‘Lou Saban?!’: Trump Roasted for Fumbling the Name of Legendary Alabama FB Coach on Eve of State’s Primary

Joe DePaoloJul 14th, 2020, 9:18 am
 

SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images

Last November, President Donald Trump was met with thunderous cheers when he entered Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, AL to watch Alabama take on rival LSU. The football-mad crowd gave the president a raucous ovation upon his arrival. But Trump might get a different reception if he were to ever go back, after botching the name of the school’s legendary head coach.

According to Alabama.com, the president twice fumbled the name of the Crimson Tide’s five-time championship winning head coach during a conference call Monday. Trump was on the call in support of the senate candidacy of Tommy Tuberville — himself a noted football figure in the state, having coached at Auburn for a decade. The president was extolling Tuberville’s gridiron virtues when he erroneously referred to Alabama’s storied coach as “Lou Saban.”

“Really successful coach,” Trump said, speaking about Tuberville. “Beat Alabama, like six in a row, but we won’t even mention that. As he said … because of that, maybe we got ‘em Lou Saban. … And he’s great, Lou Saban, what a great job he’s done.”

Alabama’s coach, as even the most casual of football fans know, is actually named Nick Saban. He took over at the school at 2007, and has since racked up five national titles and six SEC crowns.

Lou Saban, for the record, was himself a football coach — albeit one of far less renown than Nick. Lou coached at colleges including Maryland and Miami, and in the NFL for Buffalo and Denver, in a career that spanned more than five decades. But his last major coaching job came more than three decades ago, and he died in 2009.

The most logical candidate to seize upon the faux pas was CNN White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins — a graduate of the University of Alabama. Collins called the slight of Nick Saban “bulletin board material.”

Other football fans proceeded to roast the president for his gaffe.

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Joe DePaolo - Executive Editor

Joe DePaolo is the Executive Editor of Mediaite. Email him here: joed@mediaite.com Follow him on X: @joe_depaolo