St. Marys grad Roddy Mote grateful for Harding’s national title
Trending
SEARCY, Ark. -- Hard work and dedication doesn't always pay off with the ultimate prize on the gridiron.
No one knows that better than 1984 St. Marys High School graduate Roddy Mote, who spent last Saturday on the sidelines at McKinney ISD Stadium in Texas where Harding University dominated the Colorado School of Mines, 38-7, to win the NCAA Division II national football championship.
Mote, who earned Class AA all-state honors on the first team at quarterback during his senior year of 1983 for the Blue Devils -- when he played for father Gail -- has been the defensive coordinator at Harding since 2017.
Also the linebackers coach, Mote started his third stint as an assistant for the Bisons in 2017.
"It was just a great day for all Bisons," admitted Mote, who earned his education degree from Harding in 1989 and his master's in physical education in 1996.
"The NCAA, the McKinney Independent School District, the city of McKinney, it was a very class act. It was a pretty special day. That's for sure."
When asked whether his defense gets an automatic A-plus for nearly registering a shutout, Mote just laughed.
"I have not watched the game yet, but I will," said the coach, who was the head man with his dad being an assistant when they won the Arkansas Class 3A state title back in 2012 with Harding Academy. "I'll probably watch it sometime over the Christmas break. It's been a whirlwind. There were 15,522 in attendance, which was really one of the largest crowds they've had. We had a great following as far as Harding alumni and old Bisons. There's a lot of history. My dad played there. My uncle played there.
"I've got two brothers-in-law that played here. My wife (Kim) cheered here. I got an aunt that cheered here. My father-in-law played here. It goes all the way back to 1959 when my father-in-law was on the first Harding football team. My uncle Jerry, too. He was on the first Harding team. Then my dad followed and came and played here. I got a nephew (Clark Griffin) and he's basically the leading tackler on our team. I'm his position coach because I coach linebackers, too. The roots are pretty strong and pretty deep."
The national championship had a little extra meaning for the Harding University defensive coordinator.
"It's special," Mote admitted. "It was special for all of us, but just to be able to do something to maybe make hopefully the state of Arkansas proud, our community proud. Searcy is an incredible community to live in. What's crazy is that Harding Academy, which they've been real successful the last couple of years and I experienced a lot of success when I was over there, well they went 15-0 this past year and won the Class 4A championship. There's 30 wins between both of us this year in the same town and both of us ended up being able to win it all. It's pretty special. The majority of our staff we all played at Harding. Harding is a special place to all of us.
"Just being able to be at that game to see so many old Bisons that kind of really had a part in laying the foundation for the success that we were able to enjoy on Saturday. Just being able to share in that day was really, really special. After the game it was complete chaos on the field and being able to see so many former teammates, even players that I coached since being at Harding from 1995 on. It was just really special. It's kind of hard to put into words to be honest with you."
Coach Mote admitted it's pretty tough to ever find time to get back to the Mountain State and visit his old stomping grounds. Both of his parents are still living in Arkansas.
"St. Marys is a really special place. I don't get back often," he admitted. "Obviously, I'm so proud of my brother (Jodi) and the success he's been able to experience there. Still got a few friends there. It's changed a lot just because of the new location of the school and the field, but it's a special place.
"A lot of times I'd love to go back. Memorial Day is usually when we have all of our reunions and stuff, but because of my situation and what I do in coaching it's so hard for me to get back at that time. My brother and his family, they basically come to us. I just don't get back to West Virginia now."
After graduating high school, it wasn't a foregone conclusion that Mote would attend Harding University, but that's what happened.
"I'd taken some visits and stuff, but with all the family roots and so forth, one it just kind of made sense," he said. "I actually played, my college coach at Harding was a guy by the name of John Prock. That was the same coach that coached my dad. I was actually a second generation Bison.
"I was the first second generation Bison. Me and another guy named David Escue, which his dad played for Harding, but we came in together as freshmen. We were the first second generation Bisons. I still have a picture with him, coach Prock and myself. It's in my office. He comes back and he was at the game Saturday. It was crazy."
Winning football games, let alone collecting the ultimate hardware, is always the goal. However, getting there and being able to stand atop the proverbial mountain is easier said than done.
"I've been blessed to really be surrounded by incredible people, players, coaches and I feel extremely blessed to have some of the experiences I've been able to encounter along the way," admitted coach Mote. "A lot of people go through their entire career and never be able to play in a meaningful game.
"Not just being a state champion or a national champion, but a lot of people don't even have the opportunity to be a conference champion and I've been blessed to experience all that. It's very humbling to be honest with you."
It didn't take coach Mote any time whatsoever to respond when asked how much longer he wanted to remain on the sidelines with head man Paul Simmons and the rest of his fellow assistants.
"I have no idea," he said. "I just go until they decide they don't want me anymore right now, or maybe the time will come when I can say I need to get away, I guess. I really don't know. I'm blessed.
"We got a tremendous culture and really to be honest I'm probably surrounded by the greatest group of young men anywhere in the country in terms of our 18-, 19-, 20-, 21-year-old players. I say that to them all the time and even the coaching staff that I'm part of. They are outstanding men that value people, really a lot more than they do the game of football."