Tommy Tuberville

Tuberville coached at Hermitage High School in Hermitage, Arkansas to begin his career. Tuberville was an assistant coach at Arkansas State University. He then went through the ranks at the University of Miami, beginning as graduate assistant and ending as defensive coordinator in 1993 and winning the national championship three times during his tenure there (1986–1994). In 1994, Tuberville replaced Bob Davie as defensive coordinator under R. C. Slocum at Texas A&M University. The Aggies went 10–0–1 that season.

Tuberville got his first collegiate head coaching job in 1994 at the University of Mississippi. Despite taking over a Rebels team under severe NCAA scholarship sanctions, he was named the SEC Coach of the Year in 1997 by the AP.

While at Ole Miss, Coach Tuberville became involved in the movement to ban the Confederate flags from the football stadium by requesting that the students quit waving them during the home football games.[7] "We can't recruit against the Confederate flag," was his famous quote regarding the issue.[8] The movement to ban the Confederate flag at Ole Miss was eventually successful.

During his tenure, he acquired the nickname "The Riverboat Gambler" for his aggressive play calling, particularly on fourth down. While at Ole Miss, Tuberville made the statement, "They’ll have to carry me out of here in a pine box," in reference to not leaving to coach at another school. Two days after he made that statement, it was announced that he was departing for Auburn.[9]

Tuberville left Ole Miss following the 1998 regular season to take the head coaching job at Auburn University. During his tenure at Auburn, Tuberville guided the Tigers to the top of the SEC standings, leading the Tigers to an SEC Championship and the Western Division title in 2004. Under his direction, the Tigers made eight consecutive bowl appearances including five New Year's Day bowl berths.

In 2004, Auburn was a perfect 13–0 including the SEC title and a win over Virginia Tech in the Sugar Bowl. Tuberville received Coach of the Year awards from the Associated Press, the American Football Coaches Association, the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association and the Walter Camp Football Foundation.

In 2005, despite losing the entire starting backfield from the unbeaten 2004 team to the first round of the NFL Draft, Tuberville led Auburn to a 9–3 record, finishing the regular season with victories over rivals Georgia and Alabama.

Under Tuberville, Auburn had a winning record against its biggest rival, Alabama (7–3), and was tied with its next two most significant rivals, Georgia (5–5) and LSU (5–5). He led Auburn to six straight victories over in-state rival Alabama, the longest win streak in this rivalry since 1982, the year Auburn broke Alabama's nine-year winning streak.

Tuberville before the 2007 Vanderbilt game, his 100th career win

Tuberville also established himself as one of the best big-game coaches in college football, as his teams won nine of their last 15 games against Top-10 opponents since the start of the 2004 season. In 2006, his Tigers recorded victories over two Top-5 teams who later played in BCS bowls, including eventual BCS Champion Florida. Tuberville had a 5-2 career record versus Top-5 teams, including three wins versus Florida.

However, Tuberville developed a reputation for losing games where he clearly had the better team. Examples include a humbling 24-point loss to a then 4–5 Alabama team in 2001 and a loss to Vanderbilt — the first time Auburn lost to the Commodores in over five decades—. In fact, after dropping three straight SEC games in 2003, Auburn booster Bobby Lowder, along with Auburn's president and athletic director, contacted then Louisville head coach Bobby Petrino to gauge his interest in taking the Auburn job if Tuberville was fired. The press found out about the meeting, which occurred just prior to the 2003 Alabama game, and the episode has since been referred to as "JetGate."[10][11][12]

Tuberville coached 19 players who were selected in the NFL draft, including four first-round picks in 2004, with several others signing as free agents. He coached eight All-Americans and a Thorpe Award winner (Carlos Rogers). Thirty-four players under Tuberville were named to All-SEC (First Team). Eighteen players were named All-SEC freshman. His players were named SEC player of the week 46 times. He also had two SEC players of the year and one SEC Championship game MVP.

Tuberville fired offensive coordinator Tony Franklin on October 8, 2008. After the 2008 season, with a 5–7 record including losses to Vanderbilt, West Virginia, and a final 36–0 loss to Alabama, he was asked to resign from Auburn.[13] Auburn athletic director Jay Jacobs claimed that Tuberville voluntarily resigned. Jacobs added: "To say the least, I was a little shocked. But after three times of asking him would he change his mind, he convinced me that the best thing for him and his family and for this football program was for him to possibly take a year off and take a step back."[14] With his departure, Tuberville was paid a pro-rated buyout of $5.1 million. The payments included $3 million within 30 days of his resignation date and the remainder within a year.

Following his departure from Auburn, during the 2009 football season, Tuberville worked as an analyst for Buster Sports and ESPN, discussing the SEC and the Top 25 on various television shows and podcasts.[15] He also made a cameo appearance in the Academy Award-winning feature film The Blind Side.

Tuberville during the 2011 Texas Tech Red Raiders Spring Game

On December 31, 2009, Tuberville expressed interest in becoming the head coach of the Texas Tech Red Raiders football team. The position was left open after the university fired Mike Leach.[16] On January 9, 2010, Tuberville was named head coach and was introduced at a press conference on Sunday, January 10, 2010.[17] On January 1, 2011, Tuberville became the second head coach in Texas Tech football history to win a bowl game in his first season—an accomplishment unmatched since DeWitt Weaver's first season in 1951-52.[18] This was a 45-38 victory over Northwestern in the inaugural TicketCity Bowl.

On January 18, 2011, Texas Tech announced that Tuberville received a one-year contract extension and a $500,000 per year raise. The extension and raise gave Tuberville a $2 million per-year salary through the 2015 season. At the beginning of Tuberville's first year at Texas Tech, season ticket sales increased from the previous record of 30,092 to 46,546.[19] Additionally, Tuberville is responsible for the highest-rated recruiting class in Texas Tech history, securing the 18th-ranked recruiting class in 2011 according to Rivals.com and the 14th-ranked class in the country according to Scout.com.

On November 10, 2012, during a game against the Kansas Jayhawks, Tuberville became involved in a dispute with graduate assistant Kevin Oliver. Tuberville appeared to slap him and knocked off both Oliver's hat and his headset.[20] After the game, Tuberville initially explained the incident by stating that he was aiming for Oliver's shirt in an attempt to pull him off the field.[21] Two days later in his weekly press conference Tuberville apologized, citing his desire to set a better example for his two sons, one of whom was on the team.[22]

While living in Lubbock, Tuberville's wife, Suzanne, ran a red light and crashed into a car injuring an 87 year-old man. The man later died from injuries sustained during the crash.[23] Suzanne was not criminally charged in the matter.[24]However, a claim was filed with her insurance company.[25]

Although Tuberville continued to run Leach's wide-open "Air Raid" spread offense, he was never really embraced by a fan base still smarting over the popular Leach's ouster.[26] Tuberville's reputation in Lubbock was sealed when he departed a recruiting dinner mid-meal to travel to Cincinnati, never to return, and leaving behind bewildered recruits.[27] This followed the pattern of his previous exit from Ole Miss, which he left for Auburn a week after stating he'd only be carried out "in a pine box."[9] Tuberville left Texas Tech with an overall record of 20–17 and 9–17 in Big 12 conference play.

On December 8, 2012, Tuberville resigned as head coach at Texas Tech in order to become the 38th head coach at the University of Cincinnati. He signed a $2.2 million contract to coach the team.[28][29] Cincinnati's athletic director, Whit Babcock, had previously worked with Tuberville at Auburn; the two have been friends for several years.[30] On December 9, an article in the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal pointed out that Cincinnati is only 30 miles from Guilford, Indiana, home of Tuberville's wife, Suzanne.[31]

In 2013, his first season with Cincinnati, Tuberville led the Bearcats to an overall record of 9-4 and a 6-2 conference record.[5] His 2014 team was also 9-4 overall, but this time earned an American Athletic Conference co-championship by virtue of their 7-1 league mark.[32] Both years also saw bowl losses, in 2013 to the North Carolina Tar Heels and 2014 to the Virginia Tech Hokies.[33]

On December 4, 2016, after a 4-8 season, resigned as head coach of Cincinnati.[34] Tuberville left Cincinnati with an overall record of 29–22 and 18–14 in AAC conference play.

In April 2019, Tuberville announced he would enter the 2020 Republican primary for the United States Senate in Alabama. The seat is currently held by Democratic U.S. Senator Doug Jones.[40] Former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer is a member of Tuberville's campaign staff.[41] On March 3, 2020, Tuberville finished first in the Republican primary, ahead of former U.S. Senator and former Attorney General Jeff Sessions. On March 10, Tuberville's campaign was endorsed by President Donald Trump.[42] In May 2020, Trump called Sessions "slime" for having recused himself as Attorney General in the Department of Justice investigation into Russia meddling in the 2016 presidential election.[43]

A runoff primary election between Tuberville and Sessions is scheduled for July 14, 2020.[44]