The Rest of the Story
How the power of faith in God builds good character and good teams
The Journey, Winter 2022
By Ben Cox with Coach Jerry Moore
Coach Jerry Moore with Coach Shawn Clark
The first time I ever met App State Football Coach Shawn Clark was last summer when I did a Zoom interview with him for this Winter 2022 edition of The Journey Magazine and jouneync.com. As Shawn’s story unfolded I learned how much of an impact former Coach Jerry Moore had on him. Not only did Coach Moore influence Shawn to pursue coaching as a career, but his example of personal devotion to God caused Shawn to reconsider what he believed about God and the Bible, and what it really meant to be a Christian. You can read Shawn’s own words about that in this magazine and even watch the interview online in the future. But now, as Paul Harvey used to say, you’re going to hear “the rest of the story!”
Two days after our summer interview with Shawn, I wanted to hear the other half of this story from Coach Moore’s perspective. So I called him and was surprised to hear him pick up on the first ring. I had his phone numbers stored in my phone from the first time we featured stories on him and his wonderful wife Margaret in our magazine back in 2008 and then again in 2013. Summer 2013 is when we decided to feature the Moore’s stories again in a special tribute edition. We did this because, after the 2012 season, Coach Moore was fired by the school. This was shocking to many of us in the community, but those things happen when the powers that be think it’s in the program’s best interests to change coaches. Coach Moore, who was 73-years-old at the time, knew he wanted to retire soon and was planning to do so after the 2013 season. But the school forced his “retirement” one year earlier than he wanted.
Though that was a tough way for a coach of his caliber to end a legendary career, he and Margaret weathered the storm, as they’ve learned to do with all of life’s challenges. They trusted God to show them the next step. Furthermore, in a beautifully redemptive way, App State has now given Coach Moore the honor and respect that was due to him for his stellar record as the head coach of the Appalachian State University Mountaineers Football team. But, as you’ll hear in the rest of the story, the Moore’s are quick to acknowledge that all glory for that goes to God.
After hearing Jerry talk about his relationship with Coach Clark and the other players, coaches and influential people in his life, I decided to formally write this testimony to augment Coach Clark’s story.
When we were able to meet, App State had already played two electrifying games! One was a nail-biter of a game against UNC’s football team played right here in Boone in front of the largest crowd ever to fill Kidd Brewer Stadium. The other was against Texas A&M in their stadium at College Station, Texas.
I’ll refrain from replaying the particulars of those games because there’s plenty to be read online and that’s not what this story is about. However, I must admit I was delighted with how fitting the timing was when I finally sat down and did a formal interview with Coach Moore.
Over 15 years ago on September 1, 2007 our football team went to play the Michigan Wolverines at their stadium called “The Big House.” Michigan was ranked number five in the nation at the time and had its sights set on winning the national championship that year. To them and to Texas A&M in 2022, Coach Moore says, “They were willing to pay our team big money to give them what they viewed as a scrimmage game and send us home as losers.” Then and now, App State shocked the football world, putting our little town of Boone, NC “on the map” once again. So that’s the backdrop against the rest of the story you’re about to read.
Called To Coach
When Coach Clark was interviewed on national TV after our victory at Texas A&M, he gave glory to God and talked about the foundation that was laid dating all the way back to when he played for the Mountaineers from 1994-1997. This foundation began being laid in Spring 1989 when App State’s athletic director, Jim Gardner, hired Coach Moore to lead the Mountaineers. Here’s how Coach Moore describes that time in his own words:
“At the time Jim called me to offer me the job at Appalachian State University, I didn’t even know where Boone was. Plus, after I got the job, they put me in a little room with some media people to teach me the correct way to pronounce Appalachian.
Not only did I not know where Boone was, but it had been over two years since I had been fired from my head coach position at Texas Tech University. When I was fired, I wanted to coach somewhere else but Margaret and I did not feel it was wise to move our family at the time. So I took a job working for a home builder and developer for about 18 months. Even though I was making more money doing that than I ever did in coaching, I was miserable.
My job took me from home, traveling to Arizona, Miami, and Atlanta looking for property to develop. In Atlanta, the company I worked for built a golf course and I ended up spending a lot of time there. So, I got an apartment where I had to sleep on an air mattress and bought myself a little 19” TV just to pass the time when I wasn’t working. Margaret was still in Texas working as a school teacher and tending to the family. I used to cry myself to sleep wishing and praying that I could coach football again.”
At this juncture, I want you to hear what Margaret had to say about that period in their lives as she told us in 2008 when she shared her testimony titled: “The Roller Coaster Ride of a Coach’s Wife.” Here’s what she said:
“When Jerry was unexpectedly transferred to Atlanta I finished the semester at school and joined him there. We both realized that we desperately needed to re-examine our lives. We were out of God’s will and we desperately needed Him back in control. On his knees, Jerry prayed, ”If You really want me to coach, put me in a place where I can be a spiritual force in the life of my players.’ This is where we began to feel God leading.”
It was then that Jerry called some of his coaching friends, like Tom Osborne who coached at Nebraska, and Ken Hatfield who coached at Arkansas. According to Margaret, here’s what Coach Hatfield said to Jerry when he called: “Would you be willing to do some volunteer coaching here in Arkansas? We can’t pay you, but we sure could use you.”
Margaret continues, “With three kids in college now, we accepted, and once again I got a teaching job. I will forever love that coaching staff and their families. They were all believers. They took us in and loved us back to life. God restored our Christian lifestyle and reminded us how Sovereign He is.”
It was in that context after Arkansas had won their conference championship and played UCLA in the Cotton Bowl that Jim Gardner called. Coach Moore describes that phone call like this: “He hit the nail on the head when he said, ‘You’re not making a difference in anybody’s life out of coaching.’ And so he hired me over the phone.”
Discipleship and Coaching
When Coach Moore arrived here he didn’t come with a formula in mind for building the foundation that Coach Clark, Coach Drinkiwitz, and Coach Satterfield have continued to build on in their tenures here. As Margaret said so well, they just came with a renewed commitment to follow Christ wholeheartedly.
