If ever this state had a football coach who was cut out to be a politician, it was Tommy Tuberville.

He was a man of the people, with friends in high places, low places and everywhere in between. He was smart enough to negotiate lucrative contracts and savvy enough to survive a coup. He ran his football program like a CEO, put together a quality staff, marketed himself and his program brilliantly and may have been more media-friendly than any coach in state history.

He also won plenty of football games, all 13 of them in 2004 alone, but now that his tenure at Cincinnati has ended, it appears his coaching days are over.

So it came as no surprise when word started to circulate over the weekend that the former Auburn football coach was considering a career change - to explore a possible run for governor of Alabama in the next election.

As people who know him told AL.com - and as first reported by Dennis Dodd of CBSsports.com - it appears the coach is serious about testing the water, going so far as to commission a poll to gauge the reaction, as he contemplates his future after football.

The multi-faceted Tuberville will have options, from TV analyst to athletics director, but entering the upcoming wide-open race for governor is especially intriguing.

"This is looking more like a Kentucky Derby than a governor's race," said Marty Connors, the former state Republican Party chairman. "It may be a 20-horse minimum."

Connors said he hadn't heard Tuberville's name floated as a possible candidate, but the lack of an obvious frontrunner for the 2018 election and the prospect of a large field could play into the coach's hands.

"You better be able to raise money yourself, or you better have high name recognition," Connors said. "Tuberville has that."

Like Connors, State Rep. Jack Williams said he wouldn't discount or dismiss the possibility of Tuberville running for governor.

"I think it would be a mistake to say there's no way we would elect a Tommy Tuberville," Williams said.

His reasoning: Power 5 coaches have become powerful politicians and CEOs in their own right, and Tuberville was on the leading edge of that trend.

"His name ID would be high," Williams said. "He'd have the ability to raise money. The fact he's not 'political' may be an advantage, not a disadvantage. I don't know anybody who's working with him, but everybody's talking about it."

A Tuberville candidacy would raise an obvious question. This is a red state in more ways than one. Alabama fans are in the majority. Would enough of them cross football party lines to vote for a former Auburn coach?

Sure, this state did elect former Auburn football player Fob James twice as governor. James won the office as a Democrat in 1978 and as a Republican in 1994, the only person in state history to do so from both major parties, but he was two decades removed from his football days when he first won the office.

Tuberville last coached Auburn in 2008, still supports the Tigers and, unlike James, he beat Alabama six years in a row, seven times in 10 tries, and rubbed his rival's nose in it along the way. Could he run on that record? Would Alabama fans be less likely to hold it against him because, as they like to say, he got the better of a Crimson Tide program weakened by probation?

Would adult voters actually use the Iron Bowl rivalry as a reason to support or oppose a candidate for the state's highest office?

There was a time former Alabama quarterback Bart Starr was considering a run for the U.S. Senate. Connors said he told Starr he couldn't support him for one main reason: Starr scored the winning touchdown for the Green Bay Packers against the Dallas Cowboys in the 1967 Ice Bowl. Connors is a Dallas fan who still swears Starr never crossed the goal line.

Connors was joking in that instance. As for Tuberville's ability to overcome his Iron Bowl finger-wagging and "Fear the Thumb" t-shirts, the self-proclaimed "Alabama guy" Connors said, "There are X number of people who would not vote for an Auburn guy, but those are dumbasses."

It remains to be seen whether Tuberville will throw his hat in the ring, but he may not be the only famous name with Auburn ties to do so.

"Another big name starting to float around is Jimmy Rane," Connors said, although the rumor didn't specify which office the Auburn booster and trustee might seek.

"Yella Fella is a household name," Connors said. "He would be that Trump-type personality who could write that big check and not miss it. ... The conditions are ripe for a person who can raise funds, self-fund or has statewide name identification."

Everyone who's anyone in this state knows Tuberville's name, and he knows how to deliver a message. Gov. Tuberville has a nice ring to it, don't you think? But could he actually go from the People's Champion to the People's Choice?

As Williams said, "It's not a story I would automatically dismiss."