John Mitchell (American football) facts for kids
Mitchell in Pittsburgh's Super Bowl XLIII parade
|
|||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Born: | October 14, 1951 Mobile, Alabama, U.S. |
||||||||
| Height: | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) | ||||||||
| Weight: | 230 lb (104 kg) | ||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||
| High school: | Williamson (Mobile) | ||||||||
| College: | Alabama Eastern Arizona |
||||||||
| NFL Draft: | 1973 / Round: 7 / Pick: 174 | ||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||
| As player: | |||||||||
|
|||||||||
| As coach: | |||||||||
|
|||||||||
| Career highlights and awards | |||||||||
|
|||||||||
| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||
|
|||||||||
John Mitchell Jr. (born October 14, 1951) is an American former football coach and player. He is famous for breaking many racial barriers in football. For example, he was the first black player for the Alabama Crimson Tide team. He also coached the Pittsburgh Steelers for a very long time, from 1994 until he retired in 2022.
As a player, Mitchell was the first African-American to play football for the famous Alabama Crimson Tide. In his second year, he became the first African-American co-captain at the school. Later, he became the team's first black assistant coach. He was also the youngest coach ever hired at Alabama. He broke another barrier by becoming the first black defensive coordinator in the Southeastern Conference.
His coaching career lasted 50 years. During this time, he worked with many legendary coaches. These include college greats like Bear Bryant and Lou Holtz. He also worked with Bill Belichick, Bill Cowher, and Mike Tomlin in professional football. Teams he coached have won championships at both college and professional levels.
Contents
Early Life and Dreams
Mitchell was born in Mobile, Alabama, on October 14, 1951. He was the third of five children. His father worked as a civil engineer for the United States Coast Guard.
At Williamson High School in Mobile, Mitchell played football and basketball. This was an all-black school at the time. As a senior, he played on the offensive line. He was tall, but major colleges thought he was too light to play that position. Because of his size, he did not get football scholarship offers from major colleges in his home state. However, he did get offers from historically black schools like Grambling State University and Tennessee State University.
Mitchell was also good at science. He finished third in the nation in a science fair with his classmates. All five members of his science fair team were offered academic scholarships. These offers came from the University of Alabama and Auburn University. Mitchell had always dreamed of playing football for these two schools. But at that time, neither school was recruiting black football players. Mitchell really wanted to play "big-time college football."
Mitchell decided his best chance to play Division I football was to go to a junior college first. He accepted a football scholarship from Eastern Arizona Junior College in Thatcher, Arizona.
Playing College Football
At Eastern Arizona, Mitchell played on both the offensive and defensive lines. He was named a Junior College All-American in both of his two years there. He also gained 35 pounds of muscle. This was thanks to the school's weight training program, which his high school did not have. Even with the added weight, he did not lose his speed. He also earned an associate's degree in social work from Eastern Arizona.
After junior college, Mitchell was recruited by several major college teams. He first decided to go to the University of Southern California. But then, University of Alabama coach Paul "Bear" Bryant heard about Mitchell. Coach Bryant actively recruited him. Mitchell was a bit nervous about how he would be received at Alabama. He also worried about how much he would play. But his family encouraged him to return home and accept Bryant's offer. Mitchell also thought Alabama's School of Social Work would be a good path for him.
Breaking Barriers at Alabama
In 1971, Mitchell and Wilbur Jackson became the first African-Americans to play football for the Crimson Tide. He started every game in his two seasons at Alabama. During this time, the team had a great record of 21 wins and 3 losses. They also won two Southeastern Conference championships. In 1972, Mitchell became the first African-American co-captain at Alabama. That same year, he was named an All-American. He was also selected to the All-SEC team in both of his seasons at Alabama. Mitchell earned a degree in social welfare.
The San Francisco 49ers picked Mitchell in the seventh round of the 1973 NFL draft. He played mostly defensive end in college. But he was considered too small for that role in professional football. The 49ers wanted him to play linebacker. He signed a contract and went to training camp. But he got sick and was cut by the team before the season started. Mitchell then decided to end his playing career.
Coaching Journey
College Coaching
Mitchell decided to go to law school at Alabama in 1973. He asked coach Bryant for a job on campus to help pay for school. Instead, Bryant offered him a full-time coaching position. Mitchell accepted the offer to coach defensive ends. This made him the first African-American assistant coach for the Crimson Tide. He was also the youngest coach ever hired by the school. He helped recruit top African-American players to Alabama, like Ozzie Newsome.
In Mitchell's first year coaching at Alabama, the team had an 11-1 record. They won the national championship and the SEC championship. For the next two seasons, they also had 11-1 records. They won two more SEC titles and finished in the top five nationally. In 1976, his last year with the team, they had a 9-3 record and stayed in the top fifteen. Mitchell helped develop Leroy Cook, who was a two-time All-American.
In 1977, Mitchell became the defensive ends coach at the University of Arkansas under Lou Holtz. In his first season, the team went 11-1 and beat Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl. Holtz praised Mitchell, calling him "one of the brightest young assistant coaches in the nation."
Mitchell spent six years at Arkansas. The team had a record of 54 wins, 16 losses, and 2 ties. They won a Southwest Conference championship and played in a bowl game every year. During this time, Mitchell often played pick-up basketball with Bill Clinton, who was a law professor there.
Mitchell left Arkansas in 1983 to coach professional football. He coached linebackers for the Birmingham Stallions in the United States Football League (USFL) for three years. After the USFL team stopped paying its coaches, Mitchell returned to college football. He took a job at Temple University.
At Temple, Mitchell coached under head coach Bruce Arians. Arians called Mitchell "a super football coach and a great person." He noted that the team had many more quarterback sacks.
After one season at Temple, Mitchell returned to the SEC in 1987. He became the outside linebackers coach at Louisiana State University (LSU). In 1990, he was promoted to defensive coordinator. This made him the first African-American to hold that position in the SEC.
Coaching in the NFL
After leaving LSU, Mitchell became the defensive line coach for the Cleveland Browns in the National Football League (NFL) in 1991. He coached for the Browns under head coach Bill Belichick for three seasons. He helped develop players like Michael Dean Perry and Rob Burnett.
Pittsburgh Steelers
In 1994, Mitchell moved to the Pittsburgh Steelers as the defensive line coach under Bill Cowher. He stayed with the Steelers until his retirement in 2022. This made him the longest-serving coach with the team. When Mike Tomlin became head coach in 2007, Mitchell also became the team's assistant head coach. He kept his defensive line coaching duties.
The Steelers were very good at stopping the run during Mitchell's time. Steelers defensive linemen like Casey Hampton, Aaron Smith, Brett Keisel, and Joel Steed made the Pro Bowl many times. The team also had great success, making the playoffs eleven times. They reached the AFC Championship Game eight times. They also made it to four Super Bowls, winning the championship in 2005 and again in 2008.
In Super Bowl XL in 2006, the Steelers faced the Seattle Seahawks. Their goal was to stop Seahawks running back Shaun Alexander. Mitchell's defensive line held Alexander to under 100 yards and, most importantly, kept him from scoring. This was key to the Steelers' win. Mitchell said, "Our thing was 'keep him out of the end zone.' We didn't care if he got 300 yards; don't let him in the end zone."
In Super Bowl XLIII in 2009, they played against the Arizona Cardinals. The defensive line again played very well. They held the Cardinals to only 33 rushing yards.
Mitchell coaches in a quiet and thoughtful way. He learned this style from his first head coach, Bear Bryant. He explained his coaching approach: "I care for my players. They're not only good football players, they're good people. With my guys I don't have to yell. I don't use profanity with them. They're men, and that's how I treat them. I respect them, they respect me."
This style has earned Mitchell a lot of respect from other coaches in the NFL. Steelers defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau always had "great confidence in him." Head coach Mike Tomlin called Mitchell a "trailblazer" and a "very respected coach."
Mitchell retired from coaching after the 2022 season. He spent 28 years with the Steelers.
Life Outside Football
Mitchell lives with his wife, Joyce, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They do not have children. Mitchell has said he was interested in becoming the head football coach at Alabama in the past. However, he was never offered the position.
Outside of football, Mitchell enjoys collecting art, fine wine, and vintage jazz music. He also likes to study history. He was elected to the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame in 2009. Mitchell said of this honor: "I'm from the state of Alabama, and this is big. The state of Alabama is putting me, John Mitchell, a black kid from Mobile, in their sports hall of fame. There's nothing bigger in my life."
