Ever since he shocked the college football world by abruptly leaving Texas Tech to accept the head coaching position at Cincinnati, stories have surfaced about Tommy Tuberville that paint him as cold and heartless. That theme continued earlier this week when two Cincinnati recruits claimed Tuberville pulled their scholarship offers without informing them.
Demetrius Monday, a three-star cornerback who verbally committed to the Bearcats last summer, said he has begun exploring other options after not hearing from Tuberville for a month. Monday’s father, Bryant, said he contacted the university this week to find out what was going on and was told to “look other places.”
“I think it’s messed up,” Bryant Monday told the Atlanta Journal Constitution on Thursday. “You wait until a few weeks before signing day to say something? They could have told us a month ago. Now we’re left with less than a month until signing day to figure something out. He had other scholarship offers but he hasn’t talked to those coaches in six months since he committed to Cincinnati on July 25. It’s really disappointing.”
Bryant said he and Demetrius have spoken to other recruits who have shared similar stories and that he believes Tuberville is trying to get high schoolers to de-commit on their own. Three-star recruit Jaleel Canty, who is from Lansing, Mich., said the same thing happened to him when he called Cincinnati’s football offices on Thursday.
“They said they were bringing in their own guys, so all the guys that are committed are out luck,” Canty told the AJC. “They said (Tuberville) was busy, trying to get his staff together.”
“It’s messed up. I’ve been committed to Cincinnati since July, and I kind of cut off communication with other schools. I don’t understand why (Tuberville) couldn’t tell us a month ago. We’re less than a month away from signing day now. And I don’t understand why we had to call them. Why couldn’t they call us and tell us a month ago? It’s really disappointing.”
Last week, Massillon-Washington High football coach Jason Hall told a local newspaper that he was considering banning Tuberville from recruiting his players. The comments came after Hall said Tuberville pulled a scholarship offer from quarterback Kyle Kempt.
“It was an ugly situation,” Hall explained. “I think they thought [Kempt] was going to go to Tennessee with Butch Jones and they offered another quarterback. But that wasn’t the case. Cincinnati will not be allowed back in Massillon on our campus as long as Jason Hall is in Massillon.”
Massillon-Washington has one of the top high school football programs in the state of Ohio, so souring the relationship between Cincinnati and the school could be bad news for Tuberville. If you remember, this is the same coach who reportedly left Texas Tech recruits in the middle of a recruiting dinner to accept the job at Cincinnati. In terms of likability, it doesn’t sound like Tuberville is off to a tremendous start in his new place of work.
