3 HBCU coaches, players and teams that changed football forever
By Dante Pryor
Archie “Gunslinger” Cooley, Mississippi Valley State 1980-1986
Hal Mume is often credited with bringing the spread offense to modern college football. Five years before Mume arrived at Iowa Wesleyan, he and a young, bright assistant named Mike Leach drew up plays that would become the “Air Raid,” Archie “Gunslinger” Cooley’s Satelite offense scored 629 points.
If your “math wasn’t mathin'” that is 59 points per game. Cooley’s contribution to the modern game and adding a variation to the spread offense often goes unnoticed. However, if you watch Patrick Mahomes and much of the pro and college game today, many philosophies of the modern spread Cooley employed down in Itta Bena.
The Satellite offense, run by Willie Totten, often operated without a huddle, in the shotgun and with four or five wide receivers in its base formation. Totten had the freedom to call the plays and audible at the line of scrimmage.
In 1984, Totten would throw for a record 58 touchdowns. Totten’s most popular target, Jerry Rice. Rice set single-season FCS records for receptions, yards and touchdowns. Rice’s career record for touchdowns (50) stood until 2006.
The next time you watch a spread offense, know that a man in a cowboy hat drew those plays up in the Mississippi heat down in Itta Bena.