Tommy Tuberville resigns as Cincinnati's head coach

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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