No more Coach Mo for Bison football program

Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Steve Kodad/McCookDaily Gazette Coach Mo (back), McCook volunteer football coach Jeff Mollring, and three of his mainstays at defensive tackle for the Bison, left to right, Derek Chancellor, Ross Stewart and Chance Evans. The veteran coach is completing his final season with the Bison football program.

There's probably a few people in the area that might not recognize Jeff Mollring by his real name.

More affectionately known as Coach Mo, the 31-year coaching veteran will bring a successful career to an end at the end of the current school year.

Mollring, 58, has decided this will be his final year working with the McCook High School football and track and field programs.

"They say you'll know when it's time, and it's time," Mollring said. "My age, and I've had an injury and I'm not fully recovered, and I don't know if I ever will. I'm not very strong.

"It's time. This is the second year I haven't taught. The younger kids I just don't know very well. It's time. My wife and I want to do some different things."

Mollring is still recovering from injuries received in an auto accident in August of 2008. He retired from teaching last year.

Jeff Mollring and his wife, Sue Ann, have three sons -- two are coaches. Scott is at Southwest High School in Bartley and Grant is an assistant on the University of Nebraska-Kearney football program. Jay works for the Nebraska Department of Roads in Kearney.

Coach Mo followed in his father's footsteps. Junior Mollring was a longtime coach at Cambridge.

"My dad was a coach, that was it. I just grew up always wanting to be a coach," Jeff said. "Junior Mollring coached a bunch of years at Cambridge, 30-some years. After World War II was over, he came back. He was a little older when he went to McCook College and graduated in two years. He started teaching right away. He never did get his four-year degree until 1968, the same year my brother got his."

Coach Mo was a standout athlete at Cambridge during his high school days. He played football and competed in track and field at Doane College in Crete, graduating in 1974.

Successful assistant

His first coaching job was at Amherst, where he was the head football coach for one season. He also spent a few years at Gothenburg and 16 years at Cambridge as an assistant football coach (having his sons play for him there) before coming to McCook in the fall of 2000. Jeff was defensive coordinator for the Bison when McCook won two Class B state titles and advanced to the championship game three other times.

"When I came up here, they decided to simplify their defense, because it had gotten pretty complicated," he said. "They thought they were kind of screwing themselves in the ground. They got the right guy if they wanted it simple, because our defense is pretty simple. We played it pretty well for the last 10 years."

Coach Mo added up the records of high school football teams he has coached during his career. That record includes 280 wins and just 63 losses, including a 50-14 mark in the state playoffs, and appearances in the playoffs 23 of 24 seasons. Coach Mo-coached teams advanced to the semifinals 14 times (12 wins, two losses), with 12 state championship game appearances (8-4 record).

Mollring was named the 2006 Nebraska Coaches Association Assistant Coach of the Year, and he also received a Milestone Award in 2006 for track and field.

"Jeff (Gross) nominated me for that assistant coach of the year award. I'm very thankful of that," Mollring said.

Career highlights

Coach Mo recalled several highlights of his coaching career.

"Honesty, in 2002 when we were state champions (McCook) and that's the first group, with those coaches, it's a special feeling," he said. "The next year was nice, but that first one is always special. I remember in 1987 when we won our first state championship in Cambridge. We went 13-0 and beat Norfolk Catholic in our own place. That was a special feeling.

"Probably the best memory I have was putting championship medals around each of my sons (necks) -- multiple times."

With a sly grin, Mollring said he was instrumental in the development of former Dallas Cowboys tight end Jay Novacek.

"My last year at Gothenburg, he was a sophomore," Mollring said of the former NFL star. "That year he was a wide receiver. I coached the wide receivers. I taught him how to catch. Then they made him a quarterback until he got out of high school, then he went to Wyoming and he was a tight end."

Coach Mo said his son Jay is named after the former Gothenburg standout.

Strong community support

Mollring said great athletes and great community support have been keys to the success of McCook's program in the last 10 years.

"We've had a great run of kids -- we've had good athletes at every position," he said. "I can't remember which year, 2002 or 2003, we had two kids dislocate ankles in the semifinals. We plugged in two kids in the finals and just never missed a beat. Those kids ended up starting the next year.

"Everywhere you go around town, it's 'How are be going to be? How good is Ogallala?' It's a good feeling that they are that interested in it, because I've been some places where they weren't."

Jeff's brother, Larry, coached at McCook for many years before taking his current position with the Nebraska School Activities Association. Brother Rod lives in McCook and works in the maintenance department at the local school district.

Mollring's two sisters also have ties to football. Barb and her family reside in Kansas City. Jeff said one of Barb's boys played football at the U.S. Naval Academy. Sister Nan and her husband, Roger Witte, farm south of Cambridge. Coach Mo said their son played football at Chadron State.

No definite future plans

Mollring has no definite future plans.

"My wife's still working, thank goodness, which allows me to do this," he said. "We want to travel some more, and with football and track you're tied down during those seasons every day.

"I talked to my brother Larry the other day about going to the state cross-country meet. I've never been there -- I've always had football games on Friday night. He said, 'Well, next year you can come. I 'll put you to work.' He probably will, for nothing."

Coach Mo said he still plans to attend football games next fall, as a fan.

"I had a couple parents of some freshmen talk to me about coaching," Mollring said. "They'd go 'three more years, three more years.' Three more years is a long time."

It's time for another young coach to step in and try and fill a pair of very large coaching shoes.

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  • Thank you Coach for everything. Enjoy your retirement you have diffently earned it. Best wishes.

    -- Posted by ddt4mccook on Thu, Oct 29, 2009, at 9:17 PM
  • Coach Mo, thanks for everything, it was a pleasure playing under you and I will never forget the memories that were made in 2002!

    holt#15

    -- Posted by holthus15 on Thu, Oct 29, 2009, at 10:19 PM
  • Good Luck with retirement coach. Sorry we missed out on adding one more state championship to your resume.

    Cambridge Class of 1993

    -- Posted by right_all_the_time on Fri, Oct 30, 2009, at 8:33 AM
  • Hands down one of the best coaches and person to ever be a part of MHS...Enjoy the retirement years Coach Mo!

    -- Posted by marlin on Tue, Nov 3, 2009, at 12:05 PM
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