Arth, Dartt facing big seasons

Akron was 0-12 in 2019; Mount Union, as always, aiming for title

The distance between the University of Akron and Mount Union is about 40 miles.

Vicinity might be about the only thing the two football programs have in common these days.

The Zips were 0-12 in 2019 under first-year coach Tom Arth. At Mount Union, first-year coach Geoff Dartt is faced with the challenge of following in the footsteps of the Kehres family.

The goal in Alliance is always the same — a Division III national championship. But 2019 ended in shocking fashion as Mount lost in the second round of the NCAA Division III playoffs.

It should be no surprise then that 2020 is shaping up as a huge year for the coaches.

Pressure comes in all shapes and sizes for coaches, but the bottom line from the pro level on down is wins and losses.

Times were difficult on the gridiron last season for Arth, who had big-time success at John Carroll from 2013 to 2016. He left JCU for FCS Chattanooga after a 12-2 season 2016, and he was in the process of building the Mocs’ program.

Arth’s first season, his team was 3-8 but beat top 10 opponent Samford. In 2018, Chattanooga started 4-0, but slumped to a 6-5 finish. Then, a chance to return to his hometown state was too much to turn down as he took the Zips job.

From the outside, the task ahead for Arth lifting Akron from the basement of the Mid-American Conference seems daunting, to say the least. The coach has a different view. Taking over for Terry Bowden, who guided Akron for seven seasons, meant implementing a new mindset for the program. “Our way” has been Arth’s motto since his JCU days.

“We’re still building the foundation here,” said Arth during a recent phone interview with The News-Herald. “We made some incredible strides in Year 1 in all those things. It didn’t show in the win, loss column but I believe this a completely different program, and we’re excited about that.”

Before the novel coronavirus pandemic hit, Arth said the program had a “great winter” in terms of leadership growth from coaches and players. The excitement level for the spring was also high, as 13 new scholarship player enrolled early in January. But that process got muddled because of COVID-19.

“It wasn’t the ideal situation for us,” said Arth. “The hard part was just not having our players here on campus and not gong through spring practice. But outside of that, we got a lot accomplished.”

For nearly 30 years at Mount, it’s all been about competing for national championships. In Year 1 of the Dartt era, it’s no different.

The Purple Raiders lost a lot of talent on offense, including quarterback D’Angelo Fulford and wide receiver Justin Hill. There’s plenty returning, including All-America running back Josh Petruccelli of Perry High School and bulk and experience along the offensive line.

Expect the Purple Raiders to again compete for a national title in 2020, but no Kehres associated with Mount athletics is a new

reality for the university.

Former coach Vince Kehres is now at Toledo as an assistant, and Vince’s father, the legendary Larry Kehres, is set to retire in June as athletic director. There’s also the fact Dartt, the team’s offensive coordinator the past two seasons, is the son-in-law of Larry, so there’s familiarity and close ties with the Kehres family. Anyone expecting big changes with the onset of the Dartt era will be disappointed.

“I played at Mount, all the coaches on the staff played here,” said Dartt in a recent phone interview. ‘It would be silly on our part to change. Making wholesale changes on our part would be silly.”

Instead, Dartt’s message through the pandemic while utilizing virtual means to connect with players and coaches is simple: Stay consistent.

That formula worked during both Kehres eras as Larry won 11 national titles from 1986 to 2012 and Vince two more while going 95-6 in seven seasons.

Still, the new reality in Alliance is by June a Kehres won’t be associated with Mount or leading the football program for the first time since 1986. That reality does not intimidate or affect Dartt, who said he had no concerns about replacing the Kehres family name at Mount.

“This is not my team,” said Dartt. “The expectations we have are because of the people we have in this program. The men we have on this team. The men we have on staff. We’ll do this together.”

Regardless, the spotlight will be on Dartt and Arth in 2020.

UNIVERSITY OF AKRON ATHLETICS AND UNIVERSITY OF MOUNT UNION ATHLETICS University of Akron Coach Tom Arth is looking to improve his team from the 0-12mark it had in 2019. Geoff Dartt is the first Mount Union football coach not named Kehres since 1986.