Trump’s Patrick Mahomes Blunder Sparks Mockery as He Falsely Credits Coach Tommy Tuberville

Donald Trump might want to brush up on his football history—because his latest gaffe had even die-hard fans shaking their heads. On Wednesday, Trump gathered female athletes and activists at the White House to sign an executive order banning transgender athletes from competing in women’s sports.

However, the event took an unexpected turn when Trump made a glaring mistake while praising Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville. Tuberville, a former college football coach, played a key role in pushing a Senate bill called “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports”—a measure Trump was eager to celebrate. But in his enthusiasm, Trump fumbled the facts.

“Tommy Tuberville, a great coach. You know, his quarterback was named Mahomes,” Trump declared confidently. “He was a great college coach, and I said, ‘How good was he?’ He said, ‘You don’t want to 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.”

There was just one major problem—Tuberville never coached Patrick Mahomes. While Tuberville did coach at Texas Tech, he left in 2012 after just two seasons. Mahomes didn’t arrive at Texas Tech until 2014, meaning his actual coach was Kliff Kingsbury—not Tuberville.

According to Newsweek, Tuberville had already moved on to coach at the University of Cincinnati by the time Mahomes was even on Texas Tech’s radar. The Cover 3 College Football Podcast further debunked Tuberville’s past claim that he recruited Mahomes, noting that the Red Raiders initially pursued another quarterback, DJ Gillen.

It wasn’t until Gillen de-committed—after Tuberville had left—that Texas Tech turned its attention to Mahomes. Despite the mix-up, Mahomes went on to become one of the NFL’s biggest stars, getting drafted 10th overall in 2017 and leading the Kansas City Chiefs to multiple Super Bowl appearances. Tuberville, on the other hand, left football behind and rode Trump’s MAGA wave into the U.S. Senate in 2020.

As expected, critics on social media wasted no time mocking Trump for his Texas Tech mistake. “Patrick Mahomes’ college coach at Texas Tech was Kliff Kingsbury. Feel free to fact-check that—Trump’s dementia is showing,” one person posted on X. “Yep, and Vince Lombardi did a whale of a job with Michael Jordan,” another quipped.

“Cites a conversation that factually didn’t happen. Unless the Tubs really lied to Trump about coaching Mahomes. These people have no bottom, so I guess it wouldn’t shock me too much,” a third critic chimed in.

With Trump set to attend Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans on Sunday, where Mahomes and the Chiefs will take on the Philadelphia Eagles in a highly anticipated rematch, all eyes will be on whether the president can avoid another football fumble.