- Tim Walz was not the top coach of the Mankato West Excessive Faculty workforce; he primarily served because the workforce’s defensive coordinator, which suggests he was one member of the workforce’s teaching employees. We didn’t discover any situations of him exaggerating his position as a coach.
- Mankato West paid him a stipend for this position, opposite to claims he was an unpaid volunteer.
- It’s unproven whether or not his DUI arrest in 1995 particularly prevented him from working as the top coach. Nevertheless, provided that the varsity employed him in 1996 as a geography instructor, it’s unlikely that that is the case. The present principal of Mankato West confirmed that the varsity “already had a head coach who had been teaching the workforce previous to Tim coming to West, so there was not a head teaching place obtainable.”
Through the 2024 Democratic National Convention, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz‘ previous as a highschool soccer coach was on full show. That night time, he had been named as U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris’ operating mate. Former gamers for Mankato West Excessive Faculty, the place Walz was a instructor, enthusiastically celebrated Walz, and members of the gang wave indicators emblazoned with “Coach Walz.”
Former members of the Mankato West Excessive Faculty soccer workforce joined Walz onstage on the 2024 Democratic Nationwide Conference. (Getty Photos)
“To his former highschool soccer gamers, he was coach,” Harris told the crowd throughout their first rally collectively. “And in 91 days, the nation will know Coach Walz by one other identify: vp of america.”
This characterization immediately caught maintain, however so did skepticism. Many conservative-leaning social media customers claimed Walz was pretending he had been the workforce’s head coach when in actuality he was an unpaid assistant coach. “Each a part of Tim Walz ‘story’ is constructed on a lie,” one post on X read. Another X post, revealed in September 2024, claimed that Walz “lied about his complete profession,” and that he “wasn’t even a coach.”
(X person @Bubblebathgirl)
Usually talking, these posts played down Walz’s involvement with the soccer workforce and accused him of mendacity about or exaggerating his position as a soccer coach.
Whereas at least one news outlet has referred to Walz as “the soccer coach,” Walz himself has repeatedly acknowledged that he was a part of a “workforce” of coaches. For instance, a conversation with Harris in August 2024 went as follows:
Harris: I really like what you’ve gotten achieved along with your life. You have been teaching a highschool soccer workforce that was winless, and also you got here in and they also have been clearly the underdogs. What occurred?
Walz: Yeah, it is a workforce. And I had nice coaches with me and we have been buddies. And we buckled down and, look, it was a fairly large faculty, however no one needed to play as a result of they hadn’t gained and this group of coaches mentioned, “Before everything, we gotta construct the workforce. We gotta exit and discover individuals.”
We reached out to Mankato West Excessive Faculty, the place Walz taught geography, and Principal Sherri Blasing confirmed he was the defensive coordinator for the West soccer workforce and — opposite to a number of online claims — the varsity paid a stipend for this place.
Basically, whereas Walz was not the head coach of Mankato West’s soccer workforce, because the workforce’s defensive coordinator, he was nonetheless a member of the teaching employees.
In an August 2024 interview with The Minnesota Star Tribune, the top coach of the workforce on the time, Rick Sutton, mentioned that when Walz was employed, tright here have been 4 varsity coaches on the employees. In line with the article, Sutton mentioned it was gratifying to see the Democratic ticket embracing Walz’s roots, with Harris usually calling the Minnesota goveror “coach” alongside the marketing campaign path.”
In line with a story The Washington Submit revealed in August 2024, “Walz began as a linebackers coach earlier than he was elevated to defensive coordinator, and he additionally coached operating backs.”
Within the 1997 Mankato West Excessive Faculty yearbook, Walz is pictured with the varsity soccer workforce and listed beneath “coaches” within the caption.
(Classmates.com)
In one other a part of the yearbook, a caption refers to Walz as a “varsity soccer coach.”
(Classmates.com)
Lastly, a number of X customers claimed that Mankato West Excessive Faculty prevented Walz from working as the top coach given his 1995 DUI arrest. Given that the highschool employed Walz as a instructor following the arrest, it’s unlikely that that is the case. Blasing mentioned through e mail that she was not capable of communicate to that straight as she was not on the faculty at the moment, however she confirmed the varsity “already had a head coach who had been teaching the workforce previous to Tim coming to West, so there was not a head teaching place obtainable.”
One X post claimed Walz resigned from teaching the freshman soccer workforce at Alliance Excessive Faculty in Nebraska in 1995 resulting from his arrest. In line with court transcripts, he “resigned all of his extracurricular duties at the highschool, which included some teaching duties.” He and his spouse moved to Minnesota the next 12 months.
