This is the type of situation where the public will never know the true story. But, even if this isn’t true, this is a huge knock against Tommy Tuberville.
Devonte Danzey of Hutchinson (Kansas) Community College was in Lubbock for his official visit with at least two other players, lineman Sunny Odogwu and receiver Javess Blue. The recruits were taken to dinner by about 8-10 coaches, including the Head Coach Tommy Tuberville.
Danzey told 24/7 Sports that he asked Tuberville how long he planned to stay at Texas Tech if he wasn’t fired.
“I asked Coach (Charlie) Weis at KU and Coach (Dana) Holgorsen at West Virginia (the same question), just so I know my relationship with them,” Danzey said. “(Tuberville) was just telling me he coached at Miami and Auburn, he coached 10 years and recruited Ray Lewis and kind of blew the question off I didn’t even realize.”
He added: “The waitress brought our food out, and we thought (Tuberville) went to the bathroom, but he never came back to dinner. Then next thing I know, the next day, he made an announcement that he’s going to Cincinnati.”
I really don’t want to believe that a Coach would do something as ridiculous as this, but it wouldn’t shock me if he did. Why else would this recruit say this? He has nothing to gain by telling the media this story.
Danzey then said that the next morning recruits were supposed to take a tour of the campus but Tuberville never showed up for it. Instead, offensive line coach Chris Thomsen, the interim head coach, told the group of recruits that Tuberville was the new head coach at Cincinnati.
Tuberville has yet to speak about the matter, and Texas Tech only said that they knew Tuberville took recruits to dinner, but didn’t know what transpired. Cincinnati on the other hand, released a statement on the matter saying, “Those reports are inaccurate. There was no contact between Coach Tuberville and Cincinnati prior to Saturday morning. Coach said he was at the dinner, talked with everyone, ate and went home.”
I have a strong feeling that this isn’t the last we’ve heard about this situation. If I’m a Cincinnati recruit, I would have a hard time feeling comfortable going to play for Tuberville if this turned out to be true.