Tommy Tuberville

Thomas Hawley Tuberville (born September 18, 1954) is an American politician and retired college football coach who is the senior United States senator from Alabama, a seat he has held since 2021.

Tuberville was born and raised in Camden, Arkansas, one of three children of Olive Nell (née Chambliss) and Charles R. Tuberville Jr. He graduated from Harmony Grove High School in Camden in 1972.

He attended Southern State College (now Southern Arkansas University), where he lettered in football as a safety for the Muleriders and played two years on the golf team.

He received a B.S. in physical education from SSC in 1976.

He then went through the ranks at the University of Miami, beginning as graduate assistant and ending as defensive coordinator in 1993, 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 ("Ole Miss").

He was also the head football coach at the University of Mississippi from 1995 to 1998, Texas Tech University from 2010 to 2012, and the University of Cincinnati from 2013 to 2016.

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.

At Ole Miss, Tuberville became involved in the movement to ban Confederate flags from the football stadium by requesting that the students quit waving them during the home football games.

"We can't recruit against the Confederate flag", he said.

Ole Miss's chancellor, Robert Khayat, ultimately placed a ban on sticks at football games, which effectively banned spectators from waving flags.

During his tenure, Tuberville was known as the "Riverboat Gambler" for his aggressive play-calling, especially on fourth down.

His teams went 1–3 against Arkansas and 2–2 against in-state arch-rival Mississippi State in the annual Egg Bowl game.

After the 1998 regular season ended, Tuberville said, "They'll have to carry me out of here in a pine box", in reference to not leaving to coach at another school.

Less than a week later, it was announced that he was departing for Auburn.

Tuberville left Ole Miss after the 1998 season to take the head coaching job at Auburn University in Alabama.

Before entering politics, Tuberville was the head football coach at Auburn University from 1999 to 2008.

During the 1999 off-season, wide receiver Clifton Robinson was charged with statutory rape of a 15-year-old girl.

Robinson was suspended from the team for five months.

He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and was sentenced to 200 hours of community service.

After the plea deal, Tuberville suspended Robinson for the season opener before allowing him to rejoin the team.

Tuberville won five national Coach of the Year Awards (AP, AFCA, Sporting News, Walter Camp, and Bear Bryant) following Auburn's 13–0 season in 2004, in which Auburn won the Southeastern Conference title and the Sugar Bowl, but was left out of the BCS National Championship Game.

At Auburn, he guided the Tigers to the top of the SEC standings, leading them 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 went 13–0, including the SEC title and a win over Virginia Tech in the Sugar Bowl.

Tuberville received the Associated Press College Football Coach of the Year Award, the American Football Coaches Association, the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association and the Walter Camp Football Foundation.

He earned his 100th career win in 2007.

Tuberville is the only coach in Auburn football history to beat in-state rival Alabama six consecutive times.

In 2008, he was inducted into the Southern Arkansas University Sports Hall of Fame and the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame.

Tuberville first coached at Hermitage High School in Hermitage, Arkansas.

He was an assistant coach at Arkansas State University.

In 2015, he was the president of the American Football Coaches Association.

He worked for ESPN as a color analyst for its college football coverage during 2017.

In his first political campaign, Tuberville won the Republican nomination for the 2020 Senate election in Alabama and defeated Democratic incumbent Doug Jones by over 20 points.

Establishing himself as an ally of President Donald Trump, he was among a group of Republican senators who attempted to overturn Democratic president-elect Joe Biden's victory over Trump in the 2020 presidential election.

Tuberville became Alabama's senior senator in 2023 when Senator Richard Shelby retired.

From February to December 2023, Tuberville blocked all promotions of senior officers in the U.S. military.

This protest of Defense Department policies on abortion delayed the filling of more than 450 senior positions and left the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps temporarily without confirmed top officers.