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FireAnt
(24.158.153.75) on 1/3/2004 - 11:30 a.m. says: ( 4 views
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"Get out you enormous idiot..."
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Sorry, I'm not letting it die
Housel will not resign
01/01/04
By NEAL McCREADY
Sports Reporter
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Auburn athletics director David Housel said Wednesday morning he does not plan to resign, despite speculation to the contrary.
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Housel, who played a key role in Auburn's clandestine trip to talk to University of Louisville head football coach Bobby Petrino, has been drawing heavy criticism from media, trustees -- specifically Abbeville businessman Jimmy Rane -- and alumni.
"I have no intention of resigning," Housel said. "Next question."
Housel was asked if anyone on Auburn's board of trustees or in the administration had discussed whether Housel needed to resign after the Nov. 20 flight on a Colonial Bank jet was exposed by media outlets.
"No one on the board has discussed it with me," Housel said. "I work for the president and the president hasn't discussed it with me."
Housel, Auburn president William Walker and trustees Earlon McWhorter and Byron Franklin flew aboard Colonial Bank CEO Bobby Lowder's corporate jet to meet with Petrino two days before the Iron Bowl.
On Nov. 25, reporters in two states learned of the flight. Petrino, who spent one season as Auburn's offensive coordinator before taking the top job at Louisville, issued a statement apologizing to U of L athletics director Tom Jurich and withdrawing his name from consideration for the Auburn job.
Within the next few weeks, Auburn officials described the trip to Louisville as an attempt to gauge the status of the program and gave embattled AU coach Tommy Tuberville a vote of confidence and a contract roll-over. Still, questions have persisted about Housel and Tuberville's ability to co-exist.
"I think it's good, it's strong and it's getting better," Housel said of his relationship with Tuberville, who completed his fifth season at Auburn on Wednesday. "Obviously, there was some repair work to be done, but I think, as I said then, we have a personal relationship and a professional relationship and I feel good about it."
Rumors have circulated that Tuberville kept Housel out of the Tigers' locker room after the win over Alabama and that a verbal confrontation took place between the two that evening. Housel refutes those rumors.
"No, there was nothing outside the locker room that I would consider a verbal confrontation," Housel said Wednesday. "I went in the locker room and congratulated Tommy, the coaches and the players."
Housel said he has not been asked to provide any damage control for Auburn's ongoing recruiting efforts. The Tigers have struggled to recruit the state of Alabama's top prospects, apparently losing most of them to Alabama.
"Tommy and his staff know I'll do anything I can to help them," Housel said. "We've talked a lot about a lot of things, about virtually everything, but I'm not going to share it with y'all."
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