George Quarles is coming home.
The former national high school record-setting head coach at powerhouse Maryville High School (Tennessee) has agreed to terms to become the next head coach at East Tennessee State University, multiple sources tell FootballScoop.
Quarles, who rewrote Tennessee record books en route to his 50th, 100th and 200th career wins atop a Rebels’ program that is among the Volunteer State’s all-time leaders in state championships, is poised to take over the Buccaneers’ program after Randy Sanders’s stunning retirement earlier this month.
Quarles is expected to be introduced during a welcome press conference Thursday on the ETSU campus in Johnson City, Tennessee, per sources. Quarles is in line to receive a five-year deal to head up a Bucs program coming off a record-best season and finding its next leader after Randy Sanders’ retirement.
For the past five seasons, Quarles has been on staff at his alma mater, Furman University, where as a player he helped the Paladins to their only national championship in 1988.
Quarles, a Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame inductee, has been Furman’s offensive coordinator the past four seasons, as well as associate head coach in each of his five seasons on Clay Hendrix’s Paladins staff.
In that time, Furman has twice advanced to the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs, garnered multiple Southern Conference championships and also produced the league’s highest-scoring offense under Quarles.
A native of Jefferson City, Tennessee, and former star player for the Patriots, Quarles rose to acclaim at Maryville following a brief stint as the school’s offensive coordinator.
Able to take the helm of the program in 1999, Quarles won 250 games, 11 of them for Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association championships, and lost just 16 times in 18 seasons as head coach.
After he logged a 10-7 ledger through his first season-and-a-half as head coach, Quarles engineered an astounding 240-9 mark the duration of his tenure – a winning binge that also included at one point a nation’s-best 74-game winning streak.
Additionally, Quarles & Co. showed a deft ability to develop prep talent; they had star players sign with Alabama, Clemson, Tennessee, Furman, North Carolina, Colorado and myriad other programs.
Quarles also twice served on the coaching staff of the U.S. Army All-American Bowl in San Antonio, Texas, including a year as that all-star event’s head coach of the East squad.