Minnesota Governor Tim Walz
Andrea Austria / Media Matters

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Right-wing media throw a Hail Mary as they criticize Tim Walz for “assistant coach” role

Written by Gideon Taaffe & Chloe Simon

Published

Following Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s speech at the Democratic National Convention, some in right-wing media are launching a desperate attack on Walz, claiming he misrepresented his role as a coach with his high school football team.  

The attacks tried to minimize Walz’s role in taking a struggling high school football team to state championship by highlighting that Walz was a volunteer and bizarrely claiming he was “never a football coach” but an “assistant coach.”

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  • The attacks on Walz, which started earlier this month, show how little right-wing media know about football

    • Walz accepted the Democratic nomination for vice president on Wednesday in a speech that highlighted, among other things, his role on the coaching staff at the high school where he taught. At no point did Walz claim to be head coach, and he even alluded to his role as a defensive coordinator in his speech, saying, “I wound up teaching social studies and coaching football at Mankato West High School. Go Scarlets! We ran a 4-4 defense, played through the whistle every single down, and even won a state championship.” [CBS News, 8/22/24]
    • Right-wing media had previously been attacking Walz for supposedly misrepresenting his coaching role, and then during the DNC, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump attacked Walz with the same claim. Right-wing journalist Raheem Kassam wrote on August 8, “Was Tim Walz even the head coach? Some records suggest otherwise” and called him “Water Boy Walz!” Newsmax’s Bianca de la Garza claimed the same day that Walz “was an assistant coach, a defensive coordinator, actually, not the championship-winning, banner-hanging head coach that the media wants you to believe he is.” Trump ally Laura Loomer posted, “Why is the media allowing this lie to continue? … He was an ASSISTANT COACH.” Then on August 22, Trump posted to Truth Social: “Walz was an ASSISTANT Coach, not a COACH.” [NBC News, 1/14/24; Twitter/X, 8/8/24; Newsmax, Prime News, 8/8/24; Twitter/X, 8/9/24; Truth Social, 8/22/24] 
    • SBNation: “Slamming Tim Walz’s football resume is a weird way to say you don’t know ball.” SBNation pointed out that defensive coordinators are essential to a team’s success, concluding, “We can disagree about a lot of things in the country. We can argue over how government is supposed to operate. We have to be united in giving defensive coordinators the respect they deserve.” [SBNation, 8/22/24]

  • Right-wing media diminish Walz’s coaching record, with some using his “coach” comments to to claim he was lying

    • Fox News contributor Newt Gingrich complained that the Democrats “want to run a personality-based campaign — things like Coach Walz, even though he was never actually a coach.” [Fox News, Hannity, 8/22/24]
    • Fox News host Jeanine Pirro said that Walz “calls himself coach when he wasn't even coach — he was the assistant coach.” Pirro added that Walz “should worry about himself.” [Fox News, The Five, 8/22/24]
    • Fox Business anchor Cheryl Casone said, “Remember those players came out at the DNC this week and, you know, ‘He turned us into a champion team,’ ‘Coach this,’ ‘Coach that’? Well, he actually was the assistant coach. He wasn’t the main coach.” Casone went one to say, “It's just little things like that about how you paint yourself, but then when the details start to come out, and sometimes the truth comes out, it doesn't look so good.” [Fox Business, Mornings with Maria, 8/23/24]
    • Newsmax host Rob Schmitt responded to a clip of Walz saying he “coached high school football” by saying, “First off, Tim, you're not a coach. You're an assistant coach of little kids.” Schmitt also said that it is “one of the many wholly unimpressive things about Tim Walz.” [Newsmax, Rob Schmitt Tonight, 8/22/24]
    • FoxNews.com published a piece titled “Social media calls out Tim Walz coaching history after former players take center stage at DNC.” The subheadline read: “Walz served as an assistant coach during Mankato West High's state championship run.” [Fox News, 8/22/24]
    • The New York Post republished Fox News’ story with the headline “Tim Walz’s coaching history called out after ex-football players hit DNC stage: ‘It’s strange’.” [New York Post, 8/22/24]
    • Right-wing columnist Phil Kerpen attacked Walz over both his coaching and military experience. “Not a CSM (frocked CSM briefly then retired E8 to avoid deployment) and the volunteer defensive coordinator didn't ‘lead the team,’" he said, referring to the acronym for command sergeant major. “This was posted *today*.” [Twitter/X, 8/21/24]
    • Trump associate and right-wing Rumble streamer Roger Stone claimed “Walz was never a football coach,” just an “assistant coach,” dismissing it as “a voluntary part-time position.” He added: “Just like he never served his country in combat.” [Twitter/X, 8/22/24]
    • Former Fox contributor Richard Grenell asked why Walz can’t “just be honest about his life?” He also wrote, “He was the Assistant Coach not the Coach.” [Twitter/X, 8/21/24]
    • Conservative author David Harsanyi posted to social media, “*Assistant coach Walz.” [Twitter/X, 8/21/24]