‘Coach’ Walz has the runs – and lessons – on the board to stare down Trump and Co.

I’ll get to the sport in a bit.

Meanwhile, it’s just like the old line says: “If one person says it’s raining and another says it’s not raining, then the journalist should look out the window and report the truth.”

In that spirit, I have looked out the window and can report the screamingly obvious truth: Donald Trump is entirely unfit to be the American president. Look no further than the naked nonsense of the “Stop the Steal” attempted coup and the consequent insurrection of January 6, 2021, to know that he disgraces the office he once held and should not be allowed back within a bull’s roar of it.

What interests me for the purpose of this column, though, is looking at the coming American presidential election through the prism of sport. Trump’s lack of character as illustrated by sport is so overwhelming the great American sportswriter Rick Reilly wrote a book called Commander-in-Cheat: How Golf Explains Trump, insisting: “Donald Trump is the worst cheat ever, and he doesn’t care who knows. I always say golf is like bicycle shorts. It reveals a lot about a man. And golf reveals a lot of ugliness in this president.”

These proved to be his opening remarks.

And on the other side of the political equation?

Well, here’s the current point of interest. Step forward Tim Walz, the running mate of Democrat presidential candidate Kamala Harris, who she refers to as “Coach Walz”, for the fact that the whole launching pad for his political career – first as a congressman, then Minnesota governor and now potentially being a heartbeat from the presidency – was his success as a beloved football coach, who helped take a struggling high school football side to the state championship.

Fascinating, yes? Not just because sport is the foundation stone of his fame – that is a reasonably frequent occurrence in politics around the world – but the values of grassroots sport.

By accounts, Walz was a brilliant geography teacher at Mankato West High School in Minnesota in the 1990s and early noughties, but it was the skills and the respect he developed through football that propelled him to his current position. The bloke is pure mid-western, down-home decency, and when you hear him speak on the task ahead, it really does feel like listening to a coach gathering everyone in before you put on your cleats and head out into the Friday night lights.

For the hell of it – and OK, because it fascinates me – this week I tracked down one of his former players, Nathaniel M. Hood, who played for two years under his coaching in 2001 and 2002.

“Like my entire graduating class,” Hood told me, “eight out of 10 would have said that Tim Walz is my favourite teacher, and the other two probably never took geography! He made an impression. He was one of those teachers that never just turned up [and] lectured. He brought everyone along. He was very engaging with the class, everyone had to take part. You couldn’t just sit back and take notes.”

And what about as a coach? He became famous for helping turn around a team that never won a game to becoming state champions.

“He was my coach a couple of years after that [winning a state championship]. The thing about him was that he cared about everyone, not just the best players in the team. In my first year with him, I was second string, but coach Walz was always making sure that when the time was right, he would get us younger guys in, sneak us onto the field and get us prepared for the next season, right? Yeah, so, so he was always smart, looking after players like that.”

And what of his speaking ability, that we see now?

‘Eight out of 10 would have said that Tim Walz is my favourite teacher, and the other two probably never took geography.’

Former Tim Walz student Nathaniel Hood

“He was the type of coach that could always amp us kids up, the coach that would always give that speech, he was just so engaging. And he had kind of a good cop-bad cop routine with the head coach, Rick Sutton.

“Tim was always the good cop, the one who would take you aside, make sure you were OK, but always, always be positive. He was never angry, just encouraging and upbeat. And the thing is, he always had a ton of energy, the ability to get energy out of us, and it’s been exciting to see the energy that he’s brought into the Democrats.”

You must be stunned to see him rise from a great teacher and great coach to be a congressman, then governor and now the vice presidential candidate.

“I never would have guessed. He was just so normal, just a great teacher and coach.”

All up, he doesn’t sound like the radical left communist Trump says he is.

Laughs.

“No! Just a great teacher and coach! We just had our 20-year high school reunion ... not too long ago, and I was talking to people who would never vote for him on policy, right? But everyone said, ‘What a great guy, what a great coach, what a great teacher. I love this guy.’ My brother Drew is in the car, and he feels the same.”

Over to you, Drew?

“I’m two years younger, so I did not have him as a football coach, but he was my track and field coach from the seventh and eighth grade, and he was a motivator and a fun guy to be around. My mom always said, ‘When all is said and done, people are not going to remember what you did, but how you made them feel,’ and all my feelings about him as a coach are that he made me feel good.”

Thank you both. Over and out.

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