Trump Mistakenly Says Republican Tommy Tuberville Coached Patrick Mahomes
February 5, 2025
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At a recent signing ceremony for an executive order on transgender athletes, Donald Trump mistakenly said Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville coached Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes in college.
Why It Matters
Tuberville was present on Wednesday as Trump signed an executive order to ban transgender athletes from participating in girls and women’s sports. Tuberville also authored a Senate bill to codify the order into law.
The order, titled “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports,” gives federal agencies, including the Justice and Education departments, wide latitude to ensure entities that receive federal funding abide by Title IX in alignment with the Trump administration’s view, which interprets “sex” as the gender someone was assigned at birth.
What To Know
While giving a shoutout to Alabama’s senior senator’s past as a former football coach, Trump erroneously praised Tuberville for coaching Mahomes during his college years.
“A great coach. You know, his quarterback was named Mahomes. He was a great college coach,” Trump said. “And I said, ‘How good was he?’ He continued, ‘You don’t wanna know how good. He made me into a great coach.’ He’s a pretty good quarterback, right? Yeah, he was very good. And he’s a good guy, too.”
However, Mahomes and Tuberville never crossed paths. Tuberville coached at Texas Tech from 2010 to 2012 before leaving for the University of Cincinnati. Mahomes didn’t arrive at Texas Tech until 2014, where he played under head coach Kliff Kingsbury before being drafted by the Kansas City Chiefs in 2017.
At a recent signing ceremony for an executive order on transgender athletes, Donald Trump mistakenly said Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville coached Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes (inset) in college. At a recent signing ceremony for an executive order on transgender athletes, Donald Trump mistakenly said Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville coached Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes (inset) in college. Getty Images
Tuberville previously claimed that he played a role in recruiting Mahomes to Texas Tech. However, a fact-check by the Cover 3 College Football Podcast debunked this, noting that Texas Tech’s recruitment focus was on another quarterback, D.J. Gillen, until Gillen’s de-commitment led the program to Mahomes—a month after Tuberville had already departed for Cincinnati.
Tuberville retired from coaching after the 2016 season at Cincinnati. Two years later, he entered politics, aligned with Trump, and was elected as Alabama’s Republican senator in 2020.
What People Are Saying
Journalist Aaron Rupar, on X, formerly Twitter: “Trump praises Tommy Tuberville for doing a great job as Patrick Mahomes’s college coach, despite the fact he never coached Mahomes.”
What Happens Next
The executive order signed by Trump on transgender athletes authorizes the Department of Education to penalize schools that allow transgender athletes to compete, citing noncompliance with Title IX, which prohibits sexual discrimination in schools. Any school found in violation could potentially be ineligible for federal funding.
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