Lyvonia Albert "Stump" Mitchell (born March 15, 1959) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

coach and former player who is the

running backs coach In American football, a position coach is a team official in charge of coaching a specific position group. Position coaches have more specialized duties than the head coach, assistant coach, and the offensive and defensive coordinators. Common ...

for the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference ( ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL). He served as head football coach at

Morgan State University Morgan State University (Morgan State or MSU) is a public historically black research university in Baltimore, Maryland. It is the largest of Maryland's historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs). In 1867, the university, then known ...

from 1996 to 1998 and

Southern University Southern University and A&M College (Southern University, Southern, SUBR or SU) is a public historically black land-grant university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. It is the largest historically black college or university (HBCU) in Louisiana, a ...

from 2010 to 2012, compiling an overall

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

record of 14–42. Mitchell played collegiately at

The Citadel The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina, commonly known simply as The Citadel, is a Public college, public United States senior military college, senior military college in Charleston, South Carolina. Established in 1842, it is one ...

and thereafter was drafted by the

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals hav ...

. He was a

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offen ...

and

return specialist A return specialist or kick returner is a player on the special teams unit of a gridiron football team who specializes in returning punts and kickoffs. There are few players who are exclusively return specialists; most also play another position ...

for the Cardinals from 1981 to 1989.

Early years

Mitchell's football career began at Camden County High School,

Camden County, Georgia Camden County is a county located in the southeastern corner of the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 Census, the population was 50,513. Its county seat is Woodbine, and the largest city is St. Marys. It is one of the original cou ...

. He played

for

and holds school records for rushing yards in a season (1,647) and career (4,062). A three-year starter at tailback, he was a two-time all

Southern Conference The Southern Conference (SoCon) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I. Southern Conference football teams compete in the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly ...

selection. As a senior in 1980 he was the second leading rusher in NCAA Division I-A behind

Heisman Trophy The Heisman Memorial Trophy (usually known colloquially as the Heisman Trophy or The Heisman) is awarded annually to the most outstanding player in college football. Winners epitomize great ability combined with diligence, perseverance, and hard ...

winner George Rogers and was named a Third-Team Associated Press All-American; he was named Southern Conference Player of the Year and the South Carolina Amateur Athlete of the Year. Mitchell also participated in track and field competition at The Citadel, recording a 23-foot 3 inch jump in 1981.

Playing career

Mitchell was selected by the

in the ninth round (226th pick overall) of the

1981 NFL Draft The 1981 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 28–29, 1981, at the New York She ...

. As a 5'9", 188 lbs.

, Mitchell played for the Cardinals from 1981 to 1989 and ended his NFL career with the

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The tea ...

in 1990; he made a brief comeback with the

Arizona Rattlers The Arizona Rattlers are a professional indoor American football team based in Phoenix, Arizona. They are currently members of the Indoor Football League (IFL). The Rattlers were founded in 1992 as an expansion team in the Arena Football League ...

of the

Arena Football League The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 season, making it the third longest-running professional football league in ...

in 1993. His best year as a pro was during the 1985 season when he rushed for 1,006 yards and seven

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Ameri ...

s, while also contributing 502 yards and 3 touchdowns as a receiver. In 10 NFL seasons he rushed 986 times for 4,647 yards and scored 32 touchdowns, he has the second most all purpose yards in Cardinals franchise history with 11,985 behind only

Larry Fitzgerald Larry Darnell Fitzgerald Jr. (born August 31, 1983) is a former American football wide receiver. Fitzgerald played in the National Football League for 17 seasons with the Arizona Cardinals. He played college football at University of Pittsb ...

Coaching career

Mitchell served as head coach at

Casa Grande Union High School Casa Grande Union High School is a high school in Casa Grande, Arizona. It is part of the Casa Grande Union High School District. The original high school and gym, now used as the Casa Grande City Hall, are listed on the National Register of Hist ...

Casa Grande, Arizona , settlement_type = City , image_skyline = Casa Grande-Casa Grande Union High School-1920-2.jpg , imagesize = 250px , image_caption = Historic Casa Grande Union High School which now serves as the ...

from 1993 to 1994. He was the head coach at

from 1996 to 1998, compiling a record of 8–24. He served as the running backs coach for the

Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) West, which they rejoined in 2002 as ...

from 1999 to 2007 then was brought by new head coach

Jim Zorn James Arthur Zorn (born May 10, 1953) is a former American football player and coach. Zorn was a left-handed quarterback, and is best known as the starting quarterback of the Seattle Seahawks for their first eight seasons. He was the quarterback ...

to the

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) N ...

staff in 2008 serving as Running Backs Coach and Assistant Head Coach. Mitchell accepted the head coaching position at

on January 11, 2010. During his first season, Mitchell led Southern to a 2–9 record. In 2011, the Jaguars finished with a 4–7 record. To start off the 2012 season, Southern suffered a 66–21 loss to the New Mexico Lobos. After that defeat, the Jaguars returned home for a Thursday home game against Mississippi Valley State which aired nationally on ESPNU. Southern was upset 6–0 by Valley in that contest. The next day Mitchell was reassigned to another position within the University, ending his tenure as Southern's head coach after only 24 games. He finished with a 6–18 overall record. Defensive coordinator Dawson Odums was named as the interim coach of the Jaguars. Mitchell joined the Arizona Cardinals as the running backs coach in 2013, and was with the team for four seasons before leaving the team in January 2017. He was signed to be the New York Jets' running backs coach in February 2017. In 2019, Mitchell joined the Cleveland Browns as the running backs coach. In 2020 even with the Browns’ head coaching change Stump was retained as the running backs coach.

Personal life

Mitchell is a member of

Omega Psi Phi Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. () is a historically African-American fraternity. The fraternity was founded on November 17, 1911, by three Howard University juniors Edgar Amos Love, Oscar James Cooper and Frank Coleman, and their faculty advi ...

fraternity. His older brother called him "Stump", because he was never intimidated by playing with kids bigger than he was.

Head coaching record

College

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mitchell, Stump 1959 births Living people American football running backs Arizona Cardinals coaches Arizona Rattlers players Cleveland Browns coaches Morgan State Bears football coaches New York Jets coaches Phoenix Cardinals players San Antonio Riders coaches Seattle Seahawks coaches Southern Jaguars football coaches St. Louis Cardinals (football) players The Citadel Bulldogs football players The Citadel Bulldogs men's track and field athletes Washington Redskins coaches High school football coaches in Arizona People from Kingsland, Georgia Coaches of American football from Georgia (U.S. state) Players of American football from Georgia (U.S. state) African-American coaches of American football African-American players of American football 20th-century African-American sportspeople 21st-century African-American sportspeople Ed Block Courage Award recipients