Former Texas Tech and current Cincinnati head football coach Tommy Tuberville quietly put to rest a financial scandal by settling a federal lawsuit that accused him of defrauding investors out of more than $1.7 million.
The settlement was approved on Tuesday, October 8, by the U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson in Montgomery, according to court filings obtained by the Associated Press.
However, the terms of the agreement remain undisclosed, and neither Tuberville nor his legal team has publicly commented on the matter.
The lawsuit stemmed from a failed business partnership between Tuberville and John David Stroud, a former securities broker from Lee County, Alabama.
Together, they launched several hedge funds, attracting investors who later claimed they were misled about the funds’ assets, returns, and general financial health.
According to the filings in the case, investors alleged that Tuberville and Stroud misrepresented their ability to generate profits and failed to disclose the associated risks of the ventures.
Tuberville, who left Texas Tech in December to replace Butch Jones as head coach at the University of Cincinnati, was initially one of several defendants in the case.
Over time, however, Stroud’s role in the scheme became the focal point of the investigation.
In May 2012, a Lee County grand jury indicted Stroud on 21 counts of fraud and theft after an extensive probe by the Alabama Securities Commission.
By August, Stroud pleaded guilty to securities fraud and was sentenced to serve 10 years in prison. He was also ordered to pay more than $2.1 million in restitution to his victims.
Tuberville, though never criminally charged, remained entangled in the parallel civil lawsuit filed by disgruntled investors in February 2012.
The case had been scheduled for trial on October 15, with Tuberville listed as the sole remaining defendant following Stroud’s guilty plea.
His attorneys consistently denied that he engaged in any wrongdoing, arguing that Tuberville was not aware of the fraudulent activities Stroud carried out behind the scenes.
“Coach Tuberville did not defraud anyone,” his legal team stated in earlier filings, emphasizing that their client lost money in the failed investments as well.
Despite those assertions, Tuberville’s decision to settle rather than go to trial suggests a pragmatic attempt to move beyond a scandal that could have overshadowed his coaching career.
Settlements in civil cases often allow both parties to avoid the uncertainty of a trial while limiting further public scrutiny.
For Tuberville, who had just taken the helm at Cincinnati, the timing of the resolution helps him refocus attention on football rather than courtroom battles.
In Case You Didn’t Know
- Tuberville won five national coach-of-the-year awards after Auburn’s 13-0 season in 2004, in which the Tigers won the Southeastern Conference title and the Sugar Bowl, but were left out of the BCS National Championship Game.
- In 2025, Tuberville praised Trump’s proposal to have the U.S. take over the Gaza Strip, calling it “a good idea.”
