This is an opinion column.

____________________

The mailbag this week is dedicated to Sen. Tommy Tuberville, the former football coach who is now representing the state of Alabama in Congress. Should Tuberville be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame? The Hall said no, but I gave him the ol’ thumbs up. When it comes to Tubs, things always seem to get complicated.

Jim in Los Angeles writes …

LA resident (thankfully not affected by the fires) and twice Auburn graduate here. Always enjoy your column, but today’s on Tubs was especially interesting. And, I agree with you that he deserves a place in the College Football Hall of Fame regardless of his politics. But I have to add that it is interesting that people with the least knowledge of the facts on the ground related to the LA fires have the loudest and most uninformed opinions.

Josh in Gardendale, Ala., writes …

To quote iconic tennis blabbermouth John McEnroe: “You CANNOT be SERIOUS?!”

Tommy Tuberville succeeded as a college football coach, but a Hall of Famer? Puh-leaze. He belongs in the Hall of Very Good.

I’m not going to get into a side-by-side comparison of Tubs with Shug Jordan and Darrell Royal, largely because those guys coached when regular seasons lasted 10 games, not 12.

Tuberville won 10 games only twice in 21 seasons, despite the longer seasons. Tuberville essentially sabotaged his College Football Hall of Fame candidacy when he left Texas Tech recruits at the dinner table on a Friday night in Lubbock and miraculously resurfaced as the new coach at Cincinnati the next day.

And he never left a program better than he found it — 6-5 in the final season at Ole Miss and sprinting away after his “pine box” comment; leaving Auburn after a 5-7 disaster that ended with a 36-0 beatdown in the Iron Bowl; slinking out of town in the dead of night at Texas Tech; and the 4-8 final season at Cincinnati that ended with five straight losses.

Yes, Tuberville won 60 percent of his games. Yes, he assembled the amazing 2004 undefeated Auburn squad. Yes, he outwitted the Jetgate scandal. But that adds up to the Hall of Very Good, not the Hall of Fame, for the famed Florida Man.

Lawrence in Shelby, Ala., writes …

After making the statement regarding the California wildfires, [Tuberville] should never be in the College Hall of Fame. Those people have suffered all they can. How does he know if any of them voted Republican or Democrat? He does not. And that should never be a maker for who gets help and who does not. What kind of parents raise a child who develops that kind of malice toward fellow Americans.

Need I remind you that when Tuberville won against Alabama it was during some of the worst times for the football program and some of that time was under [Mike] Shula. Shula was never fit to coach at Alabama, and he proved it quickly. So, it’s easy to be a great coach or appear to be when your opponent is lacking in quality players and a good coaching staff.

Kerry in Lakewood Ranch, Fla., writes …

Tubs is as deserving of the Hall of Fame as you are of a Nobel Prize in literature.

Ray in Atlanta writes …

I’ll use your logic on Tommy [Tuberville’s] qualifications for the College Football Hall of Fame and count on your support to get Benito Mussolini into the International Railroad Hall of Fame. Although Benito, like Tommy, was a complete scumbag, Italian trains did run on time while he was Il Duce.

ANSWER: Mussolini didn’t know ball, but the comparison between Tubs and Italy’s most infamous politician since Nero got me thinking. Is it going to take a hard-lining public servant to fix college football?

Way back when college football first began going off the rails, prominent figures in the sport (like SEC commissioner Greg Sankey) didn’t really like the idea of politicians sticking their noses into the business of collegiate athletics. Now guys like Sankey and former Alabama coach Nick Saban believe the only way to fix college football is through government intervention.

I’m starting to believe them.

If Tuberville can save college football from itself, then I’ll personally escort him into the College Football Hall of Fame. Who better than Tubs to be President Donald Trump’s first officially appointed United States Minister of College Football?

First order of business … send Texas and Oklahoma back to the Big 12.

Second on the agenda … outlaw the forward pass.

OK, that might be a bit too extreme, but they tell me conservatism is back in style. I mean, did you see that opening drive by Notre Dame in the national championship game? Talk about making a political statement.

How do you fix college football? The forum is open for debate.

Tubs can begin his reign atop college football by making the sport more transparent. No more hiding behind committees. No more black money. No more shadow collectives. Everything is open to the journalists, including the locker rooms after practices and games.

BE HEARD

Got a question for Joe? Want to get something off your chest? Send Joe an email about what’s on your mind. Let your voice be heard. Ask him anything.

Joseph Goodman is the lead sports columnist for the Alabama Media Group, and author of the book “We Want Bama: A Season of Hope and the Making of Nick Saban’s Ultimate Team.”