Big 12 football: Tech’s Tuberville charming

Mike Leach always was the most popular coach at Big 12 football media days. His replacement at Texas Tech, Tommy Tuberville, didn’t drop the baton Tuesday.

Tuberville was interesting, funny and charming, with his Southern accent and long standing as a successful coach, at both Ole Miss and Auburn. Tuberville already warned us he would be interesting, when a few weeks ago he questioned the future of the Big 12 with its inequitable financial distributions. Tuberville was reprimanded by the Big 12.

“It’s great to be here,” Tuberville said Tuesday. “Great to be back at a Media Day, out for a year working on your guys’ side of the ball a little bit. Actually working in television. In television, they taught us to speak our mind. I forgot to get that out my mind a few weeks ago, so got to get back on the coaching side.”

Tuberville also talked about all kinds of interesting subjects.

How Tech’s football culture will change from the eclectic Leach’s: “For some reason, everything was focused on offense. I’m a team player. I wanted the players to know pretty quick this is going to be about team. It’s not going to be about special teams or defense or offense. It’s going to be about team. Everybody is going to play their part, play their role, and get the job done. If we do that, then we’ve got a much better chance of winning a championship than we do if we separate the team.”