if this ever happens you have to update this story. there are several leads in here that have not been confirmed
Longtime athletic director Jay Jacobs' tenure at Auburn Athletics is coming to an end, several sources close to the decision have confirmed / the University announced late Friday afternoon following several days of chatter surrounding the impending decision.
Jacobs, whose term overseeing Auburn's $100 million athletic
Jacob's move, which will be effective at the end of the calendar year, comes after a succession of scandals hit Auburn Athletics over the course of the year, including the retirement of two winning softball coaches accused of inappropriate sexual conduct and the arrest of an Auburn basketball legend turned coach accused of bribery and corruption.
Ahead of the announcement of his resignation, Jacobs tweeted an Auburn Football photo with a caption that read, “It’s great to be an Auburn Tiger!” at 5:01 p.m.
On top of recent scandals, the end of Jacob's tenure as athletic director comes after several years of athletic performance that has failed to live up to the expectations of deep-pocketed athletic boosters and scholarship donors — whose discontent fueled much of the decision calculus leading to Jacobs' stepping down/retirement.
Between the scandals and Auburn Football’s trouble competing with other SEC rivals under head coach Gus Malzahn, donors had begun to question the state of the athletic program that more often than not serves as the public face of the University, with many donors threatening to close the wallets if no changes were made.
Jacobs' retirement/ouster is weeks in the making with Jacobs, President Steven Leath — in his first year as a president — and University trustees ironing out details over the last few weeks. Sources close to the decision have said the decision was there, but the timing has been in flux, continually evolving in recent weeks as small allegations and scandals came to light.
There are lingering questions surrounding Jacobs' depth and breadth of knowledge of any misconduct and improprieties in the two major scandals. He and Auburn Athletics have denied any mishandling of the department, pointing to the softball coaches' resignations and federal prosecutors who have said University administrators weren't involved in nor subjects of the nationwide basketball investigation.
Since August, the University has retained a high-powered Birmingham law firm — Lightfoot, Franklin & White — to serve as an independent third party to investigate the softball program and the basketball program, costing the University thousands in legal fees. The two scandals added to a bill of $2.3 million since 2010.
Allegations of softball coaching staff misconduct
In August, an explosive report from ESPN highlighted an alleged pattern of abuse and sexual harassment by Auburn's softball coaching staff including former head coach Clint Myers and his son, former associate head coach Corey Myers.
A Title IX complaint filed in July by former walk-on pitcher Alexa Nemeth alleged that Clint Myers looked the other way and allowed Corey Myers to pursue "relations with multiple members of the team."
Clint Meyers cut Nemeth from the team in the spring after the end of the 2017 season. She had previously met with Jacobs and executive associate athletics director Meredith Jenkins about the allegations. She and her father have said their complaints were met with responses that ranged from apathetic to “dismissive” and even threatening, Nemeth told The Plainsman in an exclusive interview.
The news of the complaint came just days after Clint Myers abruptly retired. The complaint, written by Wisconsin sports attorney Martin Greenberg, was sent to the University in July, a month prior to Clint Myer's retirement.
But the allegations against Corey Myers dated back to fall 2016. Corey Myers abruptly resigned in March ahead of a road series against Georgia. At the time, Jenkins allegedly "quarantined" the team and tried to force them to delete proof, in the form of cell phone text messages, the complaint and several players said.
The team was threatened with legal action and other retribution if they didn't comply.
The letter, sent to school officials and Gov. Kay Ivey's office after Nemeth filed the Title IX complaint, also lists concerns about a potential cover-up by administrative staff. Nemeth said she had also corresponded with then-President Jay Gogue, administrator Bernard Hill and President Steven Leath.
The Plainsman’s editorial board called for Jacobs to step down or be removed after the softball scandal was first reported.
Auburn basketball associate head coach Chuck Person arrested
Just weeks after the softball scandal broke, federal authorities arrested Chuck Person, a former star Auburn basketball player turned associate head coach who also had a stint in the NBA. The arrest and subsequent charges in federal court stem from a wide-ranging bribery scheme that sent shockwaves across college basketball.
Person is facing bribery, fraud and corruption charges as part of the federal criminal probe into the scheme, which federal prosecutors have said involved top coaches funneling athletes to agents and financial advisers in exchange for monetary bribes.
Days after Person's arrest, Leath, when asked whether he would give a vote of confidence to the athletic director, said he was focused on the serious misconduct charges against the basketball program — not Jacobs’ future.
"I don't have the time or the bandwidth right now to speculate on what might happen in the future," Leath said. "I'm running the university, making sure the students are successful and dealing with these serious misconduct charges."
The hit to the basketball program just weeks after the softball allegations stunned those close to the athletic program. In the days following Person’s arrest, dozens of season ticket holders began requesting refunds, adding to their concern.
Jay Jacobs' time at Auburn
A former walk-on Auburn football player and two-time graduate who played under legendary head coach Pat Dye, Jacobs was selected as Auburn's 14th athletics director in 2004 after serving in the Athletics Department for nearly 20 years as an assistant director, an associate director and a senior associate athletics director.
Having served now as athletic director for 13 years, Jacobs holds the trophy for being the longest serving athletic director still in his position in the cut-through SEC West. Vanderbilt and Kentucky athletic directors David Williams and Mitch Barnhart are the only still-seated athletic directors to have served longer in the SEC.
Earlier this year, he won the Under Armour Athletic Director of the Year Award — the only SEC coach this year to do that.
Jacobs' time at Auburn began during an undefeated football season under former football head coach Tommy Tuberville but was marked with both successes and failures.
In 2008, Tuberville stepped down after a 10-year stint at Auburn that included the 2004 undefeated season and several years during which his team competed for SEC championships.
Jacobs hired Iowa State University head coach Gene Chizik to replace Tuberville. Chizik finished his Iowa State tenure with a career 5–19 record. Auburn fans famously heckled Jacobs upon his arrival at the Auburn airport after the announcement of Chizik’s hiring.
Though Chizik would go on to coach Cam Newton and the Tigers to a national championship in 2010 and win the coach of the year award, he was fired in 2012 after finishing 0–8 in conference play that year.
Chizik and his assistant coaches’ contract buyouts cost the University over $11 million, driving a wedge between Jacobs and boosters and a few trustees who took issue.
The Montgomery Advertiser reported in October 2015 that for years certain boosters had been getting opportunities to buy more tickets to Auburn games than normally allowed for their priority level.
One of those boosters was Jim Cleveland, co-owner of the Moore’s Mill Club in Auburn, who had an extensive business past with Jacobs.
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