On Tuesday, the university announced the departures of strength and conditioning coach Mike Kent, wide receivers coach Trey Elder, quarterbacks coach Brad Glenn and tight ends coach John Holt. Although it has not yet been confirmed with an official announcement by the university, the release of offensive line coach Bob McClain has also been reported. Mike Kent will be assuming a similar position at Colorado State and joining his friend Jim McElwain, who was recently named head coach at CSU, while Kareem Young has been named interim director of strength and conditioning in Kent's place. Young is an Appalachian alumnus who played for Coach Moore as a running back from 1994-1998 and has served as the assistant director of strength and conditioning under Kent for the past two seasons.
Glenn, Elder and Holt will all be joining Mark Speir at Western Carolina. Coach Speir has named Glenn offensive coordinator, Elder wide receivers coach and Holt as coach of the offensive line. While ASU has yet to find a replacement for Elder and Holt, Brad Glenn's position was promptly filled on Wednesday with the return of celebrated Appalachian player and coach Scott Satterfield. Scott's role, however, will be as not only quarterbacks coach but assistant head coach and offensive coordinator.
Satterfield has a long history with Appalachian, dating back 20 years to his playing days from 1992-1995 as quarterback for the Mountaineers. After his playing days were over, he returned to Boone as a member of the coaching staff from 1998-2008. During his first turn on the ASU staff, he coached running backs, wide receivers and quarterbacks. He also served as the primary play-caller during his last 5 years on the sideline and took an active role in the transition from the Power-I to a spread offense, leading to record-setting offensive production and 3 National Championships.
During his brief hiatus, he spent one season as the quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator for Toledo in 2009, followed by 2 seasons as offensive coordinator at Florida International University where the program qualified for their first 2 bowl appearances in school history. His return to Boone marks the first time in 10 seasons that ASU has had a designated offensive coordinator on staff. His experience at the FBS level under highly regarded coaches Mario Cristobal and Tim Beckman will be extremely valuable as he takes the reigns of an Appalachian offense that struggled to find an identity in 2011.
As assistant head coach and offensive coordinator, Scott will have significant input along with Coach Moore in filling the coaching vacancies for the wide receivers, tight ends and offensive line. In my opinion, no hire will be more important for Appalachian's immediate future and Scott's long-term future than the offensive line. I expect to see a coach selected who has experience with running an inside zone blocking scheme suited for a spread option attack that will allow the Mountaineers' to resurrect a struggling ground game and restore balance to the offense. It became all too apparent in 2011 that ASU could not control a game on the ground as in years past, resulting in a one-dimensional offense with frustrating predictability and inconsistent production.
The return of Scott Satterfield was an impressive coup for AD Charlie Cobb and Coach Moore, as he is a great offensive mind that will likely pay immediate dividends for the black and gold. He is also dedicated to his alma mater and has long-term plans for ASU as opposed to many coaches who would view this opportunity as a stepping stone on the way to a bigger program. There has been much speculation regarding Coach Satterfield's future and the possibility of him succeeding Coach Moore when he decides to retire. While this is certainly a strong possibility that could be solidified with a successful turn in his current position, there are no promises in place which was made clear in his introductory press conference.
This is the best possible situation for all parties involved, as it would not be a prudent decision to hand him the head coach title before seeing how he handles the hiring of a staff and having nearly sole control of the offensive side of the ball in his newly appointed position. Doing so would have handcuffed the athletic department in terms of assessing our future after Jerry Moore and possibly fostered complacency on the part of Coach Satterfield. Being the head coach of a great program like Appalachian State is a privilege that must be earned and Scott will have the opportunity to do just that. He is a great young coach with connections all over the Southeast from his days at ASU that were enhanced further by his experience recruiting at Florida International. It would be naive not to see the writing on the wall that he will likely be a leading candidate to take this program into the future, but I applaud Charlie Cobb for delaying such a conclusive decision when it would have been very easy to throw the "Head Coach in Waiting" title at Scott to entice him to return.
The focus will now turn to filling out the staff, which should be much easier now that the leader of the offense is in place and the chain of command has been stabilized. I would be surprised if we do not see significant progress made on that front in the next week or two, as it is crunch time for recruiting and there should be no shortage of candidates. Things could have gone much differently with all the change and uncertainty surrounding the ASU football program but with one great hire and a much-needed change of leadership on the offensive line, the future has gotten much brighter in Boone over the last week.
*Photo from citizen-times.com
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