RIP Coach Darnell

[soonerfaithful]

Coach Darnell was a few years before my time but he was coach when my mum went to MCHS.
Coach Darnell had one of the best high school football records in the state.
He left a great dynasty and will be missed.
One thing the author of the article did do was credit all the state championships to Coach Darnell.

NewsOK: Former Midwest City football coach Jim Darnell dies at age 78

Former Midwest City football coach Jim Darnell dies at age 78

By Ryan Aber
Staff Writer
Jim Darnell, who coached Midwest City football for 23 seasons and crafted the Bombers into a state power, died Saturday. He was 78.



Services will be at 2 p.m. Wednesday at St. Luke's United Methodist Church in Oklahoma City.

In 23 seasons, from 1955 to 1977, Darnell's teams played in four state finals and won the 1960 championship. Darnell's teams at Midwest City were 184-51-11. The Bombers never had a losing season under Darnell.

"To have a program of that magnitude told me what kind of man and what kind of coach he was,” said longtime Millwood coach Leodies Robinson. "He was a coach's coach, always trying to help coaches get better.”

The Bombers' woin titles under Darnell in 1985, 1988, 1994 and 1995.

"He's the Bud Wilkinson of Midwest City,” said Ray Gundy, whose sons Mike (now OSU's head coach) and Cale (now an OU assistant) both quarterbacked the Bombers in the 1980s. "I've never heard one that played for Jim Darnell say anything bad about him. They respected him, and players played for him.”

Darnell was The Oklahoman's Coach of The Year in 1960 and 1967.

Former Harding and Putnam City coach Jerry Potter faced Darnell teams several times. Potter recalled one matchup between Putnam City and Midwest City at Taft Stadium, which drew more than 20,000 fans.

"Even though he beat our tails a lot of the time, he was certainly a great friend,” Potter said.

Dick Evans played for Darnell and coached with him. Evans succeeded Darnell after the 1977 season.

"He taught me most everything I knew about coaching,” Evans said. "I took a job at Grant and didn't have a whole lot of success, so I asked Jim if I could come over and be an assistant with him and try to find out what wasn't happening right for me, and I sure learned it there.

"He always was able to hire good coaches, and he always had people that were capable around him. It was a really fun time to be at Midwest City when he was the coach.”

Former Star Spencer coach Carl Twidwell said: "Darnell was a competitor. He wasn't a big guy, but he was always a fierce competitor. He's got a gazillion friends in coaching.”

[bombermwc]

The Bombers' woin titles under Darnell in 1985, 1988, 1994 and 1995.

I don't believe he was coaching there in the 80's and both 94 and 95 were not Darnell...they were Huggins.

[Pete]

Darnell only won one state title: 1960. I think his last year was 1977.

My siblings and I went to Putnam City throughout the 70's and at that time both schools ruled the Midstate Conference like OU & Nebraska ruled the Big 8. They played on the last game of the season and it was always for the conference championships and at that time, only one team got to go to the state playoffs.

Darnell & the Bombers had quite a winning streak there for a while over us... Always a great game.

He was a great coach and a very respected man. RIP.

[soonerfaithful]

The Bombers' woin titles under Darnell in 1985, 1988, 1994 and 1995.

I don't believe he was coaching there in the 80's and both 94 and 95 were not Darnell...they were Huggins.

I had sent a email last night to the guy that wrote the article telling him he had some of it wrong.
Coach Darnell led MCHS to their first high school championship in 1960, 85 & 88 were both Coach Evans and yes Huggins was 94 & 95.