Moore out as coach at Appalachian St.

Published Dec. 2, 2012 12:00 a.m. ET

foxsports

Jerry Moore, who led Appalachian State to an unforgettable upset of Michigan and won three straight FCS national championships, won't return to the Mountaineers next season, athletic director Charlie Cobb said Sunday.

Cobb said he and Moore, the winningest coach in school and Southern Conference history, agreed following last season that that this year would be his last, but Moore didn't want to make the decision public during the season because he wanted to keep the attention on the field.

''During his 24 years of loyal service to Appalachian State University, Coach Moore's contribution to the institution is far greater than his success on the field,'' Chancellor Kenneth Peacock said. ''He touched the lives of many young people and made life better for them. He will be missed but never forgotten at Appalachian State.''

Appalachian State's season ended Saturday with a 38-37 overtime loss to Illinois State in the second round of the playoffs. The Mountaineers finished 8-4, won their seventh SoCon title in eight years and made the playoffs for the eighth straight year.

Moore was 215-87 in 24 seasons with the Mountaineers and won three straight national titles from 2005-07. He's perhaps most famous for shocking the then-fifth-ranked Wolverines in the 2007 opener — the first win for an FCS school against an AP Top 25 team.

He was 242-135-2 in 31 seasons as a college head coach, ranking him 15th on the Division I all-time list, and won 10 SoCon championships with 18 postseason appearances.

The school said assistant head coach Scott Satterfield will serve as the interim coach while it launches a national search to find Moore's permanent replacement.