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Did Tim Walz coach the ninth-grade football team instead of the high school team that won a state championship and was he fired from that coaching position after getting a DUI? No, that's not true: Walz was one of the coaches for the Mankato West High School team that won the Minnesota state championship in 1999. He was never fired for a DUI, also known as driving while intoxicated, although he did plead "guilty" to a charge of reckless driving as part of a plea deal in 1996 in which it was mentioned that his offer to resign was rejected by his principal.

The claim appeared in a post (archived here) on Facebook on August 12, 2024, under the caption "Where are all the fact checkers???" The post's meme said:

Dang! So Tim Walz has been bragging about coaching a high school state championship team. Turns out he coached the ninth grade team - but lost that job when he got a DUI. Just like he lied about the 'weapons of war' he used in Iraq. Just dang.

This is what the post looked like on Facebook at the time of writing:

(Source: Facebook screenshot taken on Tue Aug 13 15:06:07 2024 UTC)

The social media post provided no documentation or other independent evidence to support its implication that the Minnesota governor never coached a high school team that won a state championship and that he was fired from that job after getting a DUI.

DUI arrest

Decades before he moved into the governor's mansion or helped coach a state championship football team, Walz was arrested for driving while intoxicated (DWI) at age 31 when he lived in Nebraska. The terms DUI and DWI are considered largely interchangeable, although the correct legal term in the state of Nebraska as of this writing is "Driving under the influence of alcoholic liquor or drug," or DUI.

Court documents (also here) show Walz was charged with DWI on September 23, 1995. A copy of the arrest report appears below:

(Source: Court document screenshot taken on Wed Aug 14 14:46:06 2024 UTC)

Nearly six months later, on March 13, 1996, Walz pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of reckless driving as part of a plea deal.

At the time, Walz was a teacher at Alliance High School in western Nebraska. The court records state that Walz had offered to quit his job, but his attorney told the judge, "Fortunately, the principal talked him out of resigning from school." The documents do say that Walz did "resign from his extracurricular activities," which included his coaching roles at the school.

Football coach

Later in 1996, Walz left western Nebraska for a teaching job in south-central Minnesota. His biography on the governor's website says:

They [Walz and his wife] moved to Mankato in 1996, where they worked at Mankato West High School. In addition to teaching social studies, Tim helped coach the Mankato West football team that won the school's first state championship.

Mankato West won its first state championship in 1999, according to the Minnesota State High School League (MSHSL), an association that governs interscholastic activities at high schools in the state. Walz's role as the team's defensive coordinator is well-documented (here, here, here and here).

A photo published in The New York Times on August 9, 2024, shows Walz with the championship team:

(Source: New York Times screenshot taken on Tue Aug 13 18:56:47 2024 UTC)

Google search

Lead Stories searched using keywords on Google News, visible here (archived here), and found no credible reporting as of August 13, 2024, to support the claim that the Minnesota governor never coached a high school team that won a state championship or that he was fired from that position due to a DUI.

Read more

Other fact checks about Tim Walz can be read here. Lead Stories has debunked other claims related to the 2024 presidential election, which can be read here.