Interesting Note About App State's Jerry Moore

FirefightnRick · September 8, 2007

I'm reading SI's Austin Murphy' article on App State's upset win over Michigan, in which App State lead at halftime 28-17. But the most intrigueing part in the article........

..........."In 2005 the Mountaineers were coming off of a 6-5 season and had missed the

I-AA postseason for two straight years, but then Moore made a bold move. Long a believer in the I formation,

the coach added a no-huddle, spread-option look to give the offense a change of pace. The spread worked so

well that he junked the old system. "We haven't been in a huddle since the spring of 2005", says the 68-year-old Moore.

Later that year App State beat Northern Iowa for the I-AA national championship..."

And of course would go on to win it again, the next year plus the upset over Michigan as well.

Just curious but did Coach Moore also run the I formation when he was here and at Texas Tech?

Rick

NT80 · September 8, 2007

Just curious but did Coach Moore also run the I formation when he was here and at Texas Tech?
Rick

Yes, and it's why I and several other fans from that time period are no Jerry Moore fans. Hayden Fry had just left for Iowa after the 1978 season going 9-2 and 10-1 the year before but no Bowl invite. Several key players were returning for the 1979 season including QB Jordan Case, one of the most accurate passers in our history. Fry liked multiple formations and a wide open offense to keep the defense guessing, and smaller, quicker linemen.

Well, the NT admin decided to hire Moore, an assistant from Nebraska, which used the I formation with huge linemen. Moore changed the NT offense from half pass / half run to the Nebraska I, but we didn't have the players to run it. We went 5-6 and it wrecked NT football for several years. Moore went 6-5 his next season and Tech hired him away (thank God). Then we hired Bob Tyler for a year that further sent us into decline. :angry:

GrandGreen · September 8, 2007

Jerry Moore was a three yards and a cloud of dust man. He was a horrible hire for NT. Fry left a very good team with almost everyone returning built on speed and deception. Moore tried to convert that team to a clone of Nebraska at the time. He bought in 5 or 6 linemen all 6'5 and 300 or bigger in a time when there were not many players of that size. None of the big linemen ever contributed. He took a 10-1 team and turned them into a .500 club.

No one has ever figured out why Texas Tech hired him away. Apparently he has turned into a great coach but he destroyed everything that Fry had build. He benched Bernard Jackson. NT had all four defensive backs returning who had led the NCAA in interceptions and Moore replaced all but one in the defensive backfield. It was one of many dreadful hires made by NT. Instead of building on the success of Fry, NT's decision makers were more concerned with reducing expenses and apparently did not even consider that Moore's style was completely counter to NT's returning players.

SUMG · September 8, 2007

Moore went 11-11 in two years at NT (following Hayden's last two years of 19-3).

Here's something that Kevin Sherrington put in a column....which I have doubts about it: He said that 10 of Moore's 11 losses at NT, were to bowl teams.

Think that's true? It may be.....I don't know.

September 8, 2007

Definitely not true. I checked 1979 where he lost to Oklahoma State, SMU, Kansas, Southern Miss, Memphis and East Carolina. Of those, only Southern Miss was a bowl team (Independence Bowl).

If you'll recall, there were very few bowls in 79-80 and even fewer bowl tie-ins.

I didn't bother to check 1980.