National championship football officially a family tradition for Mount Union

Published Dec. 22, 2015 2:28 p.m. ET

Marcus Hartman

Mount Union's Larry Kehres and Vince Kehres are both grizzled football men, so they can be forgiven if neither of them had mushy memories of last Friday night when the Purple Raiders program one built and the other has maintained won yet another national championship.

The Kehreses don't need to describe how they felt when winning national championships became a family tradition at Mount Union because the program is based on the ideals they would have been talking about, the same ones that are a constant point of emphasis in their facilities in the small northeast Ohio town of Alliance.

Faith. Family. Football.

That is what Larry, the father who led the Purple Raiders to 11 national championships before retiring following the 2012 season, described as the bedrock of the program son Vince led to its 12th title with a 49-35 win over St. Thomas of Minnesota.

"(As) a football player, when I asked him to put in a lot of work and a big-time commitment, it was not at the expense of the upper-echelon factors in our lives," the elder Kehres told FOX Sports. "So we always had a guiding light, a North Star, if you will, and then secondly we picked four words: Work, commitment, loyalty and hope. Those words took on in our football program and our football family significant meaning over the years. The men who have been through our program understand it."

He acknowledged he was far from the first football coach to come up with those key ideals for his program, and he agreed they are as important -- if not more so -- to maintaining a high-level program as they are for establishing it.

"Absolutely. If you want to maintain success, you have to have a solid foundation, a solid base," he said. "You have to always go back to it, go back to your base. Don't get caught up in flashy, temporary things. You go back to the base of operations to rejuvenate yourself every year. And we kind of start from scratch. Let's rejuvenate ourselves, let's go from there and not forget the foundation of being successful."

The transition from father to son is impossible to describe as anything other than a success -- at least anywhere but Mount Union, where things are a little more complicated. The Purple Raiders are 43-2 in Vince's three seasons with three perfect regular seasons and three appearances in the Stagg Bowl, the Division III national championship game. But they were 182-7 with seven national championships in the 13 seasons before he took over.

They've won three more Ohio Athletic Conference championships under his direction (that's 24 in a row), but Vince admitted it was nice to finally get that first national championship under his belt after his first two teams lost in the title game.

"Yeah, there's a little pressure being at Mount Union," he said. "You're expected to win every football game, and a lot of times the expectations are a little bit unrealistic. People think you're gonna win every game by 50 points and what happened if you didn't? But I just try to control what I can control and focus on preparation each week. That part really is enjoyable. I love being around the other coaches. They're some of my best friends, so it's enjoyable just going through the process. The pressure doesn't bother me."

A former Purple Raiders defensive lineman, the younger Kehres spent 13 seasons as an assistant coach before taking the head job when his father retired. He had chances to leave but never did.

"I interviewed for a couple of head coaching jobs about four or five years ago and had an offer at another Division III school and decided to stay here," Kehres said. "I'm very glad I did. I was offered a coordinator position at the Division I level four years ago and really thought I was gonna do that for about a day and then I decided not to do it, to stay here. Those were both great opportunities, but I think I made the best decision for me and my family at the time."

He said he couldn't think of any major changes he had made since taking over but figures there are plenty of subtle ones. An exception? He likes to be more aggressive in the kicking game.

Mostly he has relied on the same practices that his father used to lead the Purple Raiders to the top.

How have they done it?

With no athletic scholarships to hand out, recruiting at the Division III level is more than a little bit different than it is higher up the food chain, but Vince Kehres said they have refined their process over the years.

Mount Union has taken advantage of changes in the way everyone communicates and the publicity from so many title game appearances airing on national television to target better athletes in recruiting, but the same basic tenets still apply.

Show up, put in the work, and you can be part of the team. The rest has a way of sorting itself out.

"Back when I was a player, the coaches just recruited a lot of guys and let it sort itself out once they got here, and I think now we try to target players a little bit more and target players that we think are going to have the opportunity to play for us," he said. "We screen that out a little bit in the recruiting process.

"I think the number of incoming players is probably about the same, but the talent level overall is higher than it used to be. I think because of that we don't lose as many kids. Not as many kids drop off as maybe they used to."

The Purple Raiders still generally don't cut anyone.

"If a kid really wants to play football at Mount Union, we're going to allow them to do that," Vince said.

There have been changes over the years, including from a "pro-style" two-back offense to one that relies on the shotgun and spread formations now, but the same fundamentals have always been emphasized.

"Taking over this program three years ago, it really wasn't difficult because the philosophies and the values of the program have been in place for a long time," Vince Kehres said. "We had only had two head coaches in 48 years before I took over. I believed in those same things, was kind of raised on them as a player and young coach and they're gonna stay in place here for a long time."

But just how did it feel to get back over that championship hump? We had to ask.

"It was exhilarating, honestly," Larry Kehres said. "It really was. I was so pleased for him and the coaches that worked with him and the players. It was really an exhilarating feeling."

His son said it started setting in as the final seconds ticked off the clock -- when he realized they did not have to take another snap.

"The guys started jumping around me and it really, seeing my dad afterwards and seeing my family, I think that was real emotional for me and just kind of overwhelming to be honest with you," Vince Kehres said. "It's kind of hard to come up with the words to describe it. It really was a great feeling."

Sometimes that's all that matters.