McDougal happy with game on his shoulders

The Milwaukee QB is back in control of an offense, which is just the way he likes it.

By JOHN C. COTEY

© St. Petersburg Times, published July 28, 2000

These days, Kevin McDougal is an Arena League star for Milwaukee, a relative indoor neophyte who not only took over for the league's all-time leading passer (Todd Hammel) this season but has made mincemeat of his team records.

If McDougal plays well against the Storm at the Ice Palace on Saturday, there is no question his Mustangs can win the first-round playoff game. If he doesn't play well, chances are they won't.

This is how McDougal likes it. Playing football. Throwing touchdowns. Calling the signals as a starter. Carrying his team on his back.

He remembers what this was like. He has missed it.

Seven years, four teams and three leagues ago, Kevin McDougal was a star at America's most famed football school. For 12 glorious games he quarterbacked Notre Dame to memorable wins, a stunning finish and almost a national championship.

If you blinked, you missed him.

You remember Rick Mirer. You remember Ron Powlus. You forget Kevin McDougal.

Squeezed between Mirer and Powlus, McDougal was the stopgap, the senior who had waited his turn and was eager to take it. Lou Holtz and the Irish's legion of fans did not share that eagerness. After all, Mirer was the No. 2 pick in the NFL draft that year, and Powlus was the heir apparent, the cover-boy quarterback, the freshman phenom.

In retrospect, McDougal was the best choice. He set a school record for passing percentage in a season (61.6) that still stands and also is the career leader at 62.2. He is the career leader in yards per attempt. He guided the 1993 Irish to one of the school's most memorable wins, 31-24 against Florida State, and at 11-1, the Irish finished No. 2 in the final polls behind the Seminoles, though many observers thought Notre Dame should have been national champion.

Since McDougal's senior year, Notre Dame has not contended for a national championship, has not won 11 games and has had a steady stream of disappointments at quarterback, Powlus included.

"I think we had some great teams there, but people never really gave me any credit," McDougal said. "That hurt. I think I did a great job leading the team.

"Both of those guys (Mirer and Powlus) are still in the NFL. I don't think they accomplished what I accomplished. I don't know what happened. I don't know why they're there and I'm not."

McDougal had brief camp appearances with St. Louis and Minnesota. The 6-foot-2, 200-pounder thinks he was unfairly labeled as an option quarterback. "Why I don't know," he said.

McDougal signed with the Canadian League's Winnipeg Blue Bombers but played behind Matt Dunigan, one of that league's greats. He also had a short stint in the World League, after which he signed with Milwaukee and again found himself stuck behind an established star, Hammel.

So he waited. Through superlative performances in relief of Hammel in 1998, through an 0-5 start in 1999 that Hammel survived and through an edgy off-season. He thought about asking for a trade. Someone had to go.

Turned out it was Hammel.

"It was either time to play Kevin or he probably was not going to come back," coach Rick Frazier said.

The notion of McDougal as an option quarterback now can be buried: This season he has thrown for a team-record 73 touchdowns, which is second in the league, and 3,887 yards, and has a quarterback rating of 116.0, fourth in the league.

"The thing I like about him is he throws the ball on time," Mustangs receiver Lamart Cooper said. "If he makes his read, he can make a team look bad."

And make himself look good.

His thoughts have turned back to the NFL. A few teams have scouted him, he said. The chance is all he asks -- the chance he was denied in 1993.

"I think about that every day," McDougal said. "The time has gone by so quick. Now that I'm 28, even if get a shot at the NFL, it has to come pretty quick. I feel I can play. There are guys in NFL I played against and outshined them every game. It's just getting the chance."

© St. Petersburg Times. All rights reserved.

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