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... "That was pretty cool for most coaches in America," said Gary Rankin, the head football coach at Boyd Buchanan School, a private high school in Chattanooga, Tenn. "Regardless of one's politics, this is exciting for a lot of us."

Joe Aresimowicz, the head football coach at Berlin High School in Berlin, Conn., said he quickly learned what he could about Walz, including that he had helped the Mankato West High School Scarlets football team go from a winless streak to the 1999 Minnesota state championship.

"It all started to fit," said Aresimowicz, a former Democratic speaker of the Connecticut house of representatives. "Coaching and politics are one and the same in a lot of areas."

Many coaches saw an inspirational moment at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago as 15 former football players at Mankato West took the stage in a tribute to their former assistant coach.

Rankin, the winningest high school football coach in Tennessee history, was inducted this year into the hall of fame of the National Federation of State High School Associations, the Indianapolis-based rule-setting body for secondary school activities.

Football coaching is about building relationships"with players, other coaches, and the community, he said.

"I'm sure it's the same way when you get into politics," Rankin said. "There are teams around you whether you are a congressman, the vice president, or the president." ...

The quality of coaching matters, research shows ...