Former Auburn football coach Tommy Tuberville soon will be Republican U.S. Senator from Alabama Tommy Tuberville after Tuesday night’s decisive victory over Democratic incumbent Doug Jones.
Tuberville is the first former Southeastern Conference football coach elected to the U.S. Senate, but will he be the last? Certainly Alabama’s Nick Saban could name the score – he’s proven quite adept at that – in any political realm within the Yellowhammer State, but he provided an emphatic “No” when asked Wednesday during the league’s weekly teleconference if politics could be in his future.
Saban was even laughing at that thought before praising one of his former rivals.
“Tommy has always been someone who I’ve had a tremendous amount of respect for,” Saban said. “We did compete against each other, but we’ve been really good friends for a long, long time, and I’m really happy for him. I think he’ll do a really, really good job.”
Tuberville’s greatest accomplishment may not come politically but by what he did against Saban. As Auburn’s coach from 1999 to 2008, Tuberville went 3-2 against Saban when Saban was at LSU, and the two split Iron Bowl meetings in 2007-08.