Rubin: Playing football, not politics — a Walled Lake Western invitation for Tim Walz

Once a coach, says Nevin Kanner, always a coach — even when your last game was 18 years ago, and your next victory might come on Election Day.

A coach in his own lifetime of everything from college lacrosse to his kid's floor hockey team, Kanner has been sidelined this football season by surgery. But he's still considered a volunteer assistant coach for the squad at Walled Lake Western High School, and, in that capacity, he has a question for the potential backup to the leader of the free world:

Hey, Tim Walz, wanna come to a game?

Walz is fairly busy these days. He's the governor of Minnesota, and he's the Democratic nominee for vice president of the United States.

In 1999, though, he was the defensive coordinator for a Mankato West High School team that lost four of its first six games, then bulldozed its way through the next eight to claim a state championship.

He'll probably be zipping into Michigan repeatedly between now and Nov. 5, given that we're a swing state in an uncertain election amid perilous times. Walled Lake Western has clobbered its first two opponents, so it's an entertaining team to watch.

"If this takes flight," Kanner said, "it would be a great experience for the kids," and as far as he and the internet know, no other school has had the nerve or optimism to ask.

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Western still has four home games on its schedule, including a big rivalry faceoff against Walled Lake Central on Oct. 25. Head coach Kory Cioroch is on board, even if his most pressing concern just now is Friday night's showdown at unbeaten South Lyon.

So c'mon, Kanner said. Coach to coach, fan to fan, just say the word, Gov. Walz.

Want to come to a game?

An idea born of immobility

Kanner, 70, conjured up the idea a few weeks ago.

"I've had a lot of time on my hands," he explained, prompted by too little time on his feet; one had an ulcer and the other had bone problems, and now both are wrapped in post-operative slippers and he can barely get to the front door of his home in West Bloomfield behind a three-wheeled walker.

A Michigan State alumnus, and the varsity lacrosse coach there at age 24, he thought he might ask Gov. Gretchen Whitmer for help with his invitation.

She's a fellow Spartan, he reasoned, but she's not much easier to reach than Walz, so instead he sent a text to the Free Press.

It's a near certainty Whitmer's staff will see his notion here. Maybe she'll speed it along to Walz's team, or the Kamala Harris campaign. Maybe it'll go viral and Lester Holt will mention it on the "NBC Nightly News" and even the BBC will come asking for a tour of Walled Lake Western's glorious new academic wing, and Domino's will deliver free pizza for everybody.

Or not. But at least he's trying.

"We tell our kids that anything is possible," he said, and it's important to show them, too.

Along his own path, he grew up on Long Island, earned a degree from MSU, and at various points has worked for his family's security company, run the Jaycees chapter in Miami, Florida, managed a bar, coordinated events for nonprofits, and dreamed.

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More years than not, he has been some sort of coach, most recently junior varsity football and lacrosse at Western.

"I love junior varsity," he said. "You help develop kids, and get them so they have a smooth transition to varsity."

He was speaking from his airy kitchen, where an uncoachable, brown-and-white, 3-year-old standard poodle named Einstein was tearing apart a black surgical mask after blithely ignoring instructions to stop jumping on an amused visitor.

He — Kanner, that is — was wearing a Walled Lake Western jacket, a Western baseball cap with his glasses perched on its visor, and his standard smile.

A repository of bad dad jokes, "Nevin always lightens the mood," said Cioroch, 35.

As a coach, Cioroch said, "He builds strong relationships with kids. He always has an idea. Some of them are farfetched."

This latest one, we'll see.

Coaches, and more

The thing about coaches, Cioroch said, is that they're often more than that.

Teachers, psychologists, maintenance workers. Frequently, huggers.

He and Kanner see a lot of those things in Walz, which is one of the reasons Kanner wants to see him on campus. Beside which, Kanner said, there are intriguing links.

Western's teams are the Warriors, and Harris calls herself and Walz "joyful warriors." Western's best recent player, running back Darius Taylor, plays for the University of Minnesota; when Kanner told him about his idea, Taylor shot back a heart emoji. Minnesota and Michigan are both original Big Ten states.

Plus, we have 15 electoral votes.

"I heard one of Gov. Walz's speeches," Kanner said, "and he was saying one person can make a difference."

On this score, maybe that's Kanner.

The gates are open, he said. Bring the family, Gov. Walz. Bring the Secret Service.

Bring a defensive play call, even — coach to coach.

Reach Neal Rubin at [email protected].

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Tim Walz invited by coach to watch Walled Lake Western football game