Miami players observe the atmosphere at Kidd Brewer Stadium during the third quarter. The passionate, traveling fan base was something that App State pitched to Miami as it cold-called top-tier schools about playing at Kidd Brewer Stadium, App State Athletics Director Doug Gillin told the Winston-Salem Journal. While Miami Athletics Director Blake James told SBNation that App State wasn’t Miami’s first choice, James said, “Scheduling’s a complicated thing.” It’s also a given that this particular home game would have never materialized if App State wasn’t in the FBS. Capable of enticing Miami with a home-and-home series in 2016 and 2021, the App State football program that exists today was built without reproach by Hall of Fame Coach Jerry Moore. Though a handful of other coaches put together quality records and won some conference championships in the North State and later Southern Conference at the helm of App State, Moore compiled a 215-87 record in 24 seasons on his way to legendary status. During his tenure, which ended questionably in 2012, App State embarked on a three-consecutive national championship run, amidst the slaying of No. 5 Michigan Wolverines in front of more than 100,000 22
High Country Magazine
Miami fans throw the up “U” sign. stunned fans in The Big House to become a household name in sports lore. This success led to App State Feasibility Committee recommending the jump to the FBS in 2011 and eventually to the school being plucked by the Sun Belt Conference in 2014. The move was criticized by some football fans – and more if you consider those worried about the priority of athletics over academics – because some enjoyed App State’s status as a big fish in a little pond. Even the elite programs in the FBS such as the Alabamas and Ohio States don’t win three consecutive national championships like App State did in the mid-2000s or in North Dakota State’s current case, fiveconsecutive national championships. That
October / November 2016
just doesn’t happen, (although Alabama certainly is making a case with four championships in seven years from 2009-2015). App State’s inaugural season in the FBS started out pretty awful from a record standpoint, feeding into the critics’ reluctance about or outright opposition to the Mountaineers moving up to the FBS. Ironically, the opener in the Mountaineers’ inaugural year in the FBS was against Michigan, once again in The Big House. They lost 52-14, and thus no ceremonial couch burnings on King Street or goalpost mobs on Rivers Street occurred. Three games later, the Mountaineers had a 1-3 record and an ESPN columnist had the program in his tongue-and-cheek sights as one of the worst teams in the FBS. Halfway through the season, the Mountaineers slogged to 1-5 before things began to click. The Mountaineers then reeled off a six game winning streak and finished the season with a respectable, winning record (7-5) during a transition period from the FCS. Last season bore even more fruit. App State head coach Scott Satterfield guided the Mountaineers to an 11-2 record with the only losses coming to the eventual