Sounds of silence

Hello offseason darkness my old friend ... we've come to talk with you again ...

Sounds of Silence. So not only have the meetings between Tubby and the Jays we mostly assumed to be formality produced no meaningful resolution so far, Jacobs isn't expecting them to before the end of the week.

And cue the annual offseason increase in Auburn fans' prescription anti-heartburn medication dosage ... now! I'm not even sure Jacobs said things were going "well" as Woodberry claims in the story above: a transcript from Tate and a couple of other places suggests Jacobs didn't even go that far.

So ... yeah, things are still kinda up in the air and will be for the next couple of days, it seems. But I dunno, I can't bring my teeth to gnash over it just yet, despite the many smart people who suggest I should. For two reasons, I would say:

1. We just don't know what's happening between the Jays and Tuberville. It may be them making demands of Tuberville he's balking at accepting. It may be demands from Tuberville they're balking at accepting. These are proud, intelligent men who have come to some sort of sticking point, and forgive me if I'm not surprised it takes more than a few hours of chatter for men like these to come to a compromise.

The point: there's not enough evidence out there at this stage to assume the Auburn admin is one-sidedly determining Tubby's fate and letting him twist in the wind in the meantime. There'll still be time for outrage later, so I'm waiting 'til we have a clearer picture of the facts.

2. Let's say it takes until next, say, Monday or Tuesday to get things ironed out. Is there really any lasting fall-out? Uh-oh, we know that Tubby doesn't have the unconditional support of the Auburn admin and that 2009 is a make-or-break year. Somehow, I think most people have come to that conclusion already. The delay might have hurt the efforts to keep the class of 2009 intact if it came after a bowl game, but this is till the first week of December: whatever damage is done on that front Tubby should have time to repair.

So I guess I'm alone in this, but I'd much rather Tubby and the administration take their time and come to a reasoned, clear understanding of each other rather than rush into a decision either way. When you've endured a Season of DEATH, nothing's going to come easy, this included.

I'm with Auburntron: while we're waiting, we should probably just be discussing space beer.

FWIW. The HOT RUMOR in my inbox which is a RUMOR and not fact but rather RUMOR is that Tubby is being asked by the Board to return ... but under various harsh conditions, such as the current staff getting pitched overboard with the pursestrings simultaneously tightened to the point that replacing them adequately would be a hellacious task. Or that Tubby makes Atlanta in 2009 or he gets an automatic canning. The result? Mexican standoff. Remember: this is RUMOR.