Minnesota Governor Tim Walz’s former high school assistant football coach past has trended on social media since former Mankato West High School football team members made a virtual appearance in the Democratic National Convention on the night of Wednesday.
The players virtually appeared to support Walz as he officially accepted the Democratic nomination for vice president. The event seemed to depict his tenure as an assistant coach leading the team to state championship, though some have argued against such a portrayal.
“In Minnesota, we believe in a coach who turned a team that was 0-27 into state champions,” said Senator Amy Klobuchar about the time she gave a speech on the third night of the Democratic National Convention, referring to Walz’s contribution as a coach.
Ben Ingman, a former student of Walz’s who played football for him as well as having him as his coach on the seventh-grade basketball and track athlete player, emphasized the same point of view.
According to Ingman, “Coach Walz got us excited about what we might achieve together. He believed in us, and he helped us believe in each other. And his leadership stuck. That track team went on to win a state title, just like the football team.”
The DNC moment was more or less of a pep rally segment facilitated by ex-players with the school’s fight song playing in the background. However, some people on social media were quick to clarify the record on Walz’s part in Mankato West.
One online post said, according to X, “Amy Klobuchar introduced Timothy Walz as a coach who ‘turned’ a team ‘into state champions.’ He was **NEVER a head coach. He didn’t ‘turn’ anyone into a state championship team.”
Richard Grenell, former U.S. ambassador to Germany, wrote, “He was the Assistant Coach not the Coach.”
Another online post commented, “Still really, really confused about why they keep pushing the “Coach Walz” thing from a million years ago when Tim Walz was a **volunteer assistant coach …why not focus on his **Governorship…?…no…they just want to focus on **Coach Walz…it’s weird.”
Walz spent his youth teaching at Mankato West between 1996 and 2006 and worked as los linebacker coach and defensive coordinator until 2002 under the management of the head coach Rick Sutton, securing the first state championship in 1999. In 2019, Mankato West High School voted for Walz to be inducted in the school’s Hall of Fame ADCs contributions to the school.
