Super Bowl 59: Patrick Mahomes corrects Tommy Tuberville’s claims of recruiting QB to Texas Tech

Super Bowl 59: Patrick Mahomes corrects Tommy Tuberville’s claims of recruiting QB to Texas Tech

Patrick Mahomes would prefer that credit for his success not be given when it’s not due.

That’s compelled the Kansas City Chiefs quarterback to clarify the history of his college career after a recent attempted revision of it leading up to Super Bowl LIX, in light of remarks made by President Donald Trump and Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville.

Trump gave Tuberville credit for coaching Mahomes in college during a speech Wednesday.

“Tommy Tuberville, a great coach. You know, his quarterback was named Mahomes,” Trump said. “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?”

Tuberville did indeed coach at Texas Tech, Mahomes’ alma mater, from 2010-12. But the quarterback played in Lubbock from 2014-16 under head coach Kliff Kingsbury.

Tuberville didn’t correct Trump while he was speaking at a podium. But in a subsequent interview with Megyn Kelly on Thursday, he clarified that he didn’t coach Mahomes.

However, Tuberville claimed that he recruited the three-time Super Bowl champion. He would have been Cincinnati’s head coach at the time, though his recruitment could have gone back to his Texas Tech tenure.

“I never coached him. What happened is I recruited him and then I left and went to another school,” Tuberville said. “But I got to be very good friends with him. He’s not just a good athlete, he’s a very good example for a lot of our young youth across this country.”
Asked about Tuberville’s remarks in New Orleans on Thursday, Mahomes said that he wasn’t recruited by Tuberville and doesn’t recall even meeting the coach.

“He did not recruit me at the time,” Mahomes told the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Gabriela Carroll. “I don’t remember if I ever got to meet him or not.”

Tuberville infamously took the Cincinnati job while at dinner with recruits he was attempting to lure to Texas Tech. During his 21-year career before entering politics, he also coached at Ole Miss and Auburn.

Meanwhile, Mahomes wasn’t recruited by the Red Raiders until a year after Tuberville left. He received his first offer from Texas Tech he was a junior in high school, while also being recruited by TCU and SMU.

Mahomes’ correction likely won’t reach as many as the remarks from Trump and Tuberville. But he’s on the record regarding who recruited and coached him in college prior to an NFL career that will surely lead to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.