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CINCINNATI (AP) — Tommy Tuberville resigned as Cincinnati's coach on Sunday after his first losing season in four years with the Bearcats.
Cincinnati ended the season with five straight losses and a 4-8 record, missing out on a bowl appearance for the first time in Tuberville's tenure. Before the season, the Bearcats gave Tuberville a two-year extension that took him through 2019.
"I am not done coaching, and I look forward to my next challenge," he said in a statement.
It would have cost the school $2.4 million to fire Tuberville. The coaching change comes at the end of a season that was disappointing in many ways, including the Big 12's decision not to expand. The Bearcats are hoping to move out of the American Athletic Conference.
The 62-year-old Tuberville left Texas Tech in December 2012 to take over a Cincinnati program that had reached its high mark under previous coaches Brian Kelly and Butch Jones. Tuberville led Cincinnati to 9-4 finishes in each of his first two seasons, sharing the American Athletic championship with a 7-1 mark in 2014.
The Bearcats slipped to 7-6 the following year and then fell apart on offense this year, going through three quarterbacks without success. They were outscored 112-26 during a four-game stretch late in the season, leaving them out of bowl consideration for the first time since 2010. They fell to Tulsa 40-37 in overtime in their final game.
During Tuberville's tenure, the Bearcats lost all three of their bowl games in blowouts — 39-17 to North Carolina in the Belk Bowl, 33-17 to Virginia Tech in the Military Bowl and 42-7 to San Diego State in the Hawaii Bowl.
Tuberville also has been coach at Mississippi and Auburn.
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