Update: More quotes from AD Charlie Cobb make it appear that Moore was essentially fired.
Jerry Moore out as Appalachian State football coach
Legendary Appalachian State coach Jerry Moore is stepping down, perhaps against his will.
Appalachian State’s Jerry Moore, the coach who knocked off Michigan in Ann Arbor and once won three consecutive national titles, is stepping down, the school announced Sunday. The Mountaineers lost to Illinois State in the FCS playoffs the day prior, going 8-4 on the year, the fewest wins in a season for ASU since 2004. Athletic director Charlie Cobb, in a statement:
Following the end of last season (2011), Coach Moore and I sat down and we came to the decision, with the approval of Dr. (Kenneth E.) Peacock (Appalachian State University chancellor) that the 2012 season would be the last season of his tenure as head coach. Coach Moore didn’t want to make that decision public before or during the season because, in his typical humble nature, he wanted all of the focus to be on his student-athletes, winning a 10th Southern Conference championship and returning to the postseason for the eighth-straight year. In a fitting sendoff, all of those goals were accomplished. For thousands of Mountaineer fans, including myself, seeing him carried off the field by his players while clutching the Southern Conference championship trophy following the win over Furman (Nov. 10) was the highlight of the season.
Words cannot express the gratitude that the Appalachian family has and that I have personally for Coach and Margaret (Moore). The number of lives that Coach and Margaret have impacted in a positive way in their 24 years in the High Country is innumerable. Coach Moore is legend at Appalachian State and in college football and we are planning to celebrate his legacy appropriately and abundantly in the future.
The 73-year-old has been the head coach at ASU since 1989, going 215-87, winning 10 Southern Conference titles and winning regional or national coach of the year awards in nine different seasons:
Moore is no stranger to individual awards, as he is a three-time American Football Coaches Association Coach of the Year (2005, ‘06, ‘07) and the only Division I (FCS or FBS) mentor in the 77-year history of the award to win it three years in a row. He also won the 2006 Eddie Robinson Award (National Coach of the Year) from The Sports Network, is a six-time AFCA Regional Coach of the Year (1994, ‘95, 2005, ‘06, ‘08, ‘09, ‘10) and a record eight-time SoCon Coach of the Year (1991, ‘94, ‘95, 2005, ‘06, ‘08, ‘09, ‘10). In 2009, he was named the Liberty Mutual FCS Coach of the Year, an award that included $50,000 for Moore’s favorite charities and $20,000 for the Appalachian State Alumni Association scholarship fund.
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