Auburn’s potential move to the SEC East, an annual offseason talking point that just won’t seem to die, has another public detractor in former SEC coach Tommy Tuberville.

Despite arguments from the school’s current administrators and coach, not to mention former coach Pat Dye, there appears to be little to no momentum for the move within the Southeastern Conference outside of Auburn. You can now count former Auburn and Ole Miss coach Tommy Tuberville among those thinking the move doesn’t need to be made.

In a recent video interview with AL.com, the former leader of the Tigers, he spent 10 years on the Plains as head coach, seemed to take issue with the suggestion that the school has a tougher road now than it had under his watch from 1999-2008.

“When I took over in 1999, I’m looking at the East was very strong,” Tuberville said during the interview. “Steve Spurrier was winning national championships. I come in and look at my schedule and we’ve got Florida on the schedule, we’ve got Georgia on the schedule — at that time the two toughest teams in the conference — and then we had to turn around and play the Iron Bowl and LSU.

“It was very tough. But we didn’t complain about it then. There’s no reason to complain about it now. I don’t think (Auburn moving to the East) will ever happen because you have too much tradition. You got too many things that are set in stone. Nobody likes change in a conference.”

During Tuberville’s first four seasons coaching at Auburn, Florida ranked in the Top 10 every season with the exception of the 2002 season when the Gators were not ranked at all. Auburn went 1-3 against the Gators during that span but did knock off No. 1-ranked Florida in 2001. Georgia was ranked during that entire span and Auburn went 3-1 in the annual series.

The Iron Bowl was even at 2-2 during those years, with Tuberville losing to a Top 10 Alabama team in 1999 but beating another in 2002. LSU was ranked only once in the four-year period and the Tigers went undefeated over the school in Tuberville’s first four seasons.