Sept. 10, 2025, 5:33 p.m.
Former athletes and coaches are getting off the sidelines in hopes of translating their on-field success to public office.
It’s not uncommon for former athletes to run for office, but it has become more of a trend in recent years. For example, Rep. Burgess Owens, a former Super Bowl champion with the then-Oakland Raiders, won a tough election in 2020. The campaign leaned heavily on his background as an NFL player in its TV advertising. Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama had a long career coaching college football before he entered politics. Going back further, President George H.W. Bush was captain of the Yale baseball team his senior year, and President Ford won two national championships with the University of Michigan before running for office.
Sports figures run the gamut this cycle, including a former college football coach and two former NFL players. In addition, a Paralympic basketball gold medalist and a former World Series champion have thrown their hats into the ring.
In a time of intense political divide, candidates are leveraging their time on the sports field and the sidelines to build bridges in competitive seats.
“There are very few uniting factors in our society,” Iowa state Rep. Josh Turek, who’s running for Senate as a Democrat, told National Journal. “One of the uniting factors, without a doubt, is the Olympics and the Paralympics.”
Turek, who was born with spina bifida, won three medals on the U.S. Paralympic basketball team. He said wheelchair basketball gave him “a drive and a purpose and a friend group” while he grew up in “economically adverse conditions.”
“Outside of being a veteran or a member of the armed forces, I think one of the most patriotic things you can do is to represent your country on the field of play,” he said.
The pros-turned-politicians didn’t necessarily envision themselves hitting the stump during their playing careers. Many became involved in areas tangential to politics, such as charity work or local issues, and then used their elevated profile as a stepping stone to build a political career.
Jay Feely, a former NFL kicker and broadcaster now running for Congress in Arizona, said it’s something that had crossed his mind, but it wasn’t necessarily a primary ambition as he looked for ways to serve his community after stepping back from football.
The former Arizona Cardinal said he had discussed a bid for office with President Trump and Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio a few years ago, but he and his wife decided it was not the right time with their kids still in school. He says the assassination attempt on Trump more than a year ago in Butler, Pennsylvania, was the catalyst for him getting off the proverbial bench. Rep. Andy Biggs’s gubernatorial campaign gave Feely an opening to run in his home district.
All candidates who spoke to National Journal agreed that their time on the sidelines, court, or field helped them develop skills necessary to be successful in politics.
“As a kicker, you’re defined by the way in which you handle failure, because you’re going to fail; you’re going to miss game-winners,” Feely said. “I think in politics, [it’s] the same thing.”
Sports also offers a way for candidates to connect with voters and form bonds across the political spectrum. For some, the built-in name recognition provides an easy way to introduce themselves.
“My football career was not why people voted for me in my first congressional election, but I think it was a big part of their introduction to me,” former Rep. Colin Allred, a retired NFL linebacker running now for Senate in Texas, told National Journal.
A source close to GOP Senate candidate Derek Dooley said his three-decade career as a football coach is instructive to his daily interactions on the campaign trail. Dooley’s coaching of players from all walks of life, the source said, prepared him to talk to Georgians across the sociopolitical spectrum.
Dooley, who coached at the University of Tennessee and whose father was a University of Georgia football coaching legend, said in a recent interview that he had spoken with Tuberville, who coached at SEC rival Auburn, as he began his campaign. Tuberville told Dooley that running for Senate is “just like recruiting,” which Dooley said was helpful as he transitioned to politics.
Candidates also said voters like the fact that athletes and coaches don’t come from traditional political backgrounds but have done work such as mentoring young student-athletes or leading a team on or off the field.
Allred told National Journal that during his time as captain of Baylor University’s football team, he implemented an attendance policy for summer workouts after low attendance in previous years. He said the policy was not popular among his peers.
“I think that sort of taught me at a very young age—21 years old—that you might have to do things that are unpopular but that are important,” Allred said.
Part of the challenge, especially for political newcomers like Feely and Dooley, will be convincing voters that, despite their political inexperience, they can handle the job of elected office.
“It’s an asset, not a liability,” Feely said of his outsider status. “I think we need more people in office who have been successful, who want to get to office and be a civil servant … that don’t want to do it as a career.”
Turek and Allred largely agreed.
“I don’t think it’s a qualification in and of itself, and I want to stress that,” Allred said of being an athlete running for office. “I played with a lot of guys who should not be elected to public office.”
And yet, he mused, athletics teach some “natural values” such as teamwork, humility, and toughness that can translate to politics. In a deeply divided Washington, that might just be the winning playbook.
