‘Friday Night Lights’ Author Compares Tim Walz to Famous Fictional Coach: ‘Embodiment of Masculinity Without Obnoxious Edge’

Friday Night Lights author Buzz Bissinger has no problem with Tim Walz being compared to Eric Taylor, the high school football coach at the center of the popular TV series inspired by Bissinger’s book.

In a New York Times op-ed published on Thursday, Bissinger said he was “flattered” to hear Vice President Kamala Harris reference the now-famous line started by the author when he published his book in 1990. The book would later be adapted in 2004 into a film and later inspire the previously mentioned TV series.

“Under those Friday night lights,” Harris said at a Philadelphia rally while introducing her running mate, a former high school football coach. “Coach Walz motivated his players to believe they could achieve anything.”

Bissinger called the character of Taylor (portrayed by Kyle Chandler over five seasons) the “embodiment of masculinity without the obnoxious edge.”

The author wrote:

Coach Taylor was sensitive. Coach Taylor put his players first. Coach Taylor could motivate without screaming and denigrating. Coach Taylor took a back seat to the career of his wife. Coach Taylor was cool and handsome. He’s what we think of when we think of the ideal high school coach: empathetic, humane, with a drive to win but compassion after a loss. He was the embodiment of masculinity without the obnoxious edge. If coaching experience was the only criterion in running for vice president — and it feels hard to forget that it’s not, given the media frenzy around Mr. Walz — Coach Taylor would be the hands-down choice.

The reporter and author warned that Taylor was also a larger-than-life Hollywood concoction where the good qualities are “accentuated.”

Bissinger argued the qualities of a good coach can still feed leadership potential for a politician and praised Walz’s military background and time in Congress. If Walz wants to lean in on the Taylor comparisons, he added, he’s welcome too.

“If Mr. Walz wants to channel Coach Taylor under the glow of the Friday night lights, I say go for it. Coach Taylor’s most cited line in the television show occurred in a fictional speech in a fictional locker room in front of actors playing fictional roles when he said, ‘Clear eyes, full hearts, can’t lose,'” Bissinger wrote.

Bissinger called the line a “beautiful phrase,” but warned Walz may need to channel a different kind of leader if he actually makes it to the White House.

“I’m not so sure it will work if Mr. Walz reaches the White House and tries to use it to persuade certain members of Congress to act like sensible human beings,” he wrote. “For that task, he might be better to draw on his experience in a high-school lunchroom, monitoring disruptive brats.”

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