Sports are so deeply ingrained in American culture that it only feels natural for a pipeline to politics to emerge, for better or worse.
A large part of being a college coach is politicking, whether that’s maintaining relationships with boosters and recruits or getting up to the podium and delivering stump speeches at press conferences every week. Some Arkansas fans liked to joke that recently fired football coach Sam Pittman’s lovable personality could have made him a hell of a governor, and Razorback basketball coach John Calipari’s polished speeches and fancy suits certainly give the appearance of a seasoned politician.
At Auburn, however, those jokes have become reality. Alabama’s senior United States senator is former Tiger head coach Tommy Tuberville. Recently retired Auburn basketball coach Bruce Pearl has been a vocal supporter of the “MAGA” movement and has made numerous appearances on Fox News to weigh in on current events – so much so that he had to clarify that he wasn’t running for office when he stepped down last month.
Tuberville plans to run for Alabama governor next year ahead of his Senate term ending in 2027. Who will step up to replace him? The demagogue of sports in the Southeastern Conference, Paul Finebaum, apparently.
It’s easy to see how, in a different timeline, a similar scenario could be playing out in the state of Arkansas. Tuberville is from Camden, and attended Southern State College (now known as Southern Arkansas University) in Magnolia. He started his coaching career in The Natural State at Hermitage High in the 1970s, served as an assistant coach at Arkansas State from 1980-84 and then notched a national title in Miami serving as an assistant in 1987 under Arkansas legend Jimmy Johnson.
But it doesn’t end there for the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame inductee. Tuberville also came within a hair of becoming the head coach of the Razorbacks after the 1997 season.
Mike Irwin Treks Down Memory Lane
Arkansas parted ways with head coach Danny Ford in 1997 after he assembled a losing record across five seasons, though he won the SEC West Division outright in 1995. Jack Crowe and interim coach Joe Kines did the same in the three years before Ford’s arrival. The Hogs needed someone to get them back to the glory days of the Frank Broyles, Lou Holtz and Ken Hatfield triumvirate.
The coaching search came down to two Arkansas boys – Tommy Tuberville and Houston Nutt.
Tuberville had put together a 25-20 record in four seasons at Mississippi to add to his extensive resume as an assistant. Nutt, a Little Rock native, had built Murray State into a powerhouse at the Division I-AA (now FCS) level and was just one season into his tenure at Boise State, which had jumped into the Football Bowl Subdivision that year.
John White, who took over as UA chancellor in 1997, essentially assembled a task force of former players to help look for the next football coach. According to Irwin, it was a house divided. A separate source told Best of Arkansas Sports that on the six-person committee, a pair of former All-SWC quarterbacks dug their heels in on their preferred candidates: Quinn Grovey was staunchly pro-Nutt, according to the source, while Bill Montgomery wanted Tuberville. The strong arm of athletics director Frank Broyles ended up tipping the scales.
“Tuberville made a mistake,” Irwin told Hogville on YouTube last week. “He did want this job, but he called Frank back up and said, ‘Look, Ole Miss is offering me more money,’ and Frank said, ‘Goodbye.’ Tuberville sat on that for a while and called him back and said, ‘Hey, I’ll come under the original agreement.’”
It was too late. Broyles had already gone to the players’ committee and decided on Nutt, Irwin said. The Boise State head man had a reputation as an elite motivator and a true players’ coach, so naturally he appealed to the crew of former players.
Tuberville ended up taking the job at Auburn the following offseason, and the rest was history.
Any Razorback Regrets?
In his decade leading the Razorbacks, Houston Nutt compiled a 75-48 record and reached the nine-win mark four times, and 10 wins on one occasion, with two SEC Championship Game appearances.
Despite being picked to finish last in his debut 1998 season, the Hogs went 9-3 and won a share of the division title. Nutt’s tenure included some of the program’s most iconic players in quarterback Matt Jones and the tailback trident of Darren McFadden, Felix Jones and Peyton Hillis.
Meanwhile, down on The Plains, Tommy Tuberville went 85-40 in 10 years, winning nine games or more in half of those seasons. The Tigers won a share of the SEC West on four occasions, including a 13-0 campaign in 2004 that ended with Auburn ranked No. 2 i n the AP Poll. Tuberville’s squad was controversially left out of the BCS National Championship between USC and Oklahoma, a win the Trojans later had to vacate, leaving the sport without a champion for that season. AU claims the 2004 national title, and probably rightfully so.
In 2002, current Arkansas interim coach Bobby Petrino served as Tuberville’s offensive coordinator during a 9-4 campaign that saw the Tigers finish second in the West. Nutt’s Razorbacks blew out Auburn in Jordan-Hare Stadium 38-17, and that head-to-head tiebreak put Arkansas in the SEC title game that year (Alabama was ineligible due to probation).
Despite unremarkable stints at Texas Tech and Cincinnati after being fired in 2008 and leaving The Plains, Tuberville undoubtedly achieved more than Nutt did during their time as head coaches in the SEC. But would Arkansas go back on this decision if a time machine presented itself? Probably not.
Even after leaving for Mississippi after the 2007 season, Nutt has been a vocal proponent of the Razorbacks since he left coaching in 2011. He lives in The Natural State, and makes regular appearances on Arkansas radio airwaves, as well as other events such as the Little Rock Touchdown Club. Nearly three decades later, his iconic “there ain’t but one Razorback” speech still echoes around Fayetteville – so much so that many are clamoring for him to be the program’s next AD.
Arkansas fans can only hope the next Head Hog is successful enough to spur a career in politics in The Natural State.
But Petrino, the current leading candidate for that position, once tried to stick a knife in Tuberville’s back down at Auburn.
Bobby’s Betrayals: A Lengthy Saga
Even outside of that infamous motorcycle wreck, Petrino’s decades of coaching success have been marred by numerous incidents of conniving and plotting. Becoming Arkansas’ interim coach isn’t the first Game of Thrones style coup he’s tried to pull off.
Petrino arrived at Auburn after leaving his post with the Jacksonville Jaguars without telling head coach Tom Coughlin. After the 2002 season, he left the Plains to begin his first stint as the head coach at Louisville. Before the end of his first regular season there, though, Petrino secretly interviewed for the Auburn job while Tuberville was on the hot seat with a 6-5 record heading into the Iron Bowl. He did so without Tuberville’s or the Louisville athletic director’s knowledge.
“They’re probably going to fire me Monday, so let’s make sure we win this game,” Tuberville confided in offensive coordinator Hugh Nall before the 2003 Iron Bowl. Auburn ended up defending home turf and beating Alabama, a win that saved Tuberville’s job.
Petrino vehemently denied the meeting ever taking place until evidence and pressure from reporters forced his hand. Sound familiar?
He stayed at Louisville for a few more years before taking a stab as an NFL head coach with the Atlanta Falcons. He left to take the Arkansas job before even finishing his first season in charge, notifying his players via a letter. One player called him a “coward,” and defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer tabbed him a “gutless bastard.”
Even after all of that, Louisville and Arkansas both ended up bringing him back for second stints. Two decades later, Petrino is back on the sidelines as the head coach of the Razorbacks to face off against Auburn, and he’ll do so against another embattled coach with a checkered past.
Petrino pulling out a win on Saturday would likely be the final nail in Freeze’s coffin while also going a long way in strengthening his own case to become the full-time head coach. Nostalgia is a powerful drug, especially with how the Arkansas offense has been humming this season.
The 64-year-old has said all the right things at the podium over the last two years, and has made his interest in the Arkansas job — and correcting his past wrongs — very clear.
But who’s to say Petrino won’t entertain other opportunities this offseason? Especially if Arkansas bides its time in vetting other candidates before falling back on removing his interim tag. You can bet some folks in Auburn would trade his offense for Freeze’s in a heartbeat, and a number of other programs around the country could use the jumpstart he’s given the Hogs the last couple weeks.
There’s a quarter century of evidence of Petrino being a cutthroat opportunist. Don’t say we didn’t warn you.
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Mike Irwin discusses Tommy Tuberville and Houston Nutt around the 19:00 mark:
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