Kalen DeBoer didn’t have the best debut season in Alabama. 9-4. Missed the playoffs. Sitting on a hot seat. He didn’t need to be reminded. But fate has other plans. 

The dig was quite unexpected. Kalen DeBoer just wrapped up a trip to Washington, D.C. with Alabama AD Greg Byrne, school president Stuart R. Bell, and a few student-athletes. The group was in town for “College Sports Day” trying to rally support for national NIL legislation. All pretty standard until… Guess who ends up playing host?

Senator Tommy Tuberville. Yep. The former Auburn head coach. The man who once lived for beating Bama. Now shaking hands with the Crimson Tide brass inside his office on Capitol Hill. On April 9, he gladly tweeted about it while throwing in some shade. “Enjoyed meeting with President Bell, Coach DeBoer, AD Byrne, and student-athletes from @UA_Athletics today to recap their excellent seasons and look ahead to the 2025-26 year,” he wrote. “Glad to be on the same team in rooting for our state’s educational success, but I did enjoy showing them my painting of some of my favorite scenes from when I coached at Auburn.” The man’s still got orange and blue running through his veins. 

Sen. Tuberville went 7-3 against the Tide in his 10 seasons at Auburn from 1999-2008. During that stretch, he also won six straight Iron Bowls from 2002 to 2007. That streak still lives rent-free in his head and, clearly, in his Capitol office. Now, if this was the first time Tommy Tuberville stirred the pot, maybe you’d let it slide. But he’s been chirping at Kalen DeBoer since last fall.

In November 2024, the US senator from Alabama made headlines with some pointed comments after Alabama’s wild 41-34 win over Georgia in Week 5. “I’ve never seen Alabama play on that level,” he told AL.com. “They look like they’re 10 feet off the ground above Georgia the whole first half, and then it just totally flipped.” But, well, there’s heavy stuff that follows.

Kalen DeBoer’s not the only target for Sen. Tommy Tuberville 

Again, in late November 2024, Senator Tommy Tuberville dove headfirst into the NIL conversation, speaking at the Monday Morning Quarterback Club. He suggested that student athletes should face penalties if they break their NIL deals. “I’m not against players making money, but we got to have some kind of penalty for players breaking contracts,” he said per AL.com’s Michael Casagrande’s report. “But my thoughts are, you know, you sign a contract on NIL, I mean you can’t just up and break it.” 

That take didn’t sit right with folks who know how NIL actually works. Most of those contracts are tied to deliverables — like social media posts or appearances — and if a player stops fulfilling them by transferring or underperforming, for instance, the money stops. Lawyers call it “expectations damages,” like coaching buyouts. The same kind that Kalen DeBoer’s Bama buyout paid Washington $12 million for. And if there’s a breach, the court can handle it. 

So yeah, Tommy Tuberville is making headlines — only now, it’s with NIL hot takes and Auburn nostalgia, not Xs and Os. And as for Kalen DeBoer and co., they just keep smiling through the dilemmas and trolls. It’s safe to say the rivalry hasn’t cooled one bit — it’s just moved from the sidelines to the Senate.