Former Auburn head coach Tommy Tuberville is known more now for his politics than what he did during his college football coaching career. Unfortunately for Tuberville, his current opinions could be influencing his eligibility for the College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta.
That was the primary focus of AL.com columnist Joseph Goodman's opinion piece titled, "Is Tommy Tuberville getting what he deserves?"
Though Goodman doesn't condone Tuberville's recent comments on the California wildfires, he does recognize the ex-Auburn coach's impact on football in the state of Alabama.
Goodman claimed that Tuberville was the "real" reason the recently retired Nick Saban was hired at Alabama back in 2007.
"Tubs was on the latest ballot along with Nick Saban and Urban Meyer. Saban and Meyer were voted in and Tubs was not. Fair? Not really," Goodman wrote.
"Saban and Meyer were great, but so was Tuberville.
"After all, Tuberville was 4-3 all-time against Saban and 2-1 all-time against Meyer. No other coach can claim winning records against those two titans.
"Tubs is the real reason Alabama hired Saban. At Auburn, Tuberville never lost to Meyer, winning against Florida in back-to-back years."
Tuberville's legacy on the Plains as a coach was bringing AU into the 21st century and establishing a defensive identity for the program that lasted until the Bryan Harsin years. Whatever one thinks about his polarizing political stances, what he did at Auburn was undeniable.
Tuberville figures to continue being a media mainstay with Donald Trump set to retake office. Tuberville has been strongly linked to Trump since his election to the US Senate in 2020.
Even once he's not making headlines far into the future, though, Tuberville will have influenced football in the Yellowhammer State in immeasurable ways given Saban's own coaching legacy.