MyT Oklahoma
7/7/2009, 09:22 AM
By Kevin Haskin
July 6, 2009 - 10:50pm
Jack Mitchell was amazing in the broken field.
First as an All-America quarterback who inadvertently invented the option pitch for Oklahoma.
Then as a football coach who guided Wichita State to its best record and Kansas to its first bowl win before losing his job one dreadful afternoon trudging the sideline at Kansas State.
The year was 1966 and the Wildcats sensed their first score against the Jayhawks in seven years — Mitchell’s teams managed a 188-0 advantage during the string of shutouts — would hold up for a victory.
But Thermus Butler was summoned in the final seconds for KU and connected on a wobbly field goal, his first as a collegian, to forge a 3-3 tie in the one of the worst games ever waged in the rivalry.
“I had no idea whether Butler could kick or not,’’ Mitchell conceded afterward. “He’s been kicking off, and he’s never practiced or kicked any field goals.”
The boot didn’t spare Mitchell the same fate. He was fired and so too was Doug Weaver, the K-State coach who went 8-60-1 during seven horrendous seasons.
Mitchell wasn’t so forgetful. Oddly, his achievements as a player were recalled most recently when a Kansas State standout was threatening the national record for touchdowns off punt returns.
David Allen scored seven times for the Wildcats on punt returns, tying the record Mitchell set from 1946-48 at OU. The record was since broken by a pair of Big 12 standouts, Antonio Perkins, of Oklahoma, and Wes Welker, of Texas Tech. Mitchell, however, continues to hold the NCAA career record for punt return average, 23.6 yards.
And, yes, his flair for pitching the football just before tacklers converged inspired legendary OU coach Bud Wilkinson to incorporate that wrinkle into the Sooners’ split-T offense.
Still, what Mitchell accomplished as a coach in this state is just as incredible.
He guided Wichita State, a school that later dropped football, to its best finish ever. The 9-1 mark in 1954 was so good, in fact, Mitchell was awarded a 10-year contract. Nonetheless he left a few weeks later to take over at Arkansas, then came to Kansas and directed the Jayhawks to a 44-42-5 record during nine seasons.
Only Glen Mason stayed at KU as long. Only Mason (47) and Bert Kennedy (53) produced more wins as KU coaches until last year’s Insight Bowl, where Mark Mangino achieved his 45th victory with the Jayhawks. Soon, Mangino figures to become KU’s all-time winningest football coach. And, with his eighth season approaching, its most stable.
But something about Mitchell — be it his heroic background as an OU star, his outgoing personality or just that he finished his working life as a newspaperman — always made him an endearing, and intriguing, figure. At least to me.
That, plus Mitchell counted on a lineman to make a 38-yard tying field goal to save the day, even when it couldn’t save his job.
Kevin Haskin can be reached at (785) 295-1159 or [email protected].
http://www.cjonline.com/sports/2009-07-06/column_mitchells_feats_were_amazing
July 6, 2009 - 10:50pm
Jack Mitchell was amazing in the broken field.
First as an All-America quarterback who inadvertently invented the option pitch for Oklahoma.
Then as a football coach who guided Wichita State to its best record and Kansas to its first bowl win before losing his job one dreadful afternoon trudging the sideline at Kansas State.
The year was 1966 and the Wildcats sensed their first score against the Jayhawks in seven years — Mitchell’s teams managed a 188-0 advantage during the string of shutouts — would hold up for a victory.
But Thermus Butler was summoned in the final seconds for KU and connected on a wobbly field goal, his first as a collegian, to forge a 3-3 tie in the one of the worst games ever waged in the rivalry.
“I had no idea whether Butler could kick or not,’’ Mitchell conceded afterward. “He’s been kicking off, and he’s never practiced or kicked any field goals.”
The boot didn’t spare Mitchell the same fate. He was fired and so too was Doug Weaver, the K-State coach who went 8-60-1 during seven horrendous seasons.
Mitchell wasn’t so forgetful. Oddly, his achievements as a player were recalled most recently when a Kansas State standout was threatening the national record for touchdowns off punt returns.
David Allen scored seven times for the Wildcats on punt returns, tying the record Mitchell set from 1946-48 at OU. The record was since broken by a pair of Big 12 standouts, Antonio Perkins, of Oklahoma, and Wes Welker, of Texas Tech. Mitchell, however, continues to hold the NCAA career record for punt return average, 23.6 yards.
And, yes, his flair for pitching the football just before tacklers converged inspired legendary OU coach Bud Wilkinson to incorporate that wrinkle into the Sooners’ split-T offense.
Still, what Mitchell accomplished as a coach in this state is just as incredible.
He guided Wichita State, a school that later dropped football, to its best finish ever. The 9-1 mark in 1954 was so good, in fact, Mitchell was awarded a 10-year contract. Nonetheless he left a few weeks later to take over at Arkansas, then came to Kansas and directed the Jayhawks to a 44-42-5 record during nine seasons.
Only Glen Mason stayed at KU as long. Only Mason (47) and Bert Kennedy (53) produced more wins as KU coaches until last year’s Insight Bowl, where Mark Mangino achieved his 45th victory with the Jayhawks. Soon, Mangino figures to become KU’s all-time winningest football coach. And, with his eighth season approaching, its most stable.
But something about Mitchell — be it his heroic background as an OU star, his outgoing personality or just that he finished his working life as a newspaperman — always made him an endearing, and intriguing, figure. At least to me.
That, plus Mitchell counted on a lineman to make a 38-yard tying field goal to save the day, even when it couldn’t save his job.
Kevin Haskin can be reached at (785) 295-1159 or [email protected].
http://www.cjonline.com/sports/2009-07-06/column_mitchells_feats_were_amazing