BALTIMORE, Md. — Morgan State has elected to appoint Fred T. Farrier as its interim head football coach. His appointment to the position on Tuesday came as a result of former head coach Lee Hull accepting an assistant coaching job with the NFL’s Indianapolis Colts.
Farrier had been on the Bears’ staff since Lee Hull arrived in 2014. He was the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. He oversaw the development of quarterbacks Moses Skillon, who was the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference’s No. 5 leading passer in 2015, and Seth Higgins who also saw action in five games through the 2015 season.
MSU recently signed 15 recruits on national signing day and the Bears are coming off a 4-6 season and was tied for 4th place in the MEAC.
Under Farrier’s watch, Skillon completed 50.5 percent of his passes for 1,616 yards and 7 touchdowns and rushed for 420 yards and five scores in 2015. In 2014, Skillon passed for 1,392 and 11 touchdowns and led the Bears to its first MEAC championship in 35 years and its first ever FCS playoff appearance.
This past season, Higgins stepped in and rushed for 284 yards and a score while passing for 284 yards and a pair of TDs.
Farrier, a 16-year veteran of college football coaching ranks, has helped shape Morgan State’s offense into one of the best in the MEAC. The Bears ranked No. 4 in passing offense (190.0 yards per game), No. 5 in rushing offense (139.2 yards per game) and No. 5 in the MEAC total offense (392.2 yards per game) in 2015. In 2014, the Bears ranked No. 2 in the MEAC in scoring offense (27.8 points per game), No. 2 in rushing (208.5 yards per game), No. 3 in total offense (378.8 yards per game) and No. 5 in pass offense (170.2 yards per game).
A native of Cleveland Heights, Ohio, Farrier joined the Bears after spending a pair of seasons as the passing game coordinator at RPI (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute). Farrier served four seasons as the head coach of Kentucky State (2005-09), where he coached the Thoroughbreds to an average of over 30 points and 375 yards per game.
Prior to that, he was the associate head coach and offensive coordinator at Shaw University in 2004, where he led the Bears to a CIAA championship and Pioneer Bowl.
Farrier also served as the wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator at Tennessee Tech from 2001-03. Farrier broke into coaching at Michigan State University where he served two seasons (1998-99) as a graduate assistant coach under head coach Nick Saban, now head coach of the Alabama Crimson Tide.
Farrier was an all-conference athlete in football and basketball during his prep career at Cleveland Heights High School, and played wide receiver at the College of the Holy Cross. Farrier also played basketball for two seasons and received his bachelor’s degree in economics and accounting in 1994, and earned his master’s degree from Tennessee Tech in 2004.
Farrier, 43, and his wife, Danita, have a son, Fred II, and daughter, India.
Courtesy: Morgan State Athletics
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