Hal Mumme to become offensive coordinator at James Madison, according to reports

Hal Mumme is reportedly moving again.

The former head coach at Kentucky and New Mexico State is taking the open offensive coordinator position at James Madison, according to CoachingSearch.com. The deal isn’t quite done yet, says the Daily News-Record’s Matthew Stoss.

Earlier this week, Mumme resigned as head coach at Division II McMurry (TX) University, saying he had done all he could at the small private college. Mumme took a team that had gone 0-10 before his arrival and ushered them into the Division III playoffs in his third season. He also successfully oversaw McMurry’s move from NCAA Division III football to Division II, going 8-3 in the program’s first year in the higher division.

Mumme, a native of San Antonio, Texas, was one of the innovators of the Air Raid offense. While head coach at Iowa Wesleyan from 1989 to 1991, Mumme and offensive coordinator Mike Leach created the system. They took their offense from Iowa Wesleyan to Valdosta State, and eventually Kentucky. Mumme and Leach trained the new California head coach, Sonny Dykes, and his offensive coordinator, Tony Franklin. A former wide receiver at Iowa Wesleyan, Dana Holgorsen, is running a variation of Mumme’s offense at West Virginia. Kliff Kingsbury, the new head coach at Texas Tech, is also a disciple.

Mumme eventually washed out at Kentucky after a recruiting scandal, and did not fare well in a later stint at New Mexico State. In 2012, Mumme talked to SB Nation’s Spencer Hall about his career, his style, and his coaching tree:

”I think it depends on the level. I always had these jobs where they were pretty desperate, and had to think outside of the box. I think there’s programs like Alabama and around the top 25 where they don’t have to do what we do, so they don’t.

”We were at Kentucky, and we were doing this, and Spurrier was throwing it around pretty good at Florida with great players. (We were at Kentucky, and had a few great players but not as many.) I think everyone found Kentucky football fun, and that’s why we were on television so much. We were fun to watch.

“I had a guy tell me one time when we first started that he never turned off a BYU game. He had no connection to BYU or even the state of Utah, but if BYU was playing on TV he was going to watch the game. That always kind of struck a chord with me, because that’s a way to get everyone excited about your football program: the fans, the players, the people who needed to get excited about your program.”

James Madison plays FCS football in the Colonial Athletic Association. The Dukes went 7-4 in 2012, missing the FCS playoffs after a run into the second round in 2011. James Madison was the 2004 FCS national champion and has made the playoffs in five of the last nine seasons. Head coach Mickey Matthews holds a 103-65 record in 13 seasons at the school.