We've all seen, heard of, or possibly done the good ole dine & dash at a restaurant, but former Texas Tech and current Cincinnati head coach Tommy Tuberville may have taken that classic to a whole different level. According to a Juco recruit he was out to dinner with Tuberville and a few other head coaches only to have the man leave dinner and never return. Instead he left to cross the t's and dot the i's on a fresh contract to become the Bearcats newest head coach.
Not much in this crazy 2012 coaching carousel could really surprise me, but this one has to take the cake. According to the recruit, Devonte Danzey, Tuberville was strangely vague about how long he would remain at the helm of the Red Raiders – raising a red flag to begin with, but he also performed some verbal dancing as well.
If you read the report above Danzey even says Tuberville avoided the simple question by telling a story of recruiting Ray Lewis. (huh?)
Tuberville's masterful handling of recruits and the ultimate dine & dash continued well into the next day according to the reports from recruits on the trip to Lubbock that weekend. He didn't even show up for the planned tour of campus and the facilities the next day, leaving assistants to tell the recruits that he was off to Cincy following the completion of the tour. Talk about the ultimate ditch job, huh?
I mean, we've all seen the poor shlub get ditched on a blind date or get dumped at the most fancy of restaurants to make sure a scene wouldn't be made, but this…. this one simply takes the cake.
Tuberville, you, you my friend, deserve the ultimate slow clap of appreciation for being a complete jackass in this situation. He wasn't the first to avoid recruit questions and he won't be the last to tap dance around them either, but as my grandfather always told me – honesty is the best policy, you can never get in trouble for being honest with people.
In this case I'm pretty sure the recruits would've understood and you could've made yourself look a lot better. Here's hoping he picks up the tab on his next recruit dinner at the least!
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