THE HAL MUMME COACHING TREE: MORE OF A SHRUB, REALLY

by dougisthesoulmachine on Aug 6, 2009 10:37 AM EDT

If you're an SEC fan of a certain vintage, you probably have vivid memories of former Kentucky head coach Hal Mumme: looked like Ted Danson's awkward younger brother, called plays like a desperate bizarro-world Steve Spurrier, and was characterized by the near-constant presence of a jaunty neck towel that had to have been perpetually sodden with the floppiest of flop sweats. His four-year tenure at UK read like the Cliffs Notes version of a Scorsese mafia epic -- lifted the Wildcats up out of decades-long obscurity to only their third back-to-back bowl appearances in program history, but painted this veneer of success on a rickety structure of malfeasance and staff infighting, and flamed out in the third act as player payments were exposed and the 'Cats were pile-driven into 2-9 embarrassment. Mumme is now the head coach at Division III McMurry University, which currently does not have a name or mascot for any of its athletic teams as a result of the NCAA striking down its former nickname, the Indians, on the basis that it could be seen as offensive to Native Americans.

mumme
I've got my towel, I've cut all the checks . . . let's light this candle.

As Mumme prepares for his first season at McMurry, Lexington Herald-Leader columnist John Clay took it upon himself to track down Mumme's UK staff and find out where they'd ended up. What he found was less than inspiring: Of Mumme and his 11 original assistants from 1997, only five are employed at D-IA programs in any capacity; four are college head coaches; two are coaching at the high-school level; and two are out of coaching entirely (though one of them has the convenient excuse of being dead since 2006).

The most successful of these gentlemen, obviously, is Mike Leach, currently leading his rowdy band of pirates at Texas Tech to regular bowl appearances; oddly enough, the guys with the next most prestigious jobs on the list were mere graduate assistants under Mumme. Chris Hatcher is the head coach at Georgia Southern (and being mentioned with increasing frequency as a candidate for D-IA jobs), while Sonny Dykes is breathing life into a formerly moribund passing attack as Arizona's offensive coordinator.

There is, of course, one guy who still rates a grade of "incomplete": Tony Franklin, running backs coach under Mumme and currently offensive coordinator at MTSU. At the moment, Franklin is known primarily for being the catalyst that started the Tommy Tuberville administration down the road to doom in its last year at Auburn, a dubious distinction indeed; but if he can work the same wonders at MTSU that he did at Troy, who knows, he might have a D-IA coaching gig in him yet, thereby eclipsing both his old bosses something fierce. The spread offense indeed works in mysterious ways.

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Thanks for the link.

by John Clay on Aug 6, 2009 11:07 AM EDT reply actions

Ah, the Air Raid days… The days when they changed the name of the street next to Commonwealth Stadium “Hal Mumme Pass”… Get it? Tim Couch. Craig Yeast. Kio Sanford. Jeff Snedegar. Dusty Bonner. James Whalen. Hell, I even mean the local car dealership commercials. “Did somebody say ‘pass?’”

Too bad that fun lasted all of three seasons.

Then Claude Bassett decided he’d leave a paper trail of cheating that traced back to the university. Brilliant, brilliant stuff there.

by UKChris on Aug 6, 2009 11:35 AM EDT reply actions

Can’t get my words right this morning…

“Hell, I even REMEMBER the local car dealership commercials.”

by UKChris on Aug 6, 2009 11:36 AM EDT reply actions

You say assistant coaches, the NCAA says co-conspirators. Any man who hired the brilliance that is Mike Leach, has my approval. Didn’t he also give us Jared Lorenzen aka the Pillsbury Throw Boy? What more can anyone ask?

by Crabapple Buck on Aug 6, 2009 11:54 AM EDT reply actions

A few thought-tangents made me look up whatever happened to Tim Couch. Wikipedia states he married Heather Kozar. Good work if you can get it…

by softbatch on Aug 6, 2009 12:11 PM EDT reply actions

I think the fact that Mumme’s ideas have been shamelessly ripped off by nearly every offensive coach in the country speaks far more to his influence than simply counting how many of his assistants aren’t coaching any more.

by 4.0 Point Stance on Aug 6, 2009 12:15 PM EDT reply actions

Nothing has ever been so sure as the fact that Oklahoma would win the NC in 2000.

When you hire Steve Spurrier’s defensive coordinator* and Hal Mumme’s offensive coordinator, you win.

*People forget Spurrier couldn’t win it all until he got Stoops. His disinterest with defense at UF was legendary and costly.

by PeayHog on Aug 6, 2009 12:15 PM EDT reply actions

I agree with #3 entirely on this matter. It was after Mumme at UK that you saw so many teams go to full blown 3 and 4 receiver sets all the time. And the influence goes further down that line than Mumme to his direct successors. How many guys learned from being on Mike Leach’s staff those same principles and carried them on? Mark Mangino’s offense is greatly influenced by the time he spent on the OU staff with Leach.

And Tony Franklin gets a bad wrap for the failures at Auburn given that Tubbs wouldn’t let him turn it loose. Chris at SmartFootball laid it all out last year – http://smartfootball.blogspot.com/2008/10/auburns-offense-might-be-bad-but-dont.html. I was at the AU/WVU game last October, and it was double-back I-formation almost the entire game from Auburn. That was not Tony Franklin’s doing.

by beckett on Aug 6, 2009 1:37 PM EDT reply actions

As a New Mexico State fan, I remember Hal’s time with the Aggies fondly…and by “fondly” I mean “in a manner that makes me want to drink cleaning supplies.” 9 wins in 4 years, 21 consecutive losses against D1-A teams to start his tenure – ah, memories.

by Caz on Aug 6, 2009 2:10 PM EDT reply actions

And the other tie these guys have is Valdosta State. Weren’t Mumme and Leach both head coaches there? And Hatcher was a record setting QB for Leach at VSU. Something in the water in South Georgia.

by atlantadomer on Aug 6, 2009 4:49 PM EDT reply actions

Smart Football also wrote the definitive Mumme piece, including his staff and influence. I’m not a big fan of the guy, but I don’t think it makes sense to look at his staff at Kentucky in a vacuum and think “Oh, weak.” I mean, other than some of the super successful programs, how might the staff of another mid-level program fare? Anyway, here’s the Smart Football piece: http://smartfootball.blogspot.com/2009/04/ballad-of-hal-mumme.html

by Greg Dodge on Aug 6, 2009 6:16 PM EDT reply actions

atlantadomer @ 10:

It’s not the water. Back when I was in high school and my juggernaut North Georgia Champions LaGrange High Grangers (any Bama types remember Vince Sutton? or AU types remember Nate Hill?) lost the state championship to the Tift County Blue Devils 54-6 (or something like that), we concluded it was gnat protein.

by NCT on Aug 6, 2009 8:30 PM EDT reply actions

Considering how short his big school career was, and how weak a program my Wildcats have traditionally had, that’s actually a pretty fertile tree. Throw in the strong influence on college offenses, and the play-for-play copycatting of it by many high schools, and I don’t understand any attempt to diminish his influence.

by OldSouth on Aug 7, 2009 9:27 AM EDT reply actions

I think the whole article has really no merit, its using too many huge adjectives, seemingly to make te article sound pround. But as stated by others, the Assistants of Mumme have mostly had some fine post UK careers and Moments, after all, its Not Florida, Michigan, Ohio State, Georgia, USC….So For Mid level D1, They really have alot to be proud of.

by UKAlum on Aug 16, 2009 11:28 AM EDT reply actions