BOONE– Appalachian State University head football coach Scott Satterfield has named Mark Ivey, an App State alumnus and a member of the football staff since 2012, as the program’s assistant head coach.
Ivey has served as an Appalachian State assistant coach for the past six seasons, including the last four overseeing the defensive line. He coached outside linebackers from 2012-13 and oversaw the special teams from 2012-14.
“Mark Ivey bleeds Black and Gold,” Satterfield said. “Not only does he define what it means to be a Mountaineer, but he is a proven coach and a great mentor for the young men on our football team.”
An Appalachian State defensive lineman himself from 1991-95, Ivey has directed lines that have helped the Mountaineers rank among the nation’s best defenses during his tenure. Since making the full transition to the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) level in 2015, Appalachian State has ranked no lower than 21st nationally in scoring defense. Ivey has helped the Mountaineers rank among the top 20 in sacks and total defense in two of the last three seasons. In all three seasons, Appalachian State ranked either first or second among Sun Belt Conference teams in scoring defense, total defense and passes intercepted.
Behind the efforts of All-Sun Belt linemen Tee Sims (first team) and Caleb Fuller (third team), the 2017 defense ranked 11th nationally in three-and-out possessions (4.77 per game), 16th in takeaways (26), 17th in sacks (38), 21st in scoring defense points per game (20.2) and 29th in total defense (342.5 yards per game). Appalachian State’s 34-0 win over MAC champion Toledo in the Dollar General Bowl was the only shutout of the 2017-18 bowl season, with Fuller accounting for 1.5 of the Mountaineers’ four sacks, and Sims ranked fifth nationally by averaging 0.95 sacks per game.
Ivey also mentored all-conference linemen in 2016 (Sims, Dezmin Reed), 2015 (Ronald Blair) and 2014 (Blair). After leading the league with 19 tackles for loss and ranking No. 2 with seven sacks, Blair was voted 2015 Sun Belt Defensive Player of the Year. He was selected in the fifth round of the 2016 National Football League (NFL) Draft by the San Francisco 49ers and has five sacks through two NFL seasons.
Ivey returned to Boone after spending 16 years as a high school coach in Florida, including his last 10 as a head coach at Cypress Lake in Fort Myers (2002-06) and Barron Collier in Naples (2007-11).
Appalachian State ties are strong with the current coaching staff, which also includes fellow alums in Satterfield and offensive line coach Shawn Clark. All three were members of the 1995 team that achieved a perfect 11-0 regular season and won the Southern Conference championship.
Other Appalachian State coaching staff changes recently announced by Satterfield include naming Bryan Brown as defensive coordinator, Dale Jones as co-defensive coordinator and Justin Watts as recruiting coordinator.
-Information provided by Appalachian State Athletics Strategic Communications Department-
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