INDIANAPOLIS — Back in the days when I was a Chicago White Sox fan, I remember walking through Comiskey Park before the opening pitch and hearing shouts of “Coach! Coach! Coach!”
And sure enough, walking toward me was legendary DePaul University basketball coach Ray Meyer. At any Chicago sports stadium, Super Bowl-winning Bears Coach Mike Ditka would generate a similar outpouring of affection.
Coaches hold a special status in American culture, and it translates into politics.
I write this after Kamala Harris added Tim Walz to her Democratic presidential ticket on Tuesday. His résumé brings a plethora of titles to the effort: governor, congressman, Army major, social studies teacher ... and coach.
It was as if Ted Lasso had jumped from a streaming service into the American body politic.
Harris introduced her running mate as “Coach Walz,” not as the governor of Minnesota, adding, “In 91 days the nation will know Coach Walz by another name: vice president of the United States.”
He responded by telling Harris: “Thank you for bringing back the joy.”
He added, “Those same values I learned on the family farm and tried to instill in my students, Vice President Harris and I are running to take those very values to the White House.”
Walz’s political career began in 2006 after his students urged him to run for Congress. He represented a rural congressional district that would vote for Donald Trump a decade later. He understands the rural vernacular, outlook and priorities. As a football coach, he became faculty adviser for a “gay/straight alliance” at his high school in Mankato.
Trump allies quickly jumped on Gov. Walz for signing legislation into law allowing some convicted criminals to regain the right to vote. Walz observed that violent crime was up during the Trump administration, adding, “That’s not even counting the crimes he committed!”
U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who was in the Democratic veepstakes himself, observed on X, “Being a teacher, a coach, a senior noncommissioned officer. What they all have in common is supporting other people. The Trump Campaign can’t figure out what to do with this ticket. They can’t fathom a campaign, or any leaders, who are not about themselves. Seeing the contrast between him and Vance -- who has contorted himself repeatedly from a never Trumper, Silicon Valley investor, to now trying to be a voice of the working class Midwest - it is just going to be an extraordinary contrast.”
The selection of Coach Walz comes eight years after a group of legendary Indiana coaches helped elevate Trump to the White House. Indiana University’s Bobby Knight, Purdue’s Gene Keady and Notre Dame’s Lou Holtz ardently endorsed Trump in 2016.
Coach Knight, speaking at a late-April 2016 Trump rally at the Indiana State Fairgrounds, said, “There has never been a more honest politician than Donald Trump. You folks are taking a look at the most prepared man in history to step in as president, that man..”
Knight encouraged the crowd to “throw Donald over the top” by voting for him, saying it would be “a first step toward what every one of us wants America to be like.”
Trump responded, “When I get endorsed by the tough ones, I like it. If I win Indiana, it’s over. It’s over.” And it was. Trump clinched his first GOP presidential nomination in Indiana.
That win came as the GOP establishment in Indiana did not support Trump. Gov. Mike Pence had endorsed Sen. Ted Cruz. When the primary dust settled, Trump won with 53% of the vote.
So, Coach Walz joining the Harris ticket brings a Midwestern voice to the fray. Former Indiana Democratic Party Chairman Kip Tew observed on X: “Hoosier Democrats, I see a lot of Joe Kernan in Tim Walz. Similar looks, similar demeanor, military background, sports, likable, happy warrior, straight shooter.”
That comment was in reference to Joe Kernan, the Notre Dame baseball catcher, Navy pilot, Vietnam POW, South Bend mayor, lieutenant governor and, finally, Hoosier governor. Kernan lost the only race he ran for governor to Mitch Daniels in 2004. The Republican had co-opted the 1954 Milan state basketball champions theme in that campaign, which underscores how pliable the addition of sports to politics can be.
As a reporter for The Elkhart Truth, I had the opportunity to cover a General Assembly campaign by Coach Marv Wood, who had moved to Mishawaka in 1969 after coaching the Milan miracle team to the 1954 IHSAA championship, inspiring the movie “Hoosiers.” Actor Gene Hackman played Wood in that classic, measuring the rim 10 feet above the Hinkle Fieldhouse floor to reassure his team.
Wood lost that political race, but Mishawaka Mayor Dave Wood (no relation) said at an unveiling of a sculpture of the coach, "Marv was a simple, decent man with a servant’s heart, strong work ethic, and impeccable values and that not only impacted his family and his friends but legendary teams, multitudes of kids, and communities here and around the State of Indiana.”
If Coach Walz can break through in rural areas and red states and be heard as a trusted voice, his addition to the ticket just might pay off.
Howey is a senior writer and columnist for State Affairs/Howey Politics Indiana. Follow him on X @hwypol.
