Resurrection

When Southeastern Louisiana University, located in the piney woods of Hammond, La., announced that it was getting back into the football business after a 17-year hiatus, not many were surprised. Football is a passion in Louisiana and SLU is a school embedded deeply into the football fervor that spreads to every swamp and bayou throughout the South.

But what did catch the attention of many onlookers and passer’s by was the announcement that former Kentucky head coach and offensive guru, Hal Mumme, would be taking the helm.

After all, how could a non-existent Division I-AA football program lure one of the game’s top minds to the North Shore (a suburb of New Orleans located on Lake Pontchartrain’s north shore)? Were Bob Davie, Dennis Green and Terry Bowden also on the list? Furthermore, why would Southeastern want Mumme to build a football program after a tenure that ended with what many perceived as a managerial nightmare during the debacle at Kentucky in 2000? And last, but certainly not least, how does a school which has not had anything beyond intramural competition for the past two decades lure not only the game’s premier offensive mind, but also one of the greatest defensive generals of all time – former Vanderbilt head coach, Woody Widenhofer?

“No question about it, getting Coach Mumme and Coach Widenhofer has given us instant credibility and significantly increased our ability to be competitive right away,” said Frank Pergolizzi, SLU athletic director. “It’s a rebirth for Coach Mumme’s career and for football at Southeastern that had been dormant for quite a long time ... it was a union of two entities that are very well suited for one another.”

According to Mumme, SLU’s foray back into football was not a matter of if, but rather when.

“They never wanted to get out of the football business,” said Mumme. “There was a rash of schools dropping football programs back in the 1980s, such as Villanova, Fullerton State and Long Beach State. Most of it was basically a knee-jerk reaction by the administrators to Title IX. Then Title IX turned out to not be as bad as they thought it was going to be, so schools found other ways to deal with the situation.

“Southeastern had a good program, winning record, good attendance and was very competitive. It was really a shock to most people when they decided to let it go. There was never the idea that they didn’t want to have it, it was just a question of when it was going to be the right time to bring it back.”

Former SLU staff member, Dr. Louis Levy, who is now vice president of Valdosta State and a member of the selection committee that brought Mumme to Valdosta (1992-96), immediately called SLU President. Dr. Randy Moffett to get the ball rolling upon learning about the opening at Southeastern and Mumme’s interest in the position.

“As soon as I talked to Dr. Moffett, I knew that this was a job that I really wanted to consider,” Mumme said. “He is the kind of guy that you want to work for. He not only wants to do it, but he wants to do it well, do it right and do it now. I only had to talk to him once. I was going to probably turn down some jobs that on the surface might look better because of the people that I had the chance to work with here.”

With the pressure of fielding a team for the 2003 season, Mumme wasted little time putting together a staff. Mumme announced Dennis Roland as the Lions’ assistant head coach and offensive line coach. Carlton Buckels, Gary Goff, Mason Miller soon followed, along with Michael Morris and Sam Pitito. However, it was the hiring of Widenhofer that captured national attention.

“Woody was a real plus,” said Pergolizzi. “We did not have any idea that that was a possibility until we hired Hal.”

Widenhofer and Mumme were no strangers. The two had engaged in conference warfare for four years in the SEC. Both Kentucky’s offense and Vanderbilt’s defense were not only tops in the SEC, but were also ranked among the nation’s best every year.

“Woody and I competed against each other for four years and we always played toward the end of the year after we had both already run the gauntlet of Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia and Florida,” said Mumme. “We would play and it was always a good game each time we played and we would always say how we if could just combine those two teams we would be really good and have enough talent to really go after the big boys.”

“We would talk about teaming up and taking on the big dinosaurs of the SEC,” added Widenhofer, “Maybe then we would have had a chance.”

Kentucky ...

When it comes to courage, perhaps no one is more resilient than Hal Mumme. After helping his wife, June, of 30 years successfully battle breast cancer, a little career turmoil is a walk in the park.

Mumme led Kentucky to a 20-26 overall record in four seasons before resigning under a looming internal investigation of staff wrongdoing. However, Mumme is not a man to run and hide as he takes full responsibility for the sanctions levied against his former school.

“When I left Kentucky, I sat out for a year,” said Mumme. “We had all that trouble up there with the NCAA. We had some staffing things that weren’t correct. So, I sat around for about a year and thought about what I really wanted to do. I turned down a couple of opportunities to become an offensive coordinator during that time because I just did not feel that it was the right time. One of the things that intrigued me about this messs was that I felt like because of how all the NCAA stuff came down – and I am certainly not trying to shirk any responsibilities because I was the head of the ship when it ran aground – one of the wraps that got written was that I was a good offensive coach but not a good manager. But up until the last four months that I was at Kentucky, people were calling me to find out how to manage a team. I just figured what a better way to show that you could manage, than to start one from scratch, especially one that is a Division I school.”

Unfortunately, Mumme’s departure at Kentucky often overshadows his accomplishments, but those accomplishments can simply not be ignored. Under Mumme, Kentucky defeated Alabama for the first time in 75 years. The Wildcats went from 109th nationally in total offense to No. 6 in just one season. In 1998, Kentucky beat No. 21 LSU in Baton Rouge to register the school’s first road win over a ranked opponent in 21 years. Kentucky finished with its best record (7-4) in 14 years and its Outback Bowl appearance, on Jan. 1, 1999, against Penn State was the the school’s first New Year’s Day bowl since 1951.

In fact, Mumme led Kentucky to back-to-back bowl games (1998-99), which had not been accomplished since former Wildcats’ coaches, Paul “Bear” Bryant (1949-51) and Jerry Claiborne (1983-84), did so in the school’s 109-year history of the program.

“I’ve learned a lot from my experience at Kentucky,” said Mumme. “We meet more now as a staff. I know that I have to be on top of every aspect. But I’ve also gotten guys such as Woody Widenhofer and Dennis Roland that have been head coaches and athletic directors before. These guys possess a wealth of talent and knowledge. I have basically divided the duties between the three of us and we will take it from there.”

You have to look no further than Mumme’s own staff to find an accurate appraisel of Hal Mumme and what he stands for.

“I thought I knew him very well while we were playing each other every year in the SEC,” said Widenhofer. “But now that I have worked with him, I know that he is a great human being that just really cares about people. He is an honest and good person ... he is a family man with religious values and there is no question that the kids come first.”

Rebuilding ...

As soon as word spread throughout Louisiana that football would be returning to Hammond, hundreds of wannabe All-Americans showed up on Mumme’s doorstep.

“We had guys from other schools show up,” said Mumme. “We thanked them for coming but told them to go try out for their school first. We had some Arena guys and some semi-pro guys show up. Overall, we had about 330 players in our first meeting, but our compliance director eliminated about 200 right off the top due to grades and eligibility.

“Woody and I coached them all fall to narrow the team down to 60,” he added. “We used last year’s scholarships, which we could use up until January, to sign 14 transfers and brought them in and they are here working out with us now.”

Finding football players in the talent-rich state of Louisiana should be no problem for Mumme. Schools such as Evangel, John Curtis Christian and West Monroe are among the nation’s elite and annually ranked by the USA Today as a Super Prep Top 25.

“Recruiting is always a war,” said Mumme. “The great thing is that I get to sleep every night in my own bed – you don’t have to go very far to find good football players. New Orleans has a great wealth of talent and we signed five or six kids from there that we were amazed we could get. In fact, I feel pretty good about our first recruiting class. We lost some in the end, but mostly we lost them to schools like Tulane and Southern Miss, and when we lost to I-AA schools, it was always McNeese State.”

And when it comes to recruiting, Mumme and Widenhofer’s background certainly doesn’t hurt Southeastern’s chances of landing a blue-chipper every now and then.

“If you are a talented offensive player, then you have an opportunity to play for Coach Mummne,” said Pergolizzi. “If you are talented defensive player, then you have an opportunity to play for Coach Widenhofer.”

“Louisiana is about as good of high school football as there is in the country,” added Widenhofer. “It may not be recruited as heavily as Florida or Texas, but if we just do a great job within 50 miles of Hammond, then we will do well for ourself.”

Outlook ...

Southeastern raised $5 million to restart its dormant football program. The school, whose 15 current sports compete in the Southland Conference, will resume play as a I-AA Independent in 2003 before joining the Southland in 2005.

“The first game will come soon enough,” said Pergolizzi. “We have 185 days, 7 hours and 6 minutes until kickoff, so we still have a lot to do.

“Ticket sales are going very well,” he continued. “Our stadium is not very big, but it will be packed and have a great college football atmosphere. People are excited everywhere you go. Now, when you say you are from Southeastern, football becomes a very hot topic.”

Mumme is not taking this new task lightly. He is taking every precaution to not only ensure success, but to also avoid controversy.

“I have learned a lot from my past mistakes,” he said. “I know that I have to put a premium on quality of both our kids and our staff. In this situation, we need guys that are good at public relations as well as recruiting and coaching.

“But when it comes down to football, we are not going to change anything. On offense, I always thought that if you could throw the ball, then you could run it. What we try to do is try to find people that know how to score, throw it to them short and let them run with it. If defenses creep up on you, throw deep. We run the ball third and that sounds bad if you are a running back, but we have always either had a 1,000-yard rusher or had a couple of guys combine for a 1,000 yards. Our pass sets up the run, which is the opposite of what most teams do.”

Coach Mumme has never been one to buy into four-, five- or 10-year plans. He expects to win and win now. He does not need a Tim Couch or Jared Lorenzen to run his offense successfully. He feels confident that Southeastern’s facilities are sufficient to compete immediately and that they will only get better.

“We have a chance to compete for the Southland Conference title as a member in 2005 and we would like to do just that in our first year,” he said. “We will probably take a few bumps at first, but we want to build a national championship caliber I-AA program. The community has welcomed us and we are here to do a job and build something special; it is a unique opportunity for us all.”

Getting Defensive>>
With Woody Widenhofer