What Was Patrick Mahomes' College GPA?
Patrick Mahomes was a two-sport athlete in college who excelled not only in both football and baseball, but in the classroom. Originally, the Texas Tech University student wanted to pursue baseball. "My goal was to go to college, play three years of football, three years of baseball, and go [back] into the MLB draft," he told Time in April. Similar to Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Paul Skenes, Mahomes had a great GPA. In his freshman year at Texas Tech, Mahomes was named to the student athlete honor roll with a GPA of 4.0 as a baseball player in 2014. After one year of playing both sports, Texas Tech's football coach, Kliff Kingsbury, convinced Mahomes to focus on the gridiron.
As the team's starting quarterback, Mahomes exceeded all expectations. Even though he was the focal point of the Red Raiders' offense, Mahomes still maintained an impressive GPA of 3.91. Part of that was thanks to the work he put in while in high school. "He started getting college credits at Tyler Junior College when he was still in high school," his mother, Randi Mahomes, told Tyler Today in 2015. "I am very proud of his athletic achievements. However, I am more proud of his scholastic accomplishments," Randi said.
The following year, Patrick continued to make his mom proud as he was named the Big 12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year. He did that while achieving a 3.64 GPA as a marketing major. Given his grades, it was surprising that Patrick did not earn his degree.
Why Patrick Mahomes is motivated to graduate
Part of the reason that Patrick Mahomes took junior college classes while he was in high school was so that he could complete his degree early if he was drafted into the MLB or NFL. As his mother told Tyler Today in 2015, if Mahomes did not enter the NFL after his junior year at Texas Tech University then he was going to work on his master's degree. As is well-documented, Mahomes was drafted by the Kansas City Chiefs in 2017, but a lesser-known fact is that despite his impressive GPA, the quarterback never completed his degree.
Mahomes spoke about his lack of a diploma when responding to some fans' posts on X, formerly Twitter, for Complex in April. "I have not graduated yet. I'm 15 hours short," the Chiefs star said in a clip posted to Instagram. Mahomes, who has a tight friendship with Travis Kelce off the field, said he was motivated by his teammate. "If Travis got his diploma, I've got to find a way to get my diploma from Texas Tech. I did way more classes than he did. My mom's gonna be pissed if I don't," he added.
A lack of a degree did not get in the way of Texas Tech inviting the Super Bowl champion to address the spring 2020 graduating class, per Texas Tech Today. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the address was given virtually. It was not the only time the former student-athlete standout addressed a class.
Patrick Mahomes's kids may be homeschooled
Patrick Mahomes visited a group of students at the St. Mark Child and Family Development Center in April 2018. St. Mark is an early learning center for kids living in low-income zip codes. It was important for Mahomes to speak about his scholastic work before becoming a star NFL quarterback. "I'm just a regular guy that went to school, did these same things," he told Chiefs.com about speaking to the children at St. Mark. "I hope they can see that and will think that they can achieve whatever they dream, if that's a football player or just a great businessman, husband, wife or whatever they want to be," he added.
The education of youngsters was a topic of discussion during a Q&A with Brittany Mahomes in August 2023. A fan on Instagram asked if Brittany and Patrick knew where their kids — Sterling Mahomes and Patrick "Bronze" Mahomes — would go to school. "Will your kids go to regular school or will you homeschool?" the fan asked (via People). "I am leaning towards home school," Brittany replied.
No matter where the Mahomes kids end up going to school, they can count on their dad being present. Speaking to Time in April, Patrick was asked about possibly playing a career that would last as long as Tom Brady's. "I would love to play that long," the quarterback said. "At the same time, I want to be there for my daughter. If I can do that, I'll continue to play," Patrick added.