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SE Louisiana hires ex-Kentucky coach Mumme
By Mary Foster, The Associated Press
By Rob Carr, AP file
Hal Mumme left Kentucky under clouds of NCAA violations.
HAMMOND, La. ? Hal Mumme, who coached Kentucky to the postseason before the Wildcats were placed on probation, will oversee the reinstatement of the football program at Southeastern Louisiana.
"He will put a winner on the field," Southeastern president Randy Moffett said Friday. "We do not want to be mediocre at Southeastern University. We want to be excellent. We want to win. And that's why we selected Hal Mumme."
Southeastern has not fielded a football team in nearly two decades.
Mumme built an offensive powerhouse at Kentucky that went to two bowl games during his four years there, including its first New Year's Day bowl in 47 years. But then the NCAA placed Kentucky on probation for three years and stripped the football program of 19 scholarships for more than three dozen recruiting violations committed during Mumme's tenure.
"I went before the committee on infractions and presented my story and they didn't penalize me," Mumme said. "That's all I can really say about it. You just move on from there. You go the next step."
During the 18 months since Mumme resigned from Kentucky, he looked into all sorts of coaching jobs before landing the Southeastern position.
"I talked to some people at various levels," he said. "I don't know if you'd call it making applications but I'm sure I talked to everyone from the NFL down to Division II. We considered lots of options, but very few of them really caught my imagination."
Southeastern athletic director Frank Pergolizzi said he had no qualms about hiring the 50-year-old Mumme. Although there are no special rules or regulations governing the coach, the program will be closely monitored.
"Coach Mumme and I have already talked about our desire to set up a compliance system that is thorough and complete and has multiple levels of checks and balances," Pergolizzi said. "We know there is going to be more scrutiny on him, so I think it's in all our interests to have as much control as we can."
Mumme has a 5 1/2-year contract that will run through the 2007 season. His base salary is $75,000 a year, with incentive clauses including one that would give Mumme 10% of ticket revenue each season once the school has earned $100,000.
Before the announcement, state Sen. John Hainkel of New Orleans said he felt the state could not afford to associate itself with a candidate who had been brushed by scandal.
"I am perhaps extraordinarily sensitive to the message that Louisiana sends out," said Hainkel, who has helped secure millions of dollars in state funds for Southeastern. "Deserved or not, we've had a bad reputation for political corruption and ill dealings and so forth. ... Simply given the time and place, I don't think we ought to take a chance."
Mumme said he realized that people were emotional about football.
"All I can say is I hope he gets to know me and changes his mind," Mumme said of Hainkel.
Southeastern Louisiana, which dropped football in the mid 1980s for financial reasons, begins playing again as a Division I-AA independent in 2003. After two seasons as an independent, SLU's football team will join the Southland Conference, in which it competes in other sports.
Small college football is nothing new for Mumme, who spent three seasons at Iowa Wesleyan and five seasons at Valdosta (Ga.) State. He went 25-10 at Iowa Wesleyan, an NAIA school, and 40-17-1 at Valdosta State, a Division II school.
By Mary Foster, The Associated Press
By Rob Carr, AP file
Hal Mumme left Kentucky under clouds of NCAA violations.
HAMMOND, La. ? Hal Mumme, who coached Kentucky to the postseason before the Wildcats were placed on probation, will oversee the reinstatement of the football program at Southeastern Louisiana.
"He will put a winner on the field," Southeastern president Randy Moffett said Friday. "We do not want to be mediocre at Southeastern University. We want to be excellent. We want to win. And that's why we selected Hal Mumme."
Southeastern has not fielded a football team in nearly two decades.
Mumme built an offensive powerhouse at Kentucky that went to two bowl games during his four years there, including its first New Year's Day bowl in 47 years. But then the NCAA placed Kentucky on probation for three years and stripped the football program of 19 scholarships for more than three dozen recruiting violations committed during Mumme's tenure.
"I went before the committee on infractions and presented my story and they didn't penalize me," Mumme said. "That's all I can really say about it. You just move on from there. You go the next step."
During the 18 months since Mumme resigned from Kentucky, he looked into all sorts of coaching jobs before landing the Southeastern position.
"I talked to some people at various levels," he said. "I don't know if you'd call it making applications but I'm sure I talked to everyone from the NFL down to Division II. We considered lots of options, but very few of them really caught my imagination."
Southeastern athletic director Frank Pergolizzi said he had no qualms about hiring the 50-year-old Mumme. Although there are no special rules or regulations governing the coach, the program will be closely monitored.
"Coach Mumme and I have already talked about our desire to set up a compliance system that is thorough and complete and has multiple levels of checks and balances," Pergolizzi said. "We know there is going to be more scrutiny on him, so I think it's in all our interests to have as much control as we can."
Mumme has a 5 1/2-year contract that will run through the 2007 season. His base salary is $75,000 a year, with incentive clauses including one that would give Mumme 10% of ticket revenue each season once the school has earned $100,000.
Before the announcement, state Sen. John Hainkel of New Orleans said he felt the state could not afford to associate itself with a candidate who had been brushed by scandal.
"I am perhaps extraordinarily sensitive to the message that Louisiana sends out," said Hainkel, who has helped secure millions of dollars in state funds for Southeastern. "Deserved or not, we've had a bad reputation for political corruption and ill dealings and so forth. ... Simply given the time and place, I don't think we ought to take a chance."
Mumme said he realized that people were emotional about football.
"All I can say is I hope he gets to know me and changes his mind," Mumme said of Hainkel.
Southeastern Louisiana, which dropped football in the mid 1980s for financial reasons, begins playing again as a Division I-AA independent in 2003. After two seasons as an independent, SLU's football team will join the Southland Conference, in which it competes in other sports.
Small college football is nothing new for Mumme, who spent three seasons at Iowa Wesleyan and five seasons at Valdosta (Ga.) State. He went 25-10 at Iowa Wesleyan, an NAIA school, and 40-17-1 at Valdosta State, a Division II school.
and the notoriety that he has. Time will tell.