- Tim Walz was not the head coach of the Mankato West High School team; he primarily served as the team's defensive coordinator, which means he was one member of the team's coaching staff. We did not find any instances of him exaggerating his role as a coach.
- Mankato West paid him a stipend for this role, contrary to claims he was an unpaid volunteer.
- It is unproven whether his DUI arrest in 1995 specifically prevented him from working as the head coach. However, given that the school hired him in 1996 as a geography teacher, it is unlikely that this is the case. The current principal of Mankato West confirmed that the school "already had a head coach who had been coaching the team prior to Tim coming to West, so there was not a head coaching position available."
During the 2024 Democratic National Convention, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz' past as a high school football coach was on full display. That night, he had been named as U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris' running mate. Former players for Mankato West High School, where Walz was a teacher, enthusiastically celebrated Walz, and members of the crowd wave signs emblazoned with "Coach Walz."
Former members of the Mankato West High School football team joined Walz onstage at the 2024 Democratic National Convention. (Getty Images)
"To his former high school football players, he was coach," Harris told the crowd during their first rally together. "And in 91 days, the nation will know Coach Walz by another name: vice president of the United States."
This characterization instantly caught hold, but so did skepticism. Many conservative-leaning social media users claimed Walz was pretending he had been the team's head coach when in reality he was an unpaid assistant coach. "Every part of Tim Walz 'story' is built on a lie," one post on X read. Another X post, published in September 2024, claimed that Walz "lied about his entire career," and that he "wasn't even a coach."
(X user @Bubblebathgirl)
Generally speaking, these posts played down Walz's involvement with the football team and accused him of lying about or exaggerating his role as a football coach.
While at least one news outlet has referred to Walz as "the football coach," Walz himself has repeatedly stated that he was part of a "team" of coaches. For example, a conversation with Harris in August 2024 went as follows:
Harris: I love what you have done with your life. You were coaching a high school football team that was winless, and you came in and so they were clearly the underdogs. What happened?Walz: Yeah, it's a team. And I had great coaches with me and we were friends. And we buckled down and, look, it was a fairly big school, but nobody wanted to play because they hadn't won and this group of coaches said, "First and foremost, we gotta build the team. We gotta go out and find people."
We reached out to Mankato West High School, where Walz taught geography, and Principal Sherri Blasing confirmed he was the defensive coordinator for the West football team and — contrary to several online claims — the school paid a stipend for this position.
Essentially, while Walz was not the head coach of Mankato West's football team, as the team's defensive coordinator, he was still a member of the coaching staff.
In an August 2024 interview with The Minnesota Star Tribune, the head coach of the team at the time, Rick Sutton, said that when Walz was hired, there were four varsity coaches on the staff. According to the article, Sutton said it was gratifying to see the Democratic ticket embracing Walz's roots, with Harris often calling the Minnesota goveror "coach" along the campaign trail."
According to a story The Washington Post published in August 2024, "Walz started as a linebackers coach before he was elevated to defensive coordinator, and he also coached running backs."
In the 1997 Mankato West High School yearbook, Walz is pictured with the varsity football team and listed under "coaches" in the caption.
(Classmates.com)
In another part of the yearbook, a caption refers to Walz as a "varsity football coach."
(Classmates.com)
Lastly, several X users claimed that Mankato West High School prevented Walz from working as the head coach given his 1995 DUI arrest. Given that the high school hired Walz as a teacher following the arrest, it is unlikely that this is the case. Blasing said via email that she was not able to speak to that directly as she was not at the school at that time, but she confirmed the school "already had a head coach who had been coaching the team prior to Tim coming to West, so there was not a head coaching position available."
One X post claimed Walz resigned from coaching the freshman football team at Alliance High School in Nebraska in 1995 due to his arrest. According to court transcripts, he "resigned all of his extracurricular duties at the high school, which included some coaching responsibilities." He and his wife moved to Minnesota the following year.