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 and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

coach and former player who currently serves as 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, associate and assistant coach, and the Offensive coordinator, offensive a ...

for the

West Georgia Wolves The West Georgia Wolves (UWG Wolves, formerly the West Georgia Braves) are the athletic teams that represent the University of West Georgia, located in Carrollton, Georgia, in NCAA Division I intercollegiate sports. The Wolves compete as members ...

. He previously served in the same role for the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. The Browns compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team is named after ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). He served as head football coach at

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

from 1996 to 1998 and

Southern University Southern University and A&M College (Southern University, Southern, SUBR or SU) is a Public university, public historically black colleges and universities, historically black land-grant university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States. It i ...

from 2010 to 2012, compiling an overall

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

record of 14–42. Mitchell played collegiately at

The Citadel The Citadel Military College of South Carolina (simply known as The Citadel) is a public senior military college in Charleston, South Carolina, United States. Established in 1842, it is the third oldest of the six senior military colleges ...

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 (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Centra ...

. 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)#Offense ...

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 positio ...

for the Cardinals from 1981 to 1989.

Early life

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 2020 census, its population was 54,768. Its county seat is Woodbine, and the largest city is Kingsland. It is one of the original ...

. 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 List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I. Southern Conference College football, football teams c ...

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

Heisman Trophy The Heisman Memorial Trophy ( ; also known simply as the Heisman) is awarded annually since 1935 to the top player in college football. It is considered the most prestigious award in the sport and is presented by the Heisman Trophy Trust followin ...

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 during April 28–29, 1981, at the New ...

. 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 of the American Football Conference (AFC) West division. Established in 1959 ...

in 1990; he made a brief comeback with the

Arizona Rattlers The Arizona Rattlers are a professional indoor American football team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area that competes in 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 Arena Football League season, 1987 season, making it the third longest-runnin ...

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. Scoring a touchdown grants the team that scored it 6 points. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchd ...

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 an American former professional football player who was a wide receiver for 17 seasons with the Arizona Cardinals of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the ...

NFL career statistics

Regular season

Playoffs

Coaching career

Mitchell served as head coach at

Casa Grande Union High School Casa Grande 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 Historic ...

Casa Grande, Arizona Casa Grande (O'odham language, O'odham: ''Wainom Wo:g'') is a city in Pinal County, Arizona, Pinal County, approximately halfway between Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix and Tucson, Arizona, Tucson, in the U.S. state of Arizona. According to the 2020 ...

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 of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West division. The club entered the NFL a ...

from 1999 to 2007 then was brought by new head coach Jim Zorn 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 of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East ...

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. The following season, even with the Browns’ head coaching change, Stump was retained as the running backs coach. On January 17, 2024, days after a loss to the Houston Texans in the

Wild Card round A wild card (also wildcard or wild-card and also known as an at-large berth or at-large bid) is an invitation to a tournament or a playoff berth awarded to a team or individual that does not qualify via an automatic bid. In some events, wildcards ...

, Browns' head coach

Kevin Stefanski Kevin Lawrence Stefanski (born May 8, 1982) is an American professional American football, football coach who is the head coach of the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League (NFL). He began his NFL career as an assistant coach for the ...

fired Mitchell.

Personal life

Mitchell is a member of

Omega Psi Phi Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. () is a List of African-American fraternities, historically African-American Fraternities and sororities, fraternity. It was founded on November 17, 1911 at Howard University. Omega Psi Phi is a founding member of ...

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 Camden County, Georgia African-American coaches of American football 20th-century African-American sportsmen 21st-century African-American sportsmen