"We can't take credit for inventing anything. We just packaged it," Mumme told USA TODAY Sports. "It's like Nabisco. They didn't invent cookies. They just packaged up Oreos, and everybody loves them. That's kind of what we did."
Disciples take off
It's a package that continues to sell, even though Mumme lost twice as many games as he won in the major college game at Kentucky and New Mexico State: 31-64. If only coaching descendants were copyrighted like songs, Mumme might be rich off the royalties, with most of his greatest hits coming off an obscure album – the 2000 Texas Tech football team.
That was the time and place that Mumme's star pupil, Mike Leach, arrived as head coach, fresh off successful stints as offensive coordinator at Kentucky (1997-98) and Oklahoma (1999), where he led both programs to winning seasons.
Leach's 2000 Tech team finished 7-6 but went on to yield an astounding eight future head coaches, including six current head coaches in major college football. Additionally, two players from that team were NFL assistant coaches in 2012. Another coach from the 2000 team – graduate assistant Dave Aranda – is the new defensive coordinator at Wisconsin.
"It's amazing, quite honestly," says Art Briles, a running backs coach on that Red Raiders team and now the head coach at Baylor, which finished 8-5 in 2012.
The tree was planted in 1989, when Leach sent Mumme a job application to join his first staff at Iowa Wesleyan, an NAIA program that was struggling.
"He sent me a resume, and I was looking for an offensive line coach who didn't have any preconceived notion about the way the game should be played," Mumme said.
After three winning seasons there, the two moved on to Valdosta (Ga.) State and Kentucky. Then when Tech hired Leach in December 1999, Leach added more Mumme acolytes to his staff and built his offense almost exactly the way he and Mumme built it at Iowa Wesleyan.
Unlike traditional run-based offenses, it relies on throwing the ball from the shotgun formation, spreading the field and distributing the ball among several receivers. Like basketball, it tries to gain an edge through mismatches and creating space for its playmakers.
Its conceptual roots go back several decades, and it has several variations, including those taught by other 1990s coaching stars: Dennis Erickson, Mike Price and Joe Tiller.
The version run by Mumme and Leach is based largely on BYU's offense under coach LaVell Edwards.
"If you look at what we did at Iowa Wesleyan back then, you'll see that what we do now has not changed very much," Leach told USA TODAY Sports.