Either way you cut it, Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville is about to get paid handsomely.

Rumor has it, Tuberville is one of the leading candidates for the Texas A&M job, which will soon be vacated after the Aggies buyout the contract of current head coach Dennis Franchione.

First things first, the reason that Franchione is being ousted at A&M has very little to do with the scandal over his newsletter, where boosters paid thousands of dollars to receive inside information about the team, including injury reports and the like. It has everything in the world to do with the team’s dismal record against rivals Texas and Oklahoma on his watch.

Being mentioned as a candidate, let alone the leading candidate, for a job like this is a perfect scenario for Tuberville. Either way, he’s getting paid. If Texas A&M comes in with an offer that ole Tubby can’t refuse, he’s off to coach the Aggies in the weaker Big 12 where the only games he will be pressured to win are the games against Texas and Oklahoma. He may also be able to leverage an offer from Texas A&M against Auburn to get more money to stay as the head coach of the Tigers. It’s worked in the past, just ask Steve Spurrier, who got a fat new deal when his name was even mentioned in connection to the Alabama job.

While the A&M job is nowhere near as presitigious as his current gig, Tuberville has a much higher chance of BCS success in College Station. No longer will he find himself fighting with Nick Saban for recruits in Alabama, fighting with Phil Fulmer for recruits in Tennessee or fighting the entire nation for the best of the best in the state of Florida. He will be recruiting in Texas, one of the nation’s richest recruiting pipelines and coaching in the Big 12, a conference that, aside from the monoliths that are Texas and Oklahoma, has been far from the schedule of landmines Auburn has been playing annually in the SEC.

If the money is right, I’d suggest Tuberville hit the road and gig ‘em.

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Tony Barnhart of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution said he thinks that if Texas A&M comes calling, Tuberville will listen.

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