AU Perspective: A Tale of Two Paychecks (for not working)

Campaigns based on punishing public employees for their thoughts inevitably run up a tab taxpayers must bear. Coach Tommy (TuberGrubber) Tuberville built his post‐football fortune on an AU paycheck for not coaching. His social media feed is now busy building another paycheck for not teaching. Long time readers may recall Auburn's politburo does not pay these tabs; productive (non‐parasitic) Alabama taxpayers pay them. Little wonder why last year's $228 million in college coach buyouts is attracting more investigation.

'Goal' Posts triggering Auburn Lawsuit Cost

On [9-10-2025] political activist Charlie Kirk was assassinated at Utah Valley University. Within five days [9-15-2025] Tuberville reached for his phone. Coach evaluated Professor Marjean Corkran [Enterprise State Community College] with, "It's absolutely disgusting and has no place in Alabama. She should never be allowed to teach in public education again." Two days later [9-17-2025] AU announced terminations. Coach Tuberville thanked Auburn the same day on X for scoring Goals. "Thank you, @AuburnU, for taking action and FIRING these sick people who mocked the assassination of Charlie Kirk. They have NO PLACE in our state's public education system."

AU's prevaricating, post‐literate administrators on Samford Hall had already interrogated Candice Hale on [9-11-2025] the day after Kirk's murder and the day she made her Facebook post. The Senator's posts ratified goals AU had pre‐emptively performed.

The English Instructor Still on Payroll

Link to the OpenAlabama portal and pull payroll for "Candice Hale." She is on every AU pay run from [10-15-2025] through [3-31-2026] drawn on Auburn's Main Campus Unrestricted funds, marked "9 Month Faculty." Auburn's [9-17-2025] announcement "terminating the employment" of these individuals was received (with politically useful imprecision) by the politburo as "no longer employed." Coach Tuberville's thank‐you note on X cheerfully picked up the implication. The English Instructor is still on the Auburn payroll, still drawing her contractual salary and now suing President Roberts and five named administrators in federal court for First Amendment violation likely to cost orders of magnitude more than Hale's wages. Hale may 'regret only having ONE' violation to discipline Auburn University.

Hale v. Stewart, et al filed 10-17-2025 names AU President Christopher Roberts, Behavioral Threat Assessment Coordinator Chris Hardman, AVP Campus Safety and Compliance Clarence JC Stewart, Director of Compliance, Investigations and Security Scott Forehand, Liberal Arts Dean Jason Hicks, and Senior HR manager Tami Poe. The legal question: can a public university, on the day a faculty member posts an opinion on Facebook about the murdered Charlie Kirk, convene a meeting at which an Auburn threat‐assessment officer asks whether she owns "any weapons or intent to harm anyone who is a member of Auburn's Turning Point USA chapter," then offer her a 21‐day severance window with the implicit threat refusing will produce a worse outcome.

The Coach Paid NOT to Coach

Let's recap the financial origin. On 12-3-2008 Coach Tuberville quit Auburn after a 5‐7 season. His contract paid millions for being fired and nothing for quitting. AD Jay (TicketGate) Jacobs cut him a $5.08 million check anyway, and the TuberGrubber cashed it. Some may recall: https://www.alabamagazette.com/story/2023/08/01/opinion/two-faced-senator-teletubby/2612.html

Tommy built his post‐football wealth on the principle Auburn football coaches are entitled to be paid for doing nothing; now seeking the Governor's mansion on the principle an Auburn English instructor has no such entitlement. The Teletubby (not sure which, some say Laa-Laa; others Tinke-Winkie; I guess Dipsy) being paid not to coach is currently on TV asking voters to be furious about an English Instructor being paid not to teach. Sound familiar? ...like feigning concern for secure elections while voting in Florida claiming Alabama residency.

Constitution(s) Tommy Failed to Read/Understand

The Eleventh Circuit and SCotUS answered this legal question decades ago in Pickering v. Board of Education [1968], Garcetti v. Ceballos [2006] and every circuit decision since on a public employee's right to speak on matters of public concern. Assassination of a national political figure clearly applies. AU's 9-11-2025 threat‐assessment interview was a viewpoint test administered by an HR apparatus asserting itself as a soviet political commissariat, increasingly more commonplace in Lee County where the spirit of I believe in Felon Hubbard is alive and well.

Auburn faces civil jeopardy under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, including conspiracies among public officials acting under color of law and criminal exposure under 18 U.S.C. § 242 which attaches to every public official in the chain. AU trustees, if they indemnify and shield the conspiracy by ratification rather than discipline, may find their own names on the federal court docket. Long time readers know this is the cost AU has been racking up for two decades of "judge, jury, and executioner" personnel practice. The Auburn Creed becomes the Auburn Greed every time malicious AU administrators decide a faculty member's First Amendment rights are inconvenient.

Coach Tuberville's own paper trail of public speech is far more extensive than Hale's - e.g., a 2023 radio interview, when asked about allowing white nationalists in the U.S. military, the Senator replied, "Well, they call them that. I call them Americans." The Senator was not interrogated by a threat‐assessment officer, given a 21‐day severance window or removed from the federal payroll. The First Amendment protected him. The Senator's campaign principle is the First Amendment only protects the speech of Senators running for Governor. Furthermore, I doubt TuberGrubber has read, much less understands my [https://www.alabamagazette.com/story/2019/09/01/opinion/im-a-god-supremacist/1732.html] column along with our U.S. Constitution.

Hale drew her contract before Coach Tuberville's social media feed became AU personnel policy. The Senator doesn't campaign on the tab his 'thank‐you tweets' generated for Alabama taxpayers and he'd prefer voters not notice.

From Sunny Florida to Auburn to Tehran

Coach Tuberville plans to relocate from his Santa Rosa Beach estate to satisfy Alabama's seven‐year gubernatorial residency requirement. A respectful suggestion on the destination. The principle Tommy has been campaigning on (the State has legitimate authority to punish public‐employee speech the Senator finds disgusting) is incompatible with the U.S. Constitution but fully compatible with Iran's Sharia penal code - i.e., punishes speech the regime finds disgusting and removes teachers who fail loyalty tests. Tehran would impose no seven‐year residency burden and would welcome the TuberGrubber. Goat Hill, on better days, still operates under the U.S. and Alabama Constitutions, which are higher Constitutional 'barriers to entry' than Tommy's social media feed appears to recognize.

In Closing

Coach TuberGrubber took $5.08 million from AU for not coaching football. Candice Hale has a property right to receive her contractual salary while Auburn's lawyers explain to a federal judge why her viewpoint (not her work) was the cause of separation. Both are paid by AU for jobs neither performs... only one of them is using the comptroller's records to hold Auburn accountable.

The TuberGrubber doth protest too much. So does every politburo member (Red or Blue Jersey) who tells Alabama voters our universities are corrupt because faculty get paid for the labor in their contracts, while the same politburo members write themselves checks for staying home. Comrade Biden, Trump et al soviets perfected the largess at the federal level. Goat Hill's only 'innovation' has been to copy it without finesse.

Pray Ms. Hale prevails. I also pray AU Board members read the U.S. Constitution before the federal judge reads it to them. I further pray, perhaps with diminishing confidence, Alabamians remember the Auburn Creed and the Auburn Greed are not the same document and our U.S. Constitution and Coach Tuberville's social media feed are not the same authority. Deo Vindice.

Postscript

Kudos to the Auburn AAUP chapter, esp. President Beth Davis‐Sramek, for keeping its membership informed throughout the firings and the lawsuit. The AAUP 1940 Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure remains, w.r.t. Auburn, the only document not yet corrupted by Quentin Riggins' BoT. At their 4-17-2026 meeting the Board could ratify the 1940 Statement and adopt the existing Faculty Senate without changes, well within HB580's text and the Alabama Constitution.

John Sophocleus is a retired Ford Motor Company Warranty & Policy Administrator and a retired Auburn University Instructor of Economics. A former Libertarian candidate for Alabama House and Governor, U.S. House District 3 and US Senate candidate, he's also a monthly Alabama Gazette columnist since 2009.

Opinions expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Alabama Gazette staff or publishers.