He really went off and did it.
Tommy Tuberville is almost certainly going to the US Senate next year.
The former Auburn coach moved one step from the Capitol on Tuesday night by winning a run-off for the Republican nomination for Alabama's junior US Senate seat, advancing him to the general election in November.
In his first campaign for political office, Tuberville defeated Jeff Sessions, one of the most established names in Alabama politics. Sessions first rose to statewide prominence in 1981, when he became the US Attorney for the Southern District of Alabama. From there, he became the Attorney General of Alabama, then, in 1997, he joined the Senate. Sessions remained there for the next two decades, before President Donald Trump offered him the US Attorney General post.
Sessions eventually fell out of favor with Trump, creating an opening that Tuberville exploited throughout the campaign.
Tuberville, of course, rose to prominence in Alabama as Auburn's head coach from 1999-08, where he racked up an 85-40 record with one SEC title, at least a share of five SEC West titles, a program-record six straight Iron Bowl wins, and an undefeated season in 2004. Tuberville last coached in 2016, and launched his run for the Senate in August 2018. Tuberville moved from Florida to Alabama to run for the seat.
He will now face off with Doug Jones, who won the race to fill Sessions' vacant seat in 2017 by defeating the highly-controversial Roy Moore, in the process becoming the first Democrat to win an Alabama Senate race in 25 years.
Recent polls have placed Tuberville, in football terms, an 8-10 point favorite to defeat Jones in November.
Tuberville is set to become the first college football coach to ascend to Washington since Tom Osborne. The Hall of Fame coach spent 2001-07 representing Nebraska's 3rd district in the House, but that was the junior chamber of Congress. Tuberville jumped straight into the deep end of the pool, and Tuesday night proved he can swim with the big fishes.
As always, stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.