Tommy Tuberville, the Texas Tech coach whose 2012 highlight was slapping the headset off a graduate assistant‘s head, has left the Red Raiders and will be the new coach at Cincinnati.

What’s wrong with this picture? A middle-of-the-pack (fine, “lower middle”) Big 12 coach who previously was successful at Auburn – unbeaten in 2004 – is leaving for a good-but-not-great job in the crumbling Big East?

Maybe Cincinnati was sick of being a “stepping stone” job and wanted an older guy (Tuberville is 58) who would come in and stay for a decade, with no worry he’d leave for a better gig.

The last three coaches the Bearcats have had, Mark Dantonio, Butch Jones and Brian Kelly, left for Michigan State, Tennessee and Notre Dame, respectively. None of them stayed in Cincinnati longer than four seasons.

The Texas Tech AD, Whit Babcock, previously worked with Tuberville at Auburn, and probably would prefer some stability over the next decade, instead of having to deal with the joy of a coaching search every few years.

Related: Tommy Tuberville Knocked His Assistant’s Hat Off