Inductees

When Jesse Branch arrived as head football coach of then-Southwest Missouri State University, there weren’t a lot of frills – just the way he liked it.

No, there was no fancy weight room like the major college football casinos, nor a plush practice field. Heck, he didn’t even have a field goal kicker until the Monday before the season-opener.

To Branch, it was the perfect set-up. After all, what better storyline than a blue-collar program trying to knock down the doors into the penthouse?

“Hey, the support was there (from the President and Board of Trustees on down),” Branch said. “When I look back on it now, I tell everyone that I was lucky. They gave us things I felt like we needed to have.”

He did the rest, putting Missouri State Bears football on the map in what’s now the Football Championship Subdivision, and it’s why the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame is proud to induct Branch with the Class of 2017.

Branch coached the Missouri State Bears football program for nine years (1986 to 1994), finishing 55-44-1. The 55 victories are the third-most in school history behind Arthur Briggs and 2015 MSHOF inductee Rich Johanningmeier, while his 31 conference victories are tops in Bears history.

Additionally, only one football coach in Missouri State history has won multiple conference championships, and that was Branch, whose 1989 and 1990 teams not only won the Gateway Conference but also reached the FCS playoffs – the last Bears teams to see the postseason. Those years also saw Branch earn the NCAA Regional Coach of the Year.

This from a coach who was All-Southwest Conference under head coach Frank Broyles at the University of Arkansas – where he played in three bowl games and earned two letters as a two-way player.

A graduate of Watson Chapel High School in Pine Bluff, Branch later returned to Fayetteville where, from 1975 to 1985, he worked for three head coaches in Broyles, Lou Holtz and Ken Hatfield during an era when the Razorbacks played in nine bowl games and won two Southwest Conference championships.

“I had recruited in St. Louis, Kansas City, Columbia and Springfield. I knew the state, knew a lot of people and had a lot of Arkansas alums help me in my recruiting,” said Branch, who had worked in assistant roles at Mississippi State, Oregon and Kansas State. “And I’d always wanted to be a head coach. It came open at the right time, so I came up and interviewed and – the next thing I know – I’m the head coach.”

It wasn’t long before Missouri State pumped money into facility upgrades, including new artificial turf on the main football field, ensuring practices in any kind of weather.

“We didn’t have much, but we didn’t care,” Branch said. “I came in with a long-term plan and told them it was going to take four years.”

The Bears won only three games in Branch’s first year. However, walk-on kicker Chris Potthast kicked the game-winner in the season-opener days after joining the team. In 1989, he kicked the game-winner to beat Maine 38-35 to secure the Bears’ first FCS playoff victory.

Under Branch, the Bears were 27-3 at home from 1988 to 1993 – part of five winning seasons.

“We turned the corner in the first year, that first game when we beat Illinois State 17-16 after being down 13-0,” Branch said. “I knew we had the right people.”

Numerous players and assistants played key roles. His assistants included former MSU quarterback Mitch Ware as offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator Dave Wommack along with Mike Vaught, Kim Dameron, Ozzie Riley and strength coach Kirk Woolfolk.

“I felt like we recruited hard,” Branch said. “And we stayed with alumni and friends on the road. My recruiting coordinator never had a hotel bill. We just had a lot of things going for us.”

Among the recruits was quarterback DeAndre Smith, who piloted the 1989 and 1990 playoff teams after being on only a half-scholarship in 1988. The 1989 team’s 10 wins are tied for the most in program history.

“He was a little bitty guy who had a tremendous amount of confidence and was a magician with the football,” Branch said.

After his MSU days, Branch was an associate athletic director at Arkansas from 1995 to 2000.

Lessons learned from Broyles made the difference at Missouri State.

“That’s what we preached – don’t beat yourself,” Branch said. “We’d say, ‘It’s not the team with the most talent that wins games but the ones that eliminate mistakes.’ I think that’s what still wins games.”