convinced me that the best thing for him and his family and for this football program was for him to possibly take a year off and take a step back." With his departure, Tuberville was paid a prorated buyout of $5.1 million. The payments included $3 million within 30 days of his resignation date and the remainder within a year. After his departure from Auburn, during the 2009 football season, Tuberville worked as an analyst for Buster Sports and ESPN, discussing the SEC and the Top 25 on various television shows and podcasts. He also made a cameo appearance in the Academy Award-winning feature film The Blind Side. Texas Tech On December 31, 2009, Tuberville expressed interest in becoming head coach of the Texas Tech Red Raiders. The position was left open after the university fired Mike Leach. On January 9, 2010, Tuberville was named head coach and was introduced at a press conference on Sunday, January 10, 2010. On January 1, 2011, Tuberville became the second head coach in Texas Tech football history to win a bowl game in his first season—an accomplishment unmatched since DeWitt Weaver's first season in 1951–52. This was a 45–38 victory over Northwestern in the inaugural TicketCity Bowl. On January 18, 2011, Texas Tech announced that Tuberville received a one-year contract extension and a $500,000 per year raise. The extension and raise gave Tuberville a $2 million salary through the 2015 season. Tuberville is responsible for the highest-rated recruiting class in Texas Tech history, securing the 18th-ranked recruiting class in 2011 according to Rivals.com and the 14th-ranked class in the country according to Scout.com. On November 10, 2012, during a game against the Kansas Jayhawks, Tuberville became involved in a dispute with graduate assistant Kevin Oliver. Tuberville appeared to slap him and knocked off both Oliver's hat and his headset. After the game, Tuberville initially explained the incident by stating that he was aiming for Oliver's shirt in an attempt to pull him off the field. Two days later, in his weekly press conference, he apologized, citing his desire to set a better example for his two sons, one of whom was on the team. Although Tuberville continued to run Leach's wide-open "Air Raid" spread offense, he was never really embraced by a fan base still smarting over Leach's ouster. According to a student on a recruiting trip to Texas Tech, Tuberville departed a