Orediggers mining for victories

GOLDEN, Colo. — OK, let’s clear up a few things for those in the dark about the Colorado School of Mines.

First off, the campus isn’t located in the middle of a mountain or down a shaft 500 feet below ground. No, the students don’t spend their days wielding shovels. No matter how cool it sounds, the football players don’t have lights on their helmets.

And, after years of losing in obscurity, the school is finally building a winning Division II program with engineering and chemistry students.

“People associate it with a hard academic school, but not a good football team,” quarterback Chad Friehauf said. “I think we’re changing that perception.”

With an innovative coach, a record-setting quarterback in Friehauf and a group of players who finally believe winning on the field and in the classroom aren’t mutually exclusive, the Orediggers have made some noise in an area filled with professional sports and Division I programs.

Mines (11-0) blasted through its schedule for the school’s first undefeated season, winning by an average of 18 points and by no fewer than 10 in any game. The Orediggers went 8-0 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference for their first title since 1958, and will play the first playoff game in school history today against Midwestern State.

Not bad for a bunch of undersized engineering students in a town best known as the home of Coors brewing company.

“It’s really been great for the school,” coach Bob Stitt said. “I don’t think people who live in Golden or have been around Mines for a while really know how to act.”

Founded in 1874, Mines is known as one of the world’s most prestigious engineering schools. But mining is now one of the smallest areas of study at the school. Degree programs include economics, physics, chemistry, geophysics and all kinds of engineering. Most Mines graduates go on to become lawyers, doctors and heads of major companies.

As for being a student, it’s as hard as it sounds.

Once they get past rigorous entrance requirements, Mines students take a full load of the types of courses that make most people cringe. All undergraduates take the same classes the first two years, including physics, calculus and chemistry, and the school day runs from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.

That meant Stitt had to take a different tack when mining for recruits.

“You can’t fall in love with a football player and hide him in classes here,” Stitt said. “If they don’t belong here, they’re not going to make it. We’ve survived here by finding the right kids academically and then we looked at them athletically.”

Before Stitt arrived in 2000, Mines had one winning season in 19 years.

As offensive coordinator at Harvard, Stitt had plenty of success with a run-first offense and figured the same scheme would work at Mines. Not quite.

“When we got here, we couldn’t run the ball an inch,” Stitt said. “Not only could we not make a yard, we would lose 3 yards if we tried to run the ball.”

So what Stitt did was create one of the wildest offenses in the country.

Lining up in the shotgun on just about every play, the Orediggers look a lot like Utah, only with more deep passes. Using the option, traditional running plays, plenty of screens and stretch passes, Mines averaged 38 points and 524 yards per game this season.

“We’re fun to watch, I think,” Friehauf said. “We have an explosive offense and people like that.”