Western Carolina University Catamount Football
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Western Carolina football was born in 1931, thanks to C.C. Poindexter.
Often referred to as the "Father of Western Carolina Athletics" because of his efforts in organizing what was then Western Carolina Teachers College's first athletic program in the early 1930's. He was the first person hired by the college to work exclusively in athletics and became the first head football coach at the college.
He accepted the dual roles of Athletic Director and football coach in 1931. Then, later he also assumed duties as the first head coach in basketball and baseball. His leadership and vision resulted in the construction of the first college football field on the Western Carolina campus. With the help of assistant coaches, he coached three separate scholarship teams. As athletic director, he developed the college's first schedule of strictly college competition.
Contents |
[edit] All Time Football Coaches
| Coach | Years | Number Years | Record | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | C.C. Poindexter | 1931-1934 | 4 years | 10-26-2 |
| 2 | Ralph James | 1935-1938 | 4 years | 4-30-3 |
| 3 | James Whatley | 1939-1941 | 3 years | 6-1-1 |
| 4 | Marion McDonald | 1945 | 1 year | 1-3-0 |
| 5 | Tom Young | 1946-1955 | 10 years | 39-55-4 |
| 6 | Dan Robinson | 1956-1968 | 13 years | 51-67-6 |
| 7 | Bob Waters | 1969-1988 | 20 years | 116-94-6 |
| 8 | Dale Strahm | 1989 | 1 year | 3-7-1 |
| 9 | Steve Hodgin | 1990-1996 | 7 years | 31-45-0 |
| 10 | Bill Bleil | 1997-2001 | 5 years | 23-32-0 |
| 11 | Kent Briggs | 2002-2007 | 6 years | 22-43-0 |
| 12 | Dennis Wagner | 2008- | 1st Season | 0-0-0 |
[edit] WCU and the Post Season
- 1949
In 1949 Coach Tom Young completed a four-year, post-World War II building program with an 8-2 regular season and the school’s first North State Conference championship and first postseason appearance. The team was rewarded by a bid to play in the Smoky Mountain Bowl in Bristol, Va., where the Cats lost to West Liberty State. Art Byrd, a 165-pound guard, was named to the Associated Press Little All-America Team, Western’s first All-America selection.
- 1974
The 1974 Catamounts, playing in a sparkling new stadium, lost their season and stadium opener to visiting Murray State and struggled the next two weeks before establishing themselves as one of the nation’s top NCAA Division II teams. The Catamounts won nine in a row—including victories over top 10 teams Indiana State and Western Kentucky—and won a bid to the NCAA Division II playoffs where they lost a heartbreaker to No. 1 ranked Louisiana Tech, 10-7. The 1974 Cats finished the season ranked No. 8 in the Associated Press College Division poll.
- 1983
The 1983 Catamounts got off to a slow start by losing its first two games to Clemson and Wake Forest. After these two setbacks, the Catamounts would go through the next 12 Saturdays unbeaten en route to the NCAA Division IAA National Championship Game. Despite the strong comeback in regular season play that produced an 8-2-1 regular season record and a No. 9 national ranking, Coach Waters’ Cats barely made it into the I-AA Championship game needing come-from-behind wins the next three weeks. The Cats heart-stopping wins over Colgate (24-23), Holy Cross (28-21) and Furman (14-7) carried the team to the National Championship Game. The playoff win over Furman was particularly pleasing as the teams had tied, 17-17, in the regular season, which allowed the Paladins to win the Southern Conference Football Title that year (Furman had played and won one more league game due to a scheduling quirk). Over 5,000 WCU fans traveled to Greenville, S.C., for the rematch which was aired by CBS-TV. The winning streak ended with a loss to Southern Illinois in the National Championship Game in Charleston, South Carolina. Seven members of the ‘83 squad went on to play in the NFL and the team set an NCAA record for the most games played (15) in a season.
[edit] Battle for the Old Mountain Jug
Western plays Appalachian State annually in the Battle for the Old Mountain Jug[1] The first game between Western and Appalachian was held in 1932, but the "Old Mountain Jug" was introduced in 1978. The rivalry between the two mountain schools was a natural, Appalachian and Western were the only public colleges in the western half of North Carolina for decades. Both schools made similar steps to their present status as comprehensive regional universities and both basically recruited athletes from the same high schools in the early years. Their graduates were for the most part, school teachers, and alumni of both schools often found themselves working together, which helped foster the rivalry.
In 1974, while Western was seeking membership to the [[]Southern Conference], and incident happen that really fanned the flames to heat up the rivalry. Prior to the WCU-ASU game that year, ASU's athletic director informed Western's President that if Jerry Gaines, Western's all-star wide receiver/kick returner - and arguably the school's best athlete ever - were allowed to play in the WCU-ASU football game in Boone, ASU would withdraw their support of Western's membership for the Southern Conference (ASU was Western's sponsor). Their rational was that Gaines was playing the 1974 season as a fifth-year [medical red-shirt] and red-shirting was not permitted in the Southern Conference at that time. Gaines had been injured in the first half of the second game of the 1971 season against Appalachian State. Catamount fans believed Appalachian State's motive was based upon Gaines' performance in the previous two meetings in the series, both won handily by the Catamounts.
Gaines did not play in 1974, but his replacement, true-freshman Wayne Tolleson, caught what proved to be the winning touchdown pass in a 21-17 Catamount victory.
Western's record in games played is 18-53–1, and 6-24 in the Jug's era.
[edit] Old Mountain Jug Series Notes
Most Points by ASU: 79 (2007)
Most Points by WCU: 41 (1983)
Fewest Points by ASU: 6 (1998)
Fewest Points by WCU: 3 (1995)
Largest ASU Victory Margin: 44 (2007)
Largest WCU Victory Margin: 27 (1984)
ASU Winning Streak: 13 (1985-1997)
WCU Winning Streak: 4 (1981-1984)
Battle for the Jug at Kidd Brewer Stadium: ASU leads 14-2
Battle for the Jug at E.J. Whitmire Stadium: ASU leads 10-4
[edit] Retired Football Numbers
- #54 • Art Byrd (1946-49)
- First Western Carolina student-athlete to have jersey retired
- Inducted into the WCU Hall of Fame in 1990
- First football All-America selection at Western Carolina University, playing guard on both the offensive and defensive side of the ball
- Helped the Catamounts to an 8-2 regular-season mark in 1949 and their first North State Conference title
- #23 • Jerry Gaines (1970-75)
- Only the second WCU football player to have his jersey retired
- Inducted into the WCU Hall of Fame in 1990.
- All-America selection in 1974
- Also earned All-America honors in baseball and track & field while at WCU
- Set WCU records with 3,449 career receiving yards, a 20.6 average yards per reception for his career and 15 games with over 100 receiving yards
- #14 • Kirk Roach (1984-87)
- Only the third WCU football player to have his jersey retired
- Inducted into the WCU Hall of Fame in 1996
- Western’s and SoCon’s – first, threetime All-America Selection (1984, 1986 and 1987)
- First player in league history to be a four-time, first team All-SoCon selection (1984-87)
- Western Carolina’s all-time scoring leader with 302 points.
- Connected on 71-of-101 field goals in his career
- Only missed one extra point, making 89-of-90
[edit] Catamount Football All-Americans[2]
| Player | Position | Year(s) Honored | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ART BYRD | OL | 1949 Associated Press |
| 2 | FRANK STANKUNAS | LINEMAN | 1962 NAIA |
| 3 | JOHN RUTA | DB | 1964 NAIA |
| 4 | JIM WILLIAMS | QB | 1966 NAIA |
| 5 | DON DALTON | QB | 1969 NAIA |
| 6 | STEVE WILLIAMS | DT | 1971 Associated Press |
| 7 | STEVE YATES | LB | 1972 Associated Press (2nd) 1973 Universal Sports Magazine Small College (2nd) |
| 8 | MARK FERGUSON | C | 1973 Kodak/American Football Coaches Assoc. College Division (1st) 1973 The Football News Division II (1st) |
| 9 | JERRY GAINES | WR | 1974 Associated Press 1974 Kodak/American Football Coaches Assoc. |
| 10 | DARRELL LIPFORD | TB | 1976 Associated Press(College Division) |
| 11 | TIGER GREENE | DB | 1983 Associated Press (2nd) 1984 Associated Press (1st) |
| 12 | ERIC RASHEED | WR | 1983 Associated Press (2nd) |
| 13 | MARK BUFFAMOYER | DL | 1984 Associated Press (2nd) |
| 14 | LOUIS COOPER | DE | 1984 Associated Press (1st) 1984 Kodak/American Football Coaches Assoc. |
| 15 | STEVE KORNEGAY | P | 1984 Associated Press (1st) |
| 16 | KIRK ROACH | PK | 1984 Associated Press (1st) 1986 Associated Press (1st) |
| 17 | ALONZO CARMICHAEL | TE | 1985 Associated Press (1st) 1986 Associated Press (2nd) |
| 18 | GENO SEGERS | DE | 1988 The Sports Network (1st) |
| 19 | CLYDE SIMMONS | DE | 1985 Associated Press (1st) 1985 Kodak/American Football Coaches Assoc. |
| 20 | TODD HARKINS | OL | 1992 The Sports Network (2nd) 1992 Associated Press (3rd) |
| 21 | KERRY HAYES | KR | 1992 Associated Press (3rd) 1993 Associated Press (1st) |
| 22 | ERIC JOHNSON | DB | 1997 The Sports Network (3rd) 1998 Associated Press (1st) |
| 23 | KEN HINSLEY | P | 1998 Hansen’s Gazette (1st) 1998 USA Today/ESPN (2nd) |
| 24 | BRAD HOOVER | TB | 1998 Don Hansen’s Football Gazette (2nd) |
| 25 | JOSH JONES | PK | 1999 Associated Press (3rd) |
| 26 | JASON WHALEY | OT | 2003 College Sports Television I-AA (2nd) |
[edit] References
|
|||||
|
|||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
