A top football coach claims Donald Trump could inadvertently make his team lose—and says it wouldn’t be the first time the president’s curse has struck.
The University of Texas Longhorns go up against the Tennessee Volunteers at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville on Saturday, and Trump is scheduled to be in attendance.
Ahead of the game, Texas coach Steve Sarkisian was interviewed by On Texas Football and revealed that a fellow coach claimed Trump affected their championship game last season.
He said University of Miami coach Mario Cristobal told him communications can be cut when the president enters, exits, or moves around the stadium.
“The one thing that you have to be aware of when the president goes to any game is that any time he enters the stadium or leaves the stadium, or changes locations within the stadium, they cut all communication,” Sarkisian told the press.
“They cut headsets to coaches. They cut headsets to coach-to-player communication. So you have to have a plan for that if and/or when, and you get no warning. So that just gets cut out.”
On Thursday, he later said that the incident had occurred during last year’s championship game—which Miami lost 27-21 after Indiana held off a late comeback.
“In the fourth quarter, if he decides to leave early, your communications get cut off and shut down,” he later clarified to On Texas Football.
“A good friend of mine is Mario Cristobal. Last year, when they were playing Indiana in the national championship, they had that drive at the end of that game.
“They had no communication because he was leaving early before the game ended. And so you get no warning. It just cuts out.
“And so you’ve got to be prepared for that. That is definitely something that is unique that could come up in this ball game.”
Spectators have been told to arrive at the stadium early on Saturday due to a heightened security operation and Secret Service screening.
News that Trump may have impacted last season’s championship game has sparked astonishment amongst commentators.
Former Meet the Press host Chuck Todd said: “WTF!!!?!? Are you telling me that Trump cost Miami in the final drive? Is that what Sark is saying? I went into a bit of sports media blackout post-Miami loss in that game, but was this widely reported post-game?”
“You kidding me??” said sports writer Alex Donno in a post on X, sharing a clip of Sarkisian speaking. “They cut off Miami’s comms with no warning during the final drive of the title game down 6???”
“A pretty insane story given the timing and stakes,” wrote spots analyst CJ Vogel on the same platform.
The timing of the cutout in Sarkisian’s story has raised some questions.
A source at Miami told The Athletic that the cutout had happened prior to Miami’s late drive in last year’s final.
Meanwhile, Indiana coach Curt Cignetti told ESPN the outage happened at the 6:45 mark. He said Miami had the ball then.
“We couldn’t hear (on the TD), then it came back,” he told the sports network. “It came back before kickoff. We both had communication from that point on.”
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.
It’s not the first time Trump has been accused of causing sports teams problems.
The phrase “Trump Curse” quickly trended online after the U.S. Men’s National Team’s resounding soccer World Cup loss against Belgium this summer.
Trump personally intervened with FIFA President Gianni Infantino to overturn the suspension of Team USA superstar Folarin Balogun—but they still lost 4-1.
The ‘Trump Curse’ was out in force once again in June, when Trump’s attendance at the New York Knicks’ NBA Finals Game 3 coincided with the end of their 13-game win streak. They went on to win the NBA Championship in Game 5, when Trump was not there.
