Tommy Tuberville has joked that he is the reason the University of Alabama Crimson Tide hired head coach Nick Saban, but on Tuesday it was Tuberville who was hired for a new job by the people of Alabama.

The former Auburn University head football coach is now Alabama’s junior senator-elect following his rout of U.S. Senator Doug Jones (D-AL) in the 2020 general election.

Naturally, Saban was then asked about the election result in a Wednesday media call; he also responded to a query about whether we could see Saban following Tuberville into the political arena in the future.

“I can answer that part real quick. No,” Saban said with a laugh.

“Tommy’s always been someone who I have a tremendous amount of respect for,” he added. “Yeah, we did compete against each other, but we’ve been really good friends for a long, long time. I’m really happy for him, and I think he’ll do a really, really good job.”

“We’ve always tried to stay out of the political arena here just as a way of the world in coaching profession, but I’m happy to see that he’ll have an opportunity, and I think he’ll do a really good job,” Saban concluded.

Saban did not publicly comment during the ongoing race between Tuberville and Jones. Saban’s only memorable public foray into politics was his endorsement of U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV), his longtime close friend, during an ultimately successful 2018 reelection bid.

Sean Ross is the editor of Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn