The job, barely two weeks old, required a 2,000-mile move for a family of four, two of them six-month-old twins.
It was Christmas, at the in-laws, and Jeff Faris was 16 days into his fledgling tenure as Austin Peay head football coach.
The first time to helm a program for the former Duke player and longtime assistant to esteemed former Blue Devils leader David Cutcliffe, Faris maximized effort in the way that helped him earn a role under Cutcliffe after a standout prep career at Knoxville’s Catholic High School.
“Every day, Christmas included, we were saying as a staff, ‘What about this recruit, what about this kid?,’” Faris, who with wife, Natalie, will welcome a third child later this year, told FootballScoop. “The great thing we have is that the guys enjoy it and the kids know they can play in a program where they’re going to be cared for, supported and developed.
“We all made calls or took calls on Christmas. I was at my in-laws’ house, calling and kind of getting a look. But we brought in half of our 18 newcomers on January 3rd [for official visits].”
Faris & Co. proved ruthlessly efficient in their mid-year recruiting efforts. They have positioned the Govs for continued success that can mirror the 22 wins the program amassed in its previous three seasons for a season scheduled to open Aug. 31 at Jeff Brohm's Louisville Cardinals.
With arguably one of Football Championship Subdivision’s top coaching rosters and upper-level commitment for program resources from university leadership, Austin Peay brought in transfers from both Power Conference and top-tier Group of Five programs that included Duke, Marshall, East Carolina, University of Texas San Antonio and various others.
Too, Faris prioritized as much retention as possible of the Govs’s potential returning players; the program has positioned itself to return some key personnel but also fold in what has been widely praised as one of the top FCS Transfer Portal hauls in the entire division.
“He is a relentless recruiter and he has more energy and enthusiasm than any coach I have been around,” said George Quarles, a former record-setting Tennessee high school coach who most recently served atop the ETSU program and among the first hires for Faris. “He has a plan for everything.
“It has been a great learning experience for me to be around him. I believe he will do great things.”
Courtesy mutual trust formed with athletics director Gerald Harrison from their time together at Duke, Faris -- who had elevated to Cutcliffe's co-offensive coordinator role at Duke before Kelly hired him at UCLA -- embarked on staff assembly concurrent with roster reconstruction.
There was a method to both projects. Faris tabbed Tripp Weaver, who played and coached at East Carolina, as well as Duke, to run the Govs’s defense. He added Quinn Billerman, with experience at both Duke and Rice, as well as Patrick Kugler, stints at Power Conference powers Auburn and Michigan, among others, as Austin Peay’s co-offensive coordinators.
A former standout-player at MTSU who previously coached at Austin Peay and hailed from Memphis, Shane Tucker was hired to coach wideouts and serve as recruiting coordinator.
“I just always knew that Austin Peay would be a job that you can really recruit, coach good kids and build a program for sustained success,” said Faris, approached about other FCS jobs in this past cycle and who also had a contract extension from UCLA on his desk last December when he accepted the Govs job. “Gerald has done an unbelievable job. The resources, facilities that we have; we’ve got kids grom Group of 5 schools that visit us that can’t tell the difference, and the D2 kids think it’s like FCS ball. George Quarles has been a big part of that, and the president (Michael Licari) has been great.
“If we have done anything well, we’ve hired the 10-best relationship builders in college football. These guys know what takes and they come from every level of the game and they know we’re going to work our tails off in recruiting. It’s a round-the-clock job to build relationships. We want to develop players, no different than when we were at Duke and UCLA. And, we’re going to be that at Austin Peay.”
At the behest of Faris and other program leaders, an remarkable player-development measure already has unfolded. The Govs got drip.
The program purchased custom-tailored suits for every player.
“We’ve played team paintball, had trips to the pool, and a really great thing, we bought our whole team suits,” Faris, whose “race to together” winter program likewise fostered unity, said. “Just ways to show we are developing. We’re pouring everything into this to help guys build chemistry, know and love each other.
“Seventy-five percent of our team probably had not owned a suit. That was such a cool thing, guys getting emotional. They were calling their mothers back home. It was emotional for me. It shows you the true commitment at Austin Peay to our student-athletes.”
The paintball event wasn’t merely to better get acquainted; don’t get it twisted. Nor was a vicious basketball tournament.
If player-care and development have been installed as program foundation, competition has been emplaced as support beams.
“I think we’ve got guys that are willing to compete, and this is something we are going to build together on a foundation of being relentless competitors,” said Faris. “The paintball, we hosted a team knockout basketball tournament. We’ve asked guys questions and called to check for understanding. This summer, we’ve broken our team up into leadership groups.
“The players on the roster when we got here and guys we brought in, we’ve found they’re really willing to compete. The goal is to stack days. We’re going to be tough, tenacious and together. I think we’ll be a team that plays really hard, really physical and that makes you earn everything.”
Such an approach suits Faris well.