Tommy Tuberville struggles to remember Patrick Mahomes’ name after criticizing Joe Biden for forgetting names
U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville, the former Auburn coach, took a shot this week at Joe Biden for the president’s forgetfulness. Then moments later, Tuberville couldn’t remember the name Patrick Mahomes.
Yes, that’s a faux pas for a man who used to make his living coaching football. Mahomes, of course, is football royalty. In fact, the senator’s memory flub may be doubly bad considering that Tuberville bragged in an earlier interview that he recruited Mahomes. This was back when Tuberville was the coach at Texas Tech and Mahomes was starring at Whitehouse High School in East Texas.
Here’s the back story. Tuberville appeared on The Chris Salcedo Show on Newsmax earlier this week. Tuberville, aside from his duties as senator, also is an active campaign surrogate for former President Donald Trump. Biden’s so-called memory issues are a frequent topic on political talk shows focused on November’s presidential election.
“The leader in the White House, he can’t remember names, he can’t carry on a conversation,” Tuberville told Salcedo. “He has to listen to the press corps to give him hints about what he’s talking about. We’re in really bad trouble when it comes to Joe Biden. And hopefully, we’ve only got 10 or 12 more months with him.”
And with the Super Bowl set for Sunday in Las Vegas, Salcedo ended the Tuberville interview by asking him for a game prediction. Hint, the senator still thinks a punishing running game and a tenacious D are the key to all victories.
“Well, San Francisco’s got the best defense,“ Tuberville said. “Obviously, the best quarterback is gonna be on the side of ….“
And this is where Tuberville went blank, as he paused for several seconds to remember the name Patrick Mahomes. Tuberville then leaned into the obvious and identified him as the guy on the Chiefs.
“But they got a running back in San Francisco is pretty dang good.,” Tuberville finished as he brought up Christian McCaffrey, but without naming him. McCaffrey won NFL Offensive Player of the Year Thursday night.
Mahomes is vying for his third Super Bowl win
Patrick Mahomes could be the best-known player in the NFL. He’s quarterbacked the Chiefs to two Super Bowl wins. In fact, Sunday will be his fourth Super Bowl. If the Chiefs win, then Mahomes will tie Joe Montana and Terry Bradshaw on the Super Bowl quarterback victories list. Meanwhile, Tuberville knew Mahomes this time a year ago. During one of his many talk show appearances, Tuberville gave his thoughts on a key holding penalty in last year’s Super Bowl.
“There’s a difference between pass interference and hold, and that was definitely a hold,“ Tuberville said. “But I’m a Kansas City fan. … I recruited Pat Mahomes when I was at Texas Tech.“
Technically, this claim probably is true. Tuberville was the head coach at Tech from 2010 through 2012. He abruptly left Lubbock to take a job with the Cincinnati Bearcats during a key recruiting weekend in early December, 2012. Tech hired Kliff Kingsbury, who then made the scholarship offer to Patrick Mahomes, who was a borderline 4 star prospect.
The rest is history, even if you can’t remember the name.