Tim Walz Once Had a High School Football Coaching Career — What Hasn't He Done?
"I haven't given a lot of big speeches like this, but I have given a lot of pep talks," Walz said.
Published Aug. 23 2024, 1:08 p.m. ET
Every day we learn more and more about potential Vice President Tim Walz, who is Kamala Harris's running mate. For instance, his military service has been a major focus of the 2024 presidential campaign.
The Minnesota governor was also a high school teacher — and a football coach.
What hasn't the Democrat done?
Let's take a look back to when Walz was a football coach and see how this time in his life is still very much a part of him.
Tim Walz's coaching career ended a losing streak.
According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Harris's running mate was a social studies teacher and football coach at Alliance High School in Nebraska and Mankato West High School in Minnesota. He also served as the former school's girls' basketball coach.
As The Athletic reports, the Mankato West Scarlets team had lost 27 straight games before Walz joined its ranks.
The one-day politician led the team to win eight games and a state championship in 1999 and again in 2002.
Walz left his post at the school in 2006 to pursue a political career.
Tim Walz played football in high school — and years later received the support of the players he coached.
As Forbes reports, the former National Guardsman played the sport he would eventually coach during his own high school career.
Meanwhile, on Aug. 22, 2024, years after he wore a football uniform and coach's hat, Walz accepted the Democratic nomination for vice president at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
Onstage to support him were the players that he once coached at Mankato West High School, sporting red-and-white football jerseys from their heyday.
The former teacher called upon football rhetoric in his speech, saying at one point, "I haven't given a lot of big speeches like this, but I have given a lot of pep talks."
He went on to declare about the campaign, "It's the fourth quarter, we're down a field goal but we're on offense and we've got the ball. We're driving down the field and boy do we have the right team."
The Governor's football coach analogy went on: "One inch at a time, one yard at a time, one phone call at a time, one door knock at a time, one five-dollar donation at a time. We've got 76 days. That's nothing. There'll be time to sleep when you're dead. We're going to leave it on the field."
Of course critics called out Tim Walz's coaching career.
It's politics, so some people couldn't help but find fault with Walz's past as a football coach. Namely, many pointed out that he wasn't a head coach when the team went to the state championships.
"Now we learn that 'Coach Walz' was an assistant coach for the football team, not the head coach as we were led to believe," one irate X user commented.
To be fair, Walz also found support on the issue on X, with one person declaring, "As a former head coach, let me tell you ... you are way off base. Assistants are invaluable. You can disagree with him all you want, but don't belittle the importance of assistant coaches."
