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Nick Saban and Urban Meyer are national-championship-winning college football coaches. Rick Santorum is a former Pennsylvania senator currently running for president and not doing very well.
On Monday, the day of Iowa's first-in-the-nation primary voting, Santorum is taking an interesting tack.
"I'm the Nick Saban in this race." -- Rick Santorum to @mitchellreports
— Chris Cillizza (@TheFix) February 1, 2016
There's a lot to unpack here. What, exactly, is Santorum talking about?
Well, a few theories:
nick does wear vests and is rarely happy https://t.co/DhAQ12MP4D
— Pete Volk (@Pete_Volk) February 1, 2016
This one seems to check out. Here is Santorum in a vest and literally shooting things.
(Photo: Bryon Houlgrave/The Des Moines Register via USA TODAY NETWORK)
And here is a vested Saban a few weeks ago, looking all steely-eyed:
(Photo: Erich Schlegel-USA TODAY Sports)
Both Santorum and Saban did lose in 2006, when Saban's Miami Dolphins went 6-10 in his final NFL season and Santorum failed to win reelection in Pennsylvania by 15 percent of the vote. So, there's something.
Santorum, in another TV interview on Monday, doubled down on the Saban comparison and also tossed in a reference to Ohio State coach Urban Meyer. He even gave analysis of Iowa State's recent hiring of former Toledo head coach Matt Campbell to the same position:
"I bet Iowa State would've rather hired Nick Saban, would've rather hired Urban Meyer," he told CNN's Wolf Blitzer. "Hire somebody who actually knows what they're doing, has a game plan and, very importantly, has a track record of winning."
Santorum hasn't won elective office since 2000, in which time Campbell is 35-15 as a head coach.
The Republican candidates really ought to move on from college football.
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