Tommy Tuberville says Lubbock, Texas looks like Siberia

He was Texas Tech’s head coach for three seasons.

Tommy Tuberville’s had a winding college football coaching career. In the history books, he’ll probably be best known for his decade in charge at Auburn. He was also the coach for four years at Cincinnati before stepping down after last season, and he was recently in the news for flirting with (and passing on) a gubernatorial run in Alabama.

Sandwiched in the middle of Tuberville’s head coaching career: three years at Texas Tech, from 2010 to 2012. How’s Tuberville feel about Lubbock, Texas, the home of the Red Raiders? He waxed nostalgic about it in a radio interview this week.

“You run me off at Auburn and you ship me to Lubbock, Texas,” Tuberville told the Rick & Bubba radio show, via 247Sports. “I’m going to tell you what; that’s like going to Siberia. Somebody asked me, ‘What’s Lubbock look like?’ It looked like Iraq.”

He reportedly added: “Well, I love those people out there.”

Lubbock’s among the most remote college towns in the Football Bowl Subdivision. Located in West Texas, it’s hours from all of the Lone Star State’s major cities, and it’s also not close to the population centers in any neighboring states. It is not a literal war zone or a frigid Russian province in Northern Asia.

Refer to the pin on this map. That’s Lubbock:

Tuberville visited Iraq in 2008, as part of a trip to see U.S. military personnel with other coaches.