Minnesota Governor and vice presidential candidate Tim Walz’s highschool soccer teaching profession was the topic of a latest article in The Ringer.
One in every of Walz’s former gamers on the 1998 Mankato West workforce shared particulars of his interactions with Walz whereas coping with alcoholism and points with the legislation.
Former Mankato West linebacker Dan Clement advised The Ringer that he started to experiment with alcohol when he was in highschool. Then, the summer season between his junior and senior yr, Clement mentioned he was arrested a number of instances for underage ingesting. Clement had a suspension from soccer to start his ultimate highschool season and mentioned he determined “I’m just not going to play at all.”
However Clement mentioned Walz repeatedly approached him within the hallways that yr and advised {the teenager}, “We need you.”
“He knew I was struggling,” Clement advised the outlet, including that Walz advised him, “I don’t care about that other stuff.”
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Democratic vice presidential nominee, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz speaks at a get-out-the-vote rally on October 22, 2024, in Madison, Wisconsin. Wisconsin polls open in the present day for in-person early voting. (Photograph by Scott Olson/Getty Photos)
Clement mentioned, after Walz’s intervention, that he ultimately returned to the workforce for the second half of the season.
Nonetheless, Clement mentioned he didn’t get sober till a full decade after Walz pushed him to return to the sector for his ultimate season, The Ringer reported. Nonetheless, Clement thanked Walz for his influence on his life.
“The caring attention he gave, that positive support can pull you through really dark times in your life,” Clement mentioned, including that he advised Walz,”I’m leaning on you. I’m trusting you here. I think partying is a better idea. You don’t think so. And I’m going to trust you on that.’
“And he was proper. I used to be improper. And later in life, once I continued to do this, once I continued to belief different individuals who love me, then it led my life on this stunning route. Similar to it did again then.”
Fox News Digital has reached out to the Harris-Walz campaign and the Minnesota governor’s office for comment, but has not received a response at the time of publication.
Walz’s short tenure as an assistant football coach has been a talking point for the Harris campaign since he was announced as the running mate for Harris on Aug. 7.
TIM WALZ SAYS HE KEPT A SHOTGUN IN HIS CAR TO HUNT PHEASANTS AFTER FOOTBALL PRACTICE
Democratic vice presidential nominee Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz speaks at a campaign stop, Monday, Oct. 28, 2024, in Manitowoc, Wis. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
The campaign has made multiple attempts to tie the Minnesota governor’s candidacy to his stint as the assistant coach of the Mankato West High School football team in Minnesota in the 1990s. During Walz’s tenure as an assistant on the staff, the team won the state championship in 1999.
On Sunday, Walz did a live stream of him playing Madden NFL with Democrat congressional representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. But the event was mocked by football fans after Walz sent a since-deleted post on X that read, “AOC can run a imply pick-6.”
When Walz attended a game between Mankato West and rival Mankato East in early October, pro-Palestine protesters were seen at the venue to coincide with Walz’s appearance, seen in posts by Minneapolis Star-Tribune reporter J.P. Lawrence.
Walz brought out members of Mankato West’s 1999 state championship team during his speech at the Democratic National Convention on Aug. 21, when he formally accepted the nomination. During that speech, Richard Grenell, former U.S. ambassador to Germany, critiqued the display in a post on X.
“He was the Assistant Coach not the Coach,” Grenell wrote.
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Democratic vice presidential candidate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz speaks on stage during the third day of the Democratic National Convention at the United Center on August 21, 2024, in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
When Walz attended a Sept. 28 game between Minnesota and Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan, fans waited outside afterwards and gave him a harsh farewell. Several in attendance booed him, with another fan even yelling, “Get out of right here!”
Walz, despite never having coached past the high school level or even as a head coach in high school, compared his background as a football coach to that of Alabama Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville, who served as the head coach at four different NCAA Power 5 football programs from 1995 to 2016. Tuberville led Ole Miss, Auburn, Texas Tech and Cincinnati as head coach and even won an SEC Championship with Auburn in 2004.
“I really feel like one among my roles on this now could be to be the anti-Tommy Tuberville, to indicate that soccer coaches should not the dumbest folks,” Walz said during a fundraiser event in Boston in early August.
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