Head Coach Jerry Moore
Alma Mater: Baylor, 1961
Years at ASU: 19th
Photo courtesy of Jonathan Williams/The Appalachian
Over the past two decades, Jerry Moore has become the face of Appalachian football. But over the past two seasons, Moore has also become the model for coaching success on a national level, as the head coach of the Mountaineers earned his second-straight American Football Coaches Association National Coach of the Year award in 2006.
In 18 seasons at Appalachian, Moore has compiled a 154-68 record, making him the winningest coach in SoCon history. In 25 years as a head coach, which includes stints at Texas Tech (1981-85) and North Texas (1979-80), he is 181-116-2.
Despite the success that Moore has enjoyed at nearly every stop of his 46-year coaching career, the 2005 and ‘06 seasons have cemented his place among the sport’s all-time greatest mentors.
In 2006, Moore led the Mountaineers to a school-record 14 victories and their second-straight NCAA Division I Football Championship Series (FCS  formerly Division I-AA) national title. Following a hard-fought 23-10 setback in the season opener at NC State, Moore’s Apps ran off 14-straight wins by an average margin of 22.6 points, capped by a 28-17 triumph over No. 3 Massachusetts in the 2006 NCAA Division I Football Championship in Chattanooga, Tenn. Six of ASU’s 14 victories came versus nationally ranked competition.
In perhaps his finest performance in 25 seasons on the sidelines as a head coach, Moore’s troops swept the Southern Conference’s postseason awards (Offensive Player of the Year Kevin Richardson, Defensive Player of the Year Marques Murrell, Jacobs Blocking Trophy recipient Kerry Brown and Freshman of the Year Armanti Edwards), despite being led by a true freshman at quarterback in Edwards, who went 13-0 as a starter and became just the second freshman and fifth player overall in Division I history to amass 2,000 passing yards and 1,000 rushing yards in a season. The postseason accolades also included eight all-Americans and 19 all-conference selections, both ASU records.
The plaudits also rolled in for Moore, who swept the national Coach of the Year awards with recognition from the AFCA, The Sports Network (Eddie Robinson Award) and College Sporting News. Additionally, Moore was named the SoCon Coach of the Year for a record fifth time and the AFCA Region 2 Coach of the Year for the fourth time.
The success in 2006 came on the heels of Moore leading ASU to its first national championship the previous season.
The 2005 Apps overcame perhaps the toughest schedule in ASU history to bring home the school’s first team title in any NCAA sport with a 21-16 triumph over Northern Iowa in the I-AA championship game. In addition to contests at eventual bowl champs LSU and Kansas, Appalachian squared off versus seven nationally ranked I-AA opponents, winning six en route to the title.
In addition to being the first ASU team to ever wear an NCAA crown, Moore’s Apps also became the first football team from the state of North Carolina to ever win an NCAA championship and the first squad from one of the state’s public institutions to win a national title at any level of college football.
Moore’s most evident stamp on the program may be its near invincibility at home during his tenure. The Mountaineers have posted a gaudy 90-17 record under Moore at Kidd Brewer Stadium and ride a school-record 27-game winning streak at “The Rockâ€
