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 Rock” heading into the 2007 campaign. Putting the feat into perspective, last year’s graduating class did not lose one of the 27 home games they played during their four-year playing careers.

While it may not have appeared so at the time, even to someone as positive as Moore, the groundwork for the championship was laid in 2004. Despite a 6-5 record, ASU’s smallest wins total in 11 seasons, Moore turned in one of his finest coaching performances in ‘04. Moore, whose Appalachian squads had become synonymous with the Power I over his first 15 years in the High Country, introduced a no-huddle, one-back offense during the spring practice period prior to the season. The gamble paid immediate dividends, as the Mountaineers averaged a gaudy 33.2 points per game and set dozens of team and individual offensive records throughout the season. Despite fielding a defense that was decimated by injuries throughout the season, Moore’s Apps posted a perfect 6-0 mark at home for the second-straight season, including triumphs over No. 2 Furman and No. 5 Wofford.

In a 2003 season loaded with challenges, Moore’s squad won six of its last seven games to finish second in the SoCon and 7-4 overall. The season was peppered with adversity and although the Mountaineers missed out on the postseason for the first time in six years, the veteran leader showed his guile by rallying the squad after a 1-3 start.

The 2002 campaign was filled with special moments, including becoming the Southern Conference’s all-time winningest coach with a 29-10 triumph at East Tennessee State on Oct. 5, the 110th win of his ASU career. A fifth consecutive playoff appearance and spot in the final top 10 poll capped the 8-4 campaign.

In 2001, Appalachian finished with a 9-4 final tally and ended the season in the NCAA I-AA playoffs for the fourth-consecutive year. Drama surrounds all of Moore’s landmark wins and his 100th victory at ASU was nothing short of a thriller. No. 100 came Sept. 22, 2001 via an 8-6 win at The Citadel.

The 2000 Mountaineers went 10-4, advancing to the I-AA playoffs and reaching the semifinals for just the second time in school history. They set school marks for total offense and passing offense while leading the SoCon in total defense and scoring.

1999 saw the Mountaineers go 7-1 in the Southern Conference to earn a share of the conference title, the fifth in school history. The 1998 season was special for Moore. On the night of Oct. 3, Moore recorded his 100th career victory, a 30-27, overtime defeat of Wake Forest in Winston-Salem, N.C.

In 1995, Moore led Appalachian to a 12-1 overall mark, recording a perfect 11-0 regular-season, then advanced to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Division I-AA playoffs and finished as the nation’s fifth-ranked team in the final I-AA poll. Rated second for 13 consecutive weeks, Moore’s squad became the first team in Southern Conference history to compile an 8-0-0 league mark. The Mountaineers established new standards by becoming the first team at the school to be undefeated and untied in a regular season and still hold school records for most regular season triumphs (11) and league wins (8). ASU also became the first NCAA Division I squad in North Carolina to post an 11-0 regular season record in the modern era. For his efforts, Moore was selected as both Southern Conference and AFCA Region Coach of the Year for the second-straight year.

In 1989, his first season at Appalachian, Moore guided Appalachian to a 9-3 overall record, an at-large berth in the NCAA I-AA playoffs and a No. 7 ranking in the final national polls. Included among the nine wins was a 15-10 victory over Wake Forest and an undefeated (6-0) home mark. Moore became the second Mountaineer head mentor to post nine victories in his initial campaign and the first in 43 years to accomplish the feat.

Prior to his arrival at ASU, Moore served as a head coach at North Texas (1979-80) and Texas Tech (1981-85). In 24 overall seasons as a head coach, Moore is 167-115-2. He also spent 15 successful seasons as a well-respected assistant coach under coaching legends Hayden Fry at SMU (1965-72), Tom Osborne at Nebraska (1973-78) and Ken Hatfield at Arkansas (1988).

Moore continued to add to his already impressive coaching resume in January 2006 when he served as an assistant coach at the annual Hula Bowl all-star game in Honolulu.

Before beginning his coaching career as an assistant at Corsicana H.S. in Corsicana, Texas from 1961-64, Moore enjoyed a prolific playing career. He finished among the nation’s top 10 in receptions as a wide receiver at Baylor from 1958-60. He was a team captain for the 11th-ranked Bears as a senior and graduated from Baylor with a degree in finance and economics in 1961.

A native of Bonham, Texas, Moore was an all-state performer on the gridiron and earned 14 varsity letters in four sports at Bonham H.S. He is a member of the Bonham Athletics Hall of Fame.

An active and well-respected member of the American Football Coaches Association, Moore is also active in various church and civic groups. His sense of community has never more evident than the months following the past two national-championship runs, when he practiced a “never say no” philosophy with regards to the numerous speaking engagements that he was asked to participate in. As many as five nights a week, Moore has traveled across the Carolinas and the Southeast to appear at as many of the banquets, clinics and other engagements that he was asked to speak at as possible.

A devoted family man and active member of the High Country community, Moore is married to the former Margaret Starnes, also a Baylor alum. They have three children: Chris —ASU’s running backs coach —Scott and Elizabeth, and six grandchildren.

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