Tommy Tuberville is now a U.S. Senator. On Tuesday, the former college football coach won the U.S. Senate seat in Alabama by defeating Sen. Doug Jones. According to CNN, Tuberville “portrayed himself as a close ally of President Donald Trump on the campaign trail” and promised to “stand with President Trump” to deliver on agendas such as cutting taxes.
Jones won the seat in 2017 in a special election against Roy Moore. CNN mentioned that Jones was “considered the most vulnerable incumbent facing reelection in 2020.” It was listed as one of the 10 senate seats likely to flip. Tuberville announced he would be running for Senate in April 2019 and advanced in the general election when he defeated Jeff Sessions in a GOP primary runoff. Tuberville, 66, will assume office in January.
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Tuberville spent 21 seasons as a college football coach but spent most of his time at Auburn (1999-2008). As the Tigers head coach, Tuberville posted an 85-40 record and led the team to an undefeated season with a No. 2 ranking in 2004. The team never played for a national title due to the BCS rankings picking USC and Oklahoma.
“Guys, what you did was unbelievable,” Tuberville said to his team after beating Virginia Tech in the Sugar Bowl in 2005, “but what you did will change football. It’s going to change. This is not going to happen again. They’re not going to let it happen again.” Tuberville told the Opelika-Auburn News in 2014 that his team deserved to play for a national championship.
“You’re supposed to earn it. I would say that these guys earned it, especially after USC got caught with their hand in the cookie jar, and they took it away from them,” he said. “And we finished second (in the polls). There was no doubt that we were as good as USC because we had the type of players it took to beat them. It wasn’t much of a contest with Oklahoma.”
Tuberville also coached at Ole Miss (1995-98), Texas Teach (2010-12) and Cincinnati (2013-2016). In his career, Tuberville posted a 159-99 record. He was named SEC Coach of the Year in 1997 and 2004 and led Auburn to five SEC Western Division titles and one conference championship.
