Bobby Pope: Titletown USA label fits Valdosta
Valdosta was labed Titletown USA by ESPN in 2008, and it's well-deserved recognition.
The city has produced the all-time winningest high school football program in the nation at Valdosta, where the Wildcats have a record of 899-220-34. Included in those totals are six mythical national championships, 24 state titles and 41 region championships.
Even though a distant second in popularity (actually maybe third behind Lowndes) to the high school program, Valdosta State's football team also has experienced major success, in a short period of time, in the football crazed Lowndes County town. The Blazers didn't start football until 1982 and already have captured three NCAA Division II national titles, winning championships in 2004, 2007 and 2012.
The Blazers program has been a breeding ground for coaches who would go on to bigger and better things. Currently there are four Power 5 conference head coaches who spent time at Valdosta State.
Newly named Georgia head coach Kirby Smart got his first on the field coaching job at Valdosta State in 2000. After serving as an administrative assistant at Georgia in 1999, Smart took over as defensive backfield coach for the Blazers and then moved in to the role as defensive coordinator for the 2001 season. He departed after that season to become a graduate assistant for Bobby Bowden at Florida.
The man he replaced as Valdosta State's defensive coordinator was Will Muschamp, who was named the head coach at South Carolina last week. Muschamp, who also had a four-year head coaching stint at Florida, coached at West Georgia and Eastern Kentucky prior to going to Valdosta State for the 2000 season. He joined Nick Saban's LSU staff in 2001 as the linebackers coach.
Macon native Christ Hatcher, now the head coach at Samford, hired both Muschamp and Smart when he was the head coach at Valdosta State. He said there was no question they would be successful coaches because both were extremely smart and they had the "it" factor.
Hatcher played at Valdosta State for Hal Mumme and his staff that included current Washington State head coach Mike Leach and West Virginia head coach Dana Holgorsen. Leach was with the Blazers from 1992 through the 1996 season, serving as offensive coordinator. Holgorsen, who had played for Leach when he was offensive coordinator at Iowa Wesleyan joined the Valdosta State staff in 1993 and left in 1995. It was his first college coaching position.
Mumme, Leach and Holgorsen were all instrumental in the development of the "Air Raid Offense," which was the forerunner of today's spread offenses and helped change the face of college football. Leach is one of just four current head coaches who never played college football. The other three are Georgia Tech's Paul Johnson, Mississippi's Hugh Freeze and Duke's David Cutcliffe.
In addition to Muschamp, Smart, Holgorsen and Leach, there have been several other coaches with Valdosta State ties to go on to other head coaching positions. Mumme, who currently is at Belhaven in Mississippi, left Valdosta State to take over at Kentucky. Mike Cavan, at Valdosta State from 1986-1991, was the head coach at East Tennessee State and SMU. Hatcher has been at Georgia Southern and Murray State, as well Samford, and Mike Kelly, who was at Valdosta State from 1997 through 1999, has coached at Winnipeg in the Canadian Football League and is currently the head coach at Widener in Pennsylvania.
Contact Bobby Pope at bobbypope428@gmail.com
This story was originally published December 14, 2015 at 4:55 PM with the headline "Bobby Pope: Titletown USA label fits Valdosta ."