Before becoming the head coach at Western Carolina, Mark Spier was an integral part of three FCS national titles and six conference titles on Jerry Moore's staff at Appalachian State.
Now, after being let go back in April after nine seasons leading the Western Carolina program (FCS) he's returning to App State. He went 33-68 in his time leading the Catamounts.
His official title will be senior analyst, the team announced yesterday.
"We're excited to welcome Mark and his wife, Paige, back to Boone," head coach Shawn Clark shared in the release. "He was a big part of the record-breaking success during his time on Coach Moore's staff and understands the culture of App State Football. He knows what it takes to compete at a championship level."
Speir spent most of his time under coach Moore on the defensive side of the ball working with defensive lineman, defensive ends and inside linebackers, mentoring a number of All Americans during that time. The 2003-04 seasons with the Mountaineers, which were his first two seasons with the program, he worked with the running backs.
That success helped him land the head coaching job at Western Carolina in 2012. He won just 3 games in his first two seasons before going 7-5 in 2014. It was their first winning season since 2014 and they finished runner-up in the conference as things were looking up for the program.
After that 2014 campaign, he signed a four-year extension and went on to go 7-4 in 2015, just missing the cut for the FCS playoffs.
He would go on to have another 7-win season in 2017, but the program dipped to back-to-back 3-win seasons in 2018 and 2019 before a 1-win season in 2020.
Speir is now back on the campus he's intimately familiar, as his son played quarterback under Scott Satterfield a handful of years ago, and his youngest son is currently a student.