When Ole Miss coach Tommy Tuberville was being mentioned as a possible candidate to fill a vacancy at SEC rival Auburn in 1998, he assured Rebels fans that he wasn't going anywhere.
"They'll have to carry me out of here in a pine box," Tuberville said.
He took the Auburn job two days later.
Tuberville coached 10 seasons at Auburn, winning 85 games and an SEC title in 2004, when the Tigers finished a perfect 13-0.
Tuberville was forced out after the 2008 season, spent a season out of coaching and then resurfaced at Texas Tech, where he replaced the popular Mike Leach. After three so-so seasons with the Red Raiders, Tuberville unexpectedly left to take a job at Cincinnati in December 2012.
According to published reports, Tuberville was having dinner with Texas Tech recruits in Lubbock, Texas, when he accepted the Cincinnati job.
Tuberville later denied the report, but a junior college recruit who was at the dinner told a Texas Tech recruiting site: "The waitress brought our food out, and we thought [Tuberville] went to the bathroom, but he never came back to dinner. Then next thing I know, the next day, he made an announcement that he's going to Cincinnati."
Talk about a dine and dash.
Gary Andersen's stunning decision to leave Wisconsin to become Oregon State's coach on Wednesday is the latest in a long string of surprising coaching moves. It's the second time the Badgers have been caught with their pants down recently; former Wisconsin coach Bret Bielema unexpectedly left for Arkansas in December 2012.
Andersen's departure might be even more surprising, however, as he'd coached at Wisconsin for only two seasons. He went 19-7, guided the Badgers to a Big Ten West Division title this season and seemed like the perfect fit. At Oregon State, Andersen replaces Mike Riley, who abruptly left for Nebraska after coaching the Beavers for 14 seasons in two different stints. Riley took the Nebraska job without ever going to Lincoln.
In Madison, having two coaches leave for what might be regarded as lesser programs has to have Wisconsin fans wondering if it is still a destination job.
"The last two coaches have proven that," Wisconsin athletic director Barry Alvarez said. "It wasn't a destination job for them, but it was for me and it is for [basketball coach] Bo Ryan. Everybody is a little bit different. I don't worry about that.
"We've got a good job, we've got a good place, we've got a consistent program. We've got a lot to sell. I'm not trying to paint any other picture other than a very positive picture, because it is positive."
Over the years, college football fans have learned to never become completely comfortable with their coaches because we never know what they're going to do. In a lot of ways, coaches are part of a unique breed. Whether it's because of more lucrative contracts, family considerations or rifts with their athletic directors, many coaches have jumped for jobs that left us scratching our heads.
After coaching only two seasons at Alabama, Dennis Franchione left for Texas A&M after the 2002 season. After agreeing to coach the Aggies, Franchione never returned to Alabama and broke the news to his players there via video teleconference.
Other moves have surprised us: Tom O'Brien went from Boston College to NC State; Tim Murphy left Cincinnati for Harvard (and it worked!); and Mike Price went from Washington State to Alabama to UTEP -- with a stop in between in Pensacola, Florida. (Sorry, I couldn't resist.)
In 2007, Houston Nutt guided Arkansas to a 50-48 upset of No. 1 LSU in triple-overtime. A week later, he resigned as the Hogs' coach and accepted the Ole Miss job four hours later.
"You know the old metaphor," then-Ole Miss AD Pete Boone said at the time. "When you smell blood you need to go and find out if you can get the job done."
Shortly after Clemson coach Danny Ford was forced to resign under pressure after the NCAA accused the Tigers of committing 14 rules violations in January 1990, Arkansas coach Ken Hatfield took the job without even visiting the Clemson campus. Hatfield had a 55-17-1 record at Arkansas, his alma mater, and guided it to back-to-back Southwest Conference championships in 1988-89.
Hatfield made his abrupt decision shortly after legendary Hogs coach Frank Broyles had signed a five-year extension to remain as Arkansas' athletic director. When Sports Illustrated later asked Hatfield if Broyles' meddling led to his surprising departure, Hatfield said: "His name is on the building down there. Let that be my answer."
The sudden change came so late that Arkansas didn't have time to attract a high-profile replacement. Broyles was left in such a bind that he ordered assistant AD Terry Don Phillips to the airport in Fayetteville, Arkansas, to pull offensive coordinator Jack Crowe off a plane. Instead of going to Clemson with Hatfield, Crowe was named his replacement at Arkansas.
Crowe's teams went a combined 9-14 in his first two seasons at Arkansas, and then he was infamously fired after losing to The Citadel in the season opener in 1992, the Hogs' first year in the SEC.
Hatfield went 32-13-1 in four seasons at Clemson from 1990 to 1993, but was never considered as good as Ford, who led the Tigers to the 1981 national championship. When Hatfield resigned after an 8-3 season in 1993 (with three years left on his contract), he said he and his wife "leave behind much disappointment. Disappointment in the so-called fans who did not support their team. We're also disappointed in several people who work here at Clemson who worked against us."
In 2006, Todd Graham, who had replaced Hatfield at his next stop, Rice, led the Owls to their first bowl game since 1961. He signed a contract extension on Jan. 9, 2007, and was announced as the new Tulsa coach on Jan. 12, saying, "That was my dream, I wanted to be head coach at Tulsa."
Graham left Tulsa for Pitt after four seasons, saying, "I've spent my whole life working to get this job. This is the best job I've ever had."
At the end of the Panthers' 6-6 season, Graham lashed out at three assistants who left to join Rich Rodriguez's staff at Arizona, calling them "nothing but mercenaries."
Two weeks later, and just 11 months after taking the Pitt job, Graham found a new dream job.
He headed to the Southwest like the other mercenary coaches, taking over at Arizona State. On his way out of Pittsburgh, Graham would not return athletic department phone calls and refused to speak when an official came to his door. He informed his Pitt players of his departure via text message to his director of football operations.
Sometimes, it's the moves that coaches don't make that leave us second-guessing them. On Christmas Day 1995, then-Kansas coach Glen Mason made the stunning announcement that he wouldn't be leaving for Georgia, after agreeing to become the Bulldogs' coach a week earlier. Then-UGA athletic director Vince Dooley hired Marshall's Jim Donnan later that day.
In 1997, Northwestern coach Gary Barnett turned down an offer to replace fired Texas coach John Mackovic. Barnett left the next year for Colorado, where he replaced Rick Neuheisel, who had unexpectedly departed for Washington. Washington wooed Neuheisel with a $1 million annually salary, which at the time made him one of the five highest-paid coaches in the country.
The Longhorns ended up hiring North Carolina's Mack Brown, who went 158-48 in 16 seasons and won the 2005 national championship.
In 2006, UAB reached an agreement with Jimbo Fisher to become its new football coach. But the University of Alabama System board of trustees nixed the deal, and Fisher, who was then an LSU assistant, went to Florida State as offensive coordinator the next season.
"Somebody made a decision," Fisher told reporters in January, before the Seminoles defeated Auburn 34-31 in the BCS National Championship. "It's funny in this business. You coulda went here. You coulda went there. Luckily, I'm glad they made that decision."
So is FSU, which tabbed Fisher to replace Seminoles head coach Bobby Bowden in 2010. After delivering a title last season, Fisher now has the Seminoles in the inaugural four-team College Football Playoff. Meanwhile, UAB shut down its football program last week.
Talk about rewriting history.