Report: Tommy Tuberville expected to announce run for governor of Alabama

Former Auburn head coach Tommy Tuberville is expected to announce his run for governor of Alabama, per the Associated Press‘ Michelle L. Price. Tuberville has been the senior United States senator from Alabama since 2021.

Tuberville, who is a Republican, defeated Democratic incumbent Doug Jones by over 20 points in the 2020 election. He became Alabama’s senior senator in 2023 when Senator Richard Shelby retired.

Tuberville is a member of the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry; Committee on Armed Services; Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions; and Committee on Veterans’ Affairs. Kay Ivey (R) is Alabama’s sitting governor.

She assumed office in 2017 and has been serving since. She is the longest-serving female governor in the nation. She easily won the Republican primary in 2022, reeling in 54.4% of the votes. The next closest candidate was Lynda Blanchard, who received 19.2% of the vote.

Since Ivey is currently in her second term, she won’t be eligible to run for the office again in 2026. Evidently, Tommy Tuberville will seek to replace her.

Before entering politics, Tuberville was a college football coach, most notably serving as Auburn’s head coach from 1999-2008. Tuberville’s best season at the helm of the Tigers was in 2004, when he led the program to a 13-0 record and finished second in the AP Poll.

Tuberville finished his time at Auburn with six nine-plus win seasons and an overall record of 85-40. Prior to his time at Auburn, Tuberville was Ole Miss‘ head coach from 1995-98. He guided the Rebels to a 25-20 record, including an 8-4 mark in the 1997 season.

Tuberville also was the head coach at Texas Tech (2010-12) and Cincinnati (2013-16) during his collegiate coaching career. He is a two-time SEC Coach of the Year (1997, 2004) and won the 2004 AP Coach of the Year Award.

Tuberville has used his time in college athletics to bolster his political authority on the impact of NIL in college athletics. In a radio interview on 100.9’s “The Game with Ryan Fowler” on Wednesday, Tuberville weighed in on the issue of passing NIL legislation at the federal level.

“I think we can get it on the floor, the problem is getting it past a Democrat group that really wants nothing to do with making this country better,” Tuberville said. “They don’t care about college sports or education, they worry about the power that they control in this country. It’s a hard way to go, but if anybody can get it done, it’s President Trump, and hopefully we can have some discussion to get on the right track toward helping the NIL and college sports.”