FBI Director Kash Patel acted as though he was “more of a bro” than a coach to the high school hockey players he worked with, according to a report.
In February, Patel became the center of controversy after he was filmed drinking beer with the victorious U.S. men’s national ice hockey team at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy.
The FBI Director’s love for hockey led him to coach a youth team more than a decade ago, his friend Clark Mowrey told CNN.
Mowrey said that he noticed Patel, while working out at a gym in Washington, D.C. Since Patel was wearing a Hartford Whalers shirt, Mowrey approached him and struck up a conversation about the sport.
Mowrey said that he saw Patel, who was an employee at the DOJ at the time, as someone in need of a community.
Eventually, he asked Patel to coach his son’s team. Mowrey said that Patel was never paid and often arrived at the rink still wearing his work suit.
“It was crazy because I really didn’t realize how busy his schedule was,” Mowrey said. “But he never missed a practice and never missed any games.
“The kids kind of fell in love with him, and he was always there and always available.”
After leaving the Justice Department in 2017 and joining the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence as an aide, Patel began volunteering as an assistant coach for another youth team in D.C.
The team was composed of students at the then-Woodrow Wilson High School, which has now been renamed Jackson-Reed.
“He really cared about us,” a former player named Luke told CNN. “All of the games were Friday nights, so he was giving up all of his Friday nights to come coach me and my idiot friends. He definitely cared.”
Luke added that Patel “lost it” on one occasion, lambasting a player for being late to one of their games.
“They got in a bit of a screaming match,” he said, noting that the team appreciated his “no-nonsense personality.”
Another former player said that Patel was “one of the guys” and “more of a bro” than a coach.
Several of the players recalled that Patel told his team not to “believe that fake news” when any of them mentioned something they had heard about President Trump.
One player, who asked not to be identified out of fear of retaliation, said that “everyone just sort of laughed it off at the time.”
“Then like a year or two later, he shows up on Fox News, and he sort of has his own segment, and everyone was kind of blindsided by that,” the player added. “We were like, ‘Whoa, this is who Coach Kash really is, I suppose.’”
Luke told CNN that Patel announced that he was leaving the team after the 2019 season because he “got a really important job.”
“Little did we know his job was being buddy-buddy with Trump and all that good stuff,” he said.
Several of the hockey players told the network that they had followed their former coach’s career, despite not agreeing with his politics.
Some said that the video of Patel at the 2026 Winter Olympics showed a man unlike the one they knew, with several claiming that they barely recognized him.
Patel defended his appearance with the men’s hockey team during a press conference on Tuesday.
“I’m like an everyday American who loves his country, loves the sport of hockey,” he said. “And champions my friends when they raise a gold medal and invite me in to celebrate.”
A sports agent representing one of Team USA’s players was blunt.
“He should’ve never been allowed into the room,” the agent told CNN.
The Independent has contacted the FBI for comment.
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