South Carolina’s offensive surge in the second half of the season has led to Dowell Loggains’ first head coaching job.
Appalachian State announced Saturday that the South Carolina offensive coordinator will be its next coach. The Mountaineers fired Shawn Clark after five seasons earlier in the week.
“We are very excited for Dowell Loggains to be the next leader of App State Football and to welcome him, his wife, Beth, and their children, Reese, Aven, Connor and Ryne, to the App Family,” athletic director Doug Gillin said in a statement. “He brings experience as a leader and play-caller at the highest levels of professional and college football. He is a great recruiter and believes strongly in building relationships. He is aligned with our core values of academic integrity, competitive excellence, social responsibility and world-class experience. This is a great day for App State.”
Loggains, 44, has run South Carolina’s offense for the past two seasons after a two-year stint as an offensive assistant at Arkansas. The job with the Razorbacks was his first at the college level. From 2008 through 2020, Loggains was an assistant in the NFL and has served as the offensive coordinator for the Tennessee Titans (2012-13), Chicago Bears (2016-17), Miami Dolphins (2018) and New York Jets (2019-20).
The Gamecocks finished the regular season at 9-3 and won their final six games of the season. Four of those wins came over ranked teams as QB LaNorris Sellers made a big leap in his redshirt freshman season. Sellers emerged as one of the best quarterbacks in the SEC during that winning streak as he beat teams with both his arm and his legs.
Sellers threw for 13 TDs during the win streak and rushed for four more. He had 16 carries for 166 yards and two TDs in South Carolina’s Week 14 win against Clemson and was 21-of-30 passing for 353 yards and five touchdowns in the Gamecocks’ last-minute win over Missouri in Week 12.
For the season, the South Carolina offense averaged six yards a play and Sellers completed 65% of his passes.
Appalachian State went 5-6 in 2024 after a game was canceled early in the season because of Hurricane Helene. It was the first losing season for the program at the top level of college football since 1981 when App State was 3-7-1 in the Southern Conference. Overall, Clark was 40-24 in his tenure as App State won at least nine games in three of his five seasons.