(Photo/Charles Goldberg)
And so the Tony Franklin era came to a screeching halt today at Auburn as head coach, Tommy Tuberville announced the firing at an afternoon press conference. I'm a bit shocked about this, but only because of the timing. Just yesterday Tuberville was singing Franklin's praises and saying how Auburn was looking forward to this weekend's matchup against Arkansas. Wow, what a difference a day makes. Franklin got canned early this afternoon, which means that either there was some conflict that arose before afternoon practice or the firing took longer to play out. Legal issues possibly? And while Tony was cleaning out his office, the team was already on the practice fields preparing for Arky. Of course, the media in Auburn got worked up into a frenzy and absolutely ate up this event that was unfolding right in front of them. There's even several videos of him packing his car and leaving the AU Sports Complex. Such is the case when it comes to anything dealing with college football in the state of Alabama. I really think this is best for Auburn's future, but I just hate for something like this to happen. It hurts the public perception of our University and Tigers football team, and I just can't imagine what kind of gut punch this was for Franklin. On the bright side, maybe we'll see more of Auburn's smash-mouth offense that's produced some somewhat common names as Bo Jackson, Joe Cribbs, Carnell Williams & Ronnie Brown. Only time will tell...
