Tuberville's tenure over at Auburn

Coach steps down after going 5-7 in his 10th season with the Tigers

Tommy Tuberville stepped down Wednesday after 10 years as Auburn's coach, a reign that included a perfect season and a string of overachieving teams but ended with the worst record of his tenure.

Tuberville was 85-40 in his decade at Auburn, including a 13-0 season in 2004 when the Tigers finished No. 2 in the nation and won the Southeastern Conference title for the first time in 15 years.

Auburn went 5-7 this year and was routed 36-0 at the end by rival Alabama, ranked No. 1.

"The last 10 years have been a great time in my life, both professionally and personally," Tuberville said in a statement. "It's been a great place to coach and live, and we've had a lot of success along the way. I'm going to remain in Auburn and help the Auburn family however I can. ..."

Tuberville informed the players in a team meeting at the football complex after three days of meetings with Auburn officials. The players were not allowed to speak to the media as they walked out or lingered in the parking lot afterward.

"Tommy and I have had the opportunity to discuss the direction of the program," athletic director Jay Jacobs said in a statement. "Through those discussions, Tommy felt it would be in his and the program's best interest to step aside as Auburn's head football coach."

The Tigers lost six of their last seven games this season after a failed move to the spread offense that was abandoned -- along with first-year offensive coordinator Tony Franklin -- at midseason.

Their first five SEC losses came by a combined 23 points, falling just short of the end zone on final drives against Arkansas and Georgia and twice losing by one point after missed PATs.

WEIS STAYING WITH IRISH: Charlie Weis and his boss discussed the future of Notre Dame football for more than two hours, coming up with a plan to make the Fighting Irish great again.

The plan includes having Weis as the coach of the Fighting Irish for at least one more year.

Athletic director Jack Swarbrick said he decided to allow Weis to return for a fifth season because they agreed on what steps need to be taken to restore the luster to the program.

ACC HONORS: Georgia Tech running back Jonathan Dwyer was named both the ACC's player of the year and its top offensive player on Wednesday in voting by the Atlantic Coast Sports Media Association.

Dwyer led the league in rushing with an average of 110.7 yards per game as the featured back in first-year coach Paul Johnson's spread-option offense.

Dwyer received 30 of 67 votes for the overall honor, with Florida State defensive end Everette Brown finishing with nine votes and N.C. State redshirt freshman quarterback Russell Wilson receiving eight.

Boston College linebacker Mark Herzlich was the ACC's defensive player of the year.

CLEMSON HEADED TO GATOR BOWL: The Gator Bowl invited the Clemson Tigers (7-5) on Wednesday to play in the New Year's Day bowl.

Clemson appears set to play Nebraska (8-4). Bowl officials wouldn't confirm that, but hundreds of Huskers fans have booked flights and hotels in Jacksonville, Fla., and Tigers coach Dabo Swinney let it slip that he was excited to take on "a great opponent like Nebraska."

In other bowl news:

* No. 15 Georgia Tech (9-3) accepted an invitation to Atlanta's Chick-fil-A Bowl, staying at home to face a Southeastern Conference team on New Year's Eve.

* Southern Miss (6-6) accepted an invitation to play in the Dec. 21 New Orleans Bowl and will play the winner of Saturday's Sun Belt Conference championship game between Troy and Arkansas State.

* Rice (9-3) will play in its hometown of Houston in the Dec. 30 Texas Bowl.

BASKETBALL

WAKE FORWARD INELIGIBLE: Wake Forest forward Jamie Skeen will not return for the spring semester, after he was declared ineligible for the fall semester for violating the school's academic policy.

Skeen averaged 5.6 points and 4.1 rebounds in 29 games last season.