut Huskies. The Bearcats had the 12th-ranked scoring defense in the nation and was one of the most explosive offenses in the country, scoring over 30 points per game.
South Florida found a new head coach as well, hiring Willie Taggart from Western Kentucky.
Taggart takes over the program for head coach Skip Holtz, who was fired after going 16-21 in three season at South Florida and was only 5-15 in the Big East.
At Western Kentucky, Taggart took a losing program in a new direction and finished 7-5 in the past two seasons. The team joined the main Football Bowl Subdivision in 2008 and made its first ever bowl appearance under Taggart.
According to ESPN.com, "Taggart (is) among 14 black head coaches on 124 Football Bowl Subdivision teams and boost the number to eight of 68 in automatic-qualifying conferences."
Taggart formerly was the running backs coach at Stanford and grew up in the Tampa Bay area. He takes over a program that went only 3-9 last season and finished eighth place in the Big East with a 1-6 record. The season was the worst performance by a team in school history.
The team only scored one offensive touchdown over the final three games and finished the season with a 27-3 defeat at home against Pittsburgh in which they gained a record-low of 117 yards.
Taggart becomes the third coach in school history, following Holtz and Jim Leavitt, who was fired three years ago after an incident when he hit a player in the locker room.
The team has been on a downturn the past few years and finished in last place in the Big East in 2011 after staring off the year with four straight wins. The Bulls lost seven of their final eight games and snapped a six-year bowl appearance streak.
