SU Mitchell putting in long days

Last week, on a grim, humid late afternoon in the dead of summer, scores of people drove to an otherwise still campus at Southern University. They packed an oversized suite in the A.W. Mumford Field House. Politely and patiently, they listened as Stump Mitchell’s assistant coaches told stories and answered questions about the status of their beloved-but-battered football program.

Then, to the sound of warm applause, Mitchell himself walked to the lectern. This was the man they’d come to see. Yet again, Mitchell vowed his staff and players will work hard, and good things will come from that. Again, he stressed Southern will win championships. Soon. “We don’t have a daggone three- or four-year plan,” he said. “We want to win it all right now.” The crowd erupted. This was the way it used to feel.

Almost six months have passed since Mitchell came to SU, replacing the once-revered Pete Richardson. Not everyone in the suite had wanted Mitchell. Most dissenters had preferred a favorite son, former SU safety and Prairie View assistant Heishma Northern. Some of them still aren’t sure. Yet there they were last week, in the suite, now willing to listen. “I know I’m not the man for all of you right now,” Mitchell said. “But I’m going to be the man before long.”

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