David Timm never felt it while interviewing at schools in the Big 10. He never felt it at the schools in the Big 12. At Auburn, he felt it in the first five minutes.

Most schools just fly in the candidates. If the interview goes well, if things seem promising, then — for the follow-up interview — they might extend the invitation to your spouse.

That’s what Timm expected when he applied for a job as an assistant professor in the Department of Civil Engineering at Auburn in 2001. That’s how it had been everywhere else. That’s not what he got. 

He knew of Auburn Engineering’s reputation. The National Center for Asphalt Technology was already a household name in engineering circles. The new 1.7-mile test track had just opened. No other college in the country — no other college in the world — offered that kind of resource for research. He knew a little about Auburn football. He also knew he liked the idea of warm weather.

“We flew out of Minneapolis in a blizzard,” said Timm, who earned three civil engineering degrees from the University of Minnesota.

What he didn’t know about was the Auburn Family.

“Auburn was the only school to fly out me and my wife, Jenny, for my first interview. That really made an impression on us — that they were really invested. It really set Auburn apart from the very beginning. We knew it was the place for us pretty much immediately. It was one of those perfect Auburn days — 70 degrees — with all the azaleas out. It really did feel like family. It felt like something we wanted to be a part of.”

Mission accomplished.

Timm thrived — in the lab and in the classroom — logging one professional award after another.

This spring, he was named the chair of civil and environmental engineering, replacing Andy Nowak, who returned to the classroom after spending 11 years as chair.

“I’ve spent my entire career here,” Timm said. “It’s been a thrill.”

But these days — 23 years later — what gets his Auburn heart pumping more than anything has less to do with his new title, and more to do with his son’s.

“Even after taking over as chair,” he said, “I’m much better known on campus now as the father of the new mic-man.”

TIMM THE TOOL MAN

Senior Ben Timm chose mechanical engineering for a lot of reasons. His grandfather was a mechanical engineer. And there was his dad’s influence, of course — weekends spent on building projects, like building a working trebuchet and launching basketballs across the street while his mom and sister were away for dance competitions. And there was the thrill that came from saving his lawn mowing money and starting his own 3D printing business when he was 12 — an idea he got from attending Auburn Engineering’s previous E-Day event.

“I spent a lot of time taking things apart and putting them back together,” he said.

He was good at it. He still is.

In addition to his co-op gig monitoring energy usage for Auburn University Facilities Management and handling trombone duties for the marching band, he spent much of his first three years on campus down in the Design and Manufacturing Laboratory in Wiggins Hall. Now he’s a leader, one of the folks in charge of teaching folks how to machine safely. When he graduates, he’s looking toward a biomedical degree, making custom orthotics for people with disabilities.

“I’ve always liked helping people and I’ve just always liked working with my hands,” he said.

But, as fate would have it — and to the great surprise of most everyone who knows him — these days he’s known less for his hands and more for his voice. Way more.

FROM DRILL BITS TO TWO BITS

The word his dad used — or used to use — to describe his son? “Low-key.”

Not that Ben was a wallflower — nothing like that. He likes to get involved. He knows how to have fun, cut loose and seize opportunities. Take, for fateful example, the opportunity he seized at Neville Arena in January.

During basketball games, the cheerleaders grab placards that spell out “Auburn” — at least all the way down to the “R.” The “N” is reserved for the “celebrity letter holder” — typically an athlete, a former athlete, someone of note. On that day, however, pickins were slim.

“Miss Latisha (Durroh), the cheerleading director, came over to the band and asked ‘Would anyone like to be the celebrity letter holder?’”

Ben’s hand shot in the air.

“I said ‘Yes ma’am! I would love to do that!’ And so she picked me,” Ben said. “I went down the stairs and when that TV timeout came, I got to go out on the floor with the cheerleaders.

“When I put that ‘N’ up, I was like ‘This is the coolest thing I’ve ever done. This is awesome.’ From that moment on, it was like I was chasing that feeling again, of being able to support Auburn and Auburn Athletics in a new, profound way.”

Truth be told, he didn’t have to chase it far. When it came time for razzing opponents and echoing the cheerleaders, Ben already had a reputation for volume.

“When the cheerleaders would do cheers, I would be really loud about it,” he said. “There were a couple times where Dalton turned around and gave me a thumbs up or laughed at it or something like that.”

That would be then Auburn Cheerleading mic-man, Dalton Odom.

“Then one day after one of the games, he came up to me and said ‘Hey, you should try out for this,’” Ben said. “I was like ‘That is exactly what I’m going to do.’”

And he did. He practiced. He put in the work. And on the night of cheerleading callouts back in May, the name they called out after “mic-man” was “Ben Timm.” His dad still finds it hard to believe.

“When I heard him practice his mic-man voice” — his “growl” as David calls it — “I thought, ‘Wow, he may actually have a shot at this.’ It was good. But when he first came and told us about wanting to do it, we were shocked,” David said. “Most people would think of Ben as very even-keeled — what many people might consider a stereotypical engineer: roll up your sleeves, work hard and get the job done. So, the idea that he wanted to be the mic-man, of all things, and have all this attention focused on him during the game, leading people in the cheers and keeping that level of energy up — yeah, it was a shock.”

Ben nods. He understands the wide eyes, he understands the skepticism — at least to an extent.

He understands why sister, Allison, a 2022 Auburn aerospace engineering graduate, nearly dropped the phone when she found out that her little brother, the trombone-playing mechanical engineer, would be calling the shots in the 12th largest college football stadium in the country.

“I didn’t tell Allison I was trying out,” he said. “She’s in Illinois. That was a fun phone call. She wasn’t expecting that.”

But, for Ben, it somehow all seemed perfectly natural. That sense of family his dad and mom, Jenny, a coordinator for the university’s Auburn Cares student support program, first experienced when arriving in Auburn? That sense of belonging? Of being a part of something bigger than yourself? That’s the only feeling Ben’s ever known, he said. And he wanted to know it more.

And, of course, there was 2010. He always brings up 2010.

ALL FOR AUBURN

“I went to Wrights Mill Road Elementary that year, and the cheerleaders would come to my school,” Ben said.

Then someone else started coming — Cam Newton. The eventual Heisman Trophy winner, who went on to lead the Tigers to a national championship, made Wrights Mill Road his go-to destination for community outreach events. He’d show up for pep rallies. The class Christmas card with the photo of Cam on one side? Ben still has it.

“That year, I got to see what it was like being a part of the Auburn Family in just a really powerful way,” Ben said. “But I liked the idea of being able to do that from a different perspective.”

When it came time to practice for his new gig, he returned to the same glorious well. David said he saw his son studying broadcasts of the 2010 season like a coach studies game film, deciding which cheers he would have done in certain situations.

Maybe it’s the engineer in him, he said. The curiosity that had him taking apart laptops and any machine he could get his hands on as a kid. He knew how the Auburn spirit worked on the outside — as a fan, as a student. But after those two minutes as an honorary cheerleader on the floor of Neville Arena, he wanted to learn it from the inside.

And what he learned starting with Auburn football’s 2024 season opener against Alabama State, he wouldn’t trade for the world.

On Aug. 31, Ben had his Hall’s cherry cough drops, he had his cheer cheat sheet and he had a new sense of purpose.

“It was amazing,” he said. “Our fans showed up like they always do. Doing this — being on the other side of things — has been so rewarding. I’m doing it because this is my home, and being able to support it in a new way and give back to basically the family that raised me is just amazing.”

His dad beams. It’s great to be an Auburn Tiger.

And this year, more than ever, it’s great to be a Timm in Auburn.

“Ben and I are both very grateful that we’re simultaneously experiencing such unique opportunities to take a larger role in Auburn’s story, which is now our story,” David said. “I’m getting to play a critical role in the larger enterprise of our department, in the college and in the university, and he’s now a part of something that is so recognizable, something that really impacts the Auburn Family in a positive way.”

In other words, all for Auburn?

Ben smiles.

“Stand up and holler.”