During a campaign speech in Wisconsin on Friday, Tim Walz claimed his experience as a high school assistant football coach meant he was “taking football back” from the Republican Party.
“I state this: I did this for personal reasons. And, by the way, I also took the football back from them,” the Democratic vice presidential nominee said at the indoor event, drawing cheers from attendees.
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The remarks were the latest attempt by Harris-Waltz's campaign to link his reasons for running for governor to his time as an assistant coach for Mankato West High School's football team in the 1990s. While on the staff, the team won a state championship in 1999. After college, Waltz worked as a teacher in China before being hired at Mankato West in 1996 as a geography teacher.
He was also the first faculty advisor for Mankato West High School's first Gay-Straight Alliance and was instrumental in organizing a summer educational trip to China for high school students.
Since Waltz was announced as Harris' running mate on Aug. 7, a topic of conversation in Harris' campaign has been Waltz's brief tenure as an assistant football coach.
Waltz compared his own career as a football coach to that of Alabama Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville, who served as head coach at four different NCAA Power 5 football programs from 1995 to 2016 despite never having coached above the high school level or even as a head coach at that level. Tuberville's head coaching stints included Ole Miss, Auburn, Texas Tech and Cincinnati, winning the SEC Championship with Auburn in 2004.
Harris campaign slams 'liars' critics, Waltz's close ties with China come under new scrutiny
Tiffany Justice, co-founder of Moms for Liberty, said the records of Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Gov. Tim Walz, prove they are undermining the rights of American parents. ((Photo by Saul Loeb/AFP) (Photo by Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images))
“I see part of my role now as being the antithesis of Tommy Tuberville and showing that football coaches aren't such stupid people,” Walz said at a fundraiser in Boston in early August.
Tuberville responded to Walz's comments in an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital on August 15.
“I think he's trying to make himself look good. He's trying to compare himself to his coaches, even though he was an assistant coach in high school. To be honest with you, if he was good he would have been a head coach,” Tuberville said.
“I don't know what he's up to. I think he's kind of scheming his way up. If the team wins he's second only to the president of the United States, which I don't think will happen. But when you look at everything he's done, you can see he's not cut out to be a coach.”
Walz featured members of Mankato West High School's 1999 state championship team during his speech when he formally accepted the nomination at the Democratic National Convention on Aug. 21. During the speech, former U.S. ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell criticized the display in an X-post.
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Harris and Walz celebrate at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
“He was an assistant coach, not a coach,” Grenell wrote.
Still, Walz has continued to tout his football ties throughout the campaign, and Friday's comments came as he blasted his belief that he and Harris are on the right side of family values in the upcoming election compared to former President Trump.
However, some members of Waltz's family, including his brother, have spoken out in support of Trump.
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