Special Report. BOONE, N.C. — App State alum D.J. Smith, a championship-winning player and coach during his previous tenures on the mountain, has been tabbed as the program’s next defensive coordinator by new head coach Dowell Loggains.
One of the best linebackers in school history who also played four years in the NFL, Smith spent the past five seasons on Eliah Drinkwitz’s Missouri staff, including the last three as co-defensive coordinator and recruiting coordinator.
“We are very excited to welcome D.J. and his family back to Boone,” Loggains said. “D.J. played, coached and recruited for elite defenses at the highest levels of football. As an App State alum, he understands the championship tradition and standard of excellence here on the mountain.”
Smith helped Mizzou make bowl appearances in each of the last four seasons. The Tigers were led by a top-25 scoring defense in each of the last two years on their way to a 20-5 record entering Monday’s Music City Bowl.
“I’m excited and honored to come home to App State,” Smith said. “App is a special place with special people. This is where my collegiate career started as a player and as a coach. I appreciate Coach Dowell and Doug Gillin for entrusting me with this opportunity to return and lead this defense. Can’t wait to get started and continue the traditions of App State. It’s always a great day to be a Mountaineer!”
In 2024, Smith’s linebackers helped Missouri boast a top-20 scoring defense (19th, 20.1 points per game) and total defense (20th, 319.3 yards per game) as one of the SEC’s best units.
Smith’s 2-year tenure as App State’s outside linebackers coach coincided with two of the best seasons in school history.
Missouri’s defense was 25th nationally allowing 20.8 points per game en route to an 11-2 season in 2023. Smith’s pupil, Ty’Ron Hopper, earned All-SEC honors, was a Butkus Award finalist for the nation’s best linebacker and was chosen in the third round (No. 91 overall) of the 2024 NFL Draft by the Green Bay Packers.
Smith also mentored one of the nation’s best linebackers and one of the most decorated in Missouri history in his first year in Columbia. Nick Bolton led the SEC with 67 solo tackles in 2020 on his way to second-team All-America recognition (from six different outlets) and first-team All-SEC honors. He was named a Butkus Award finalist, a Jason Witten Man of the Year semifinalist and a member of the SEC Community Service Team before being selected in the second round (No. 58 overall) of the 2021 NFL Draft by the Kansas City Chiefs.
Smith helped Mizzou to bowl appearances in each of the last four seasons.
Smith’s two-year tenure as App State’s outside linebackers coach coincided with two of the best seasons in school history. The Mountaineers won 24 of 27 games during that span under two different head coaches and defensive coordinators, with the defense ranking fourth in the country in scoring in 2018 (15.5 points per game) and 21st in 2019 (20 points per game).
Working under Drinkwitz in 2019, Smith helped lead the Mountaineers to a Sun Belt Conference title with a 12-1 overall record and a No. 20 national ranking before being hired at Missouri, prior to App State’s win in the 2019 New Orleans Bowl.
Smith’s outside linebackers were a big reason why App State won the first two Sun Belt Championship games in 2018 and 2019. Akeem Davis-Gaither, who is currently a team captain with the Cincinnati Bengals, was the 2019 Sun Belt Defensive Player of the Year, while Noel Cook earned All-Sun Belt honorable mention. Davis-Gaither and Cook also earned all-league recognition in 2018.
Throughout his first four years after returning to the staff at his alma mater, App State amassed a 42-10 overall record, won or shared four-straight Sun Belt championships, and went a perfect 4-0 in bowl games. He joined Scott Satterfield’s staff in 2016 as the director of recruiting relations and worked in 2017 as a senior defensive analyst.
Smith amassed 525 tackles as an App State linebacker from 2007-10 and played four NFL seasons.
A Charlotte native, Smith started the final nine games of App State’s 2007 national championship run as a true freshman and had more than 120 tackles in each of his four college seasons, including two in which he earned All-America recognition. He finished his career with 50 straight starts and ranks second behind only Dexter Coakley on the App State career tackles list.
A sixth-round draft pick by the Green Bay Packers in 2011, he made three starts in 16 games as a rookie and started six more games the following year. He totaled 82 tackles, two sacks and one interception with the Packers before spending time with the San Diego Chargers, Carolina Panthers and Cleveland Browns from 2013-14.
Smith and his wife, Charla, are parents to a son, Carter.
SMITH AT A GLANCE
Alma Mater: App State, 2010
Hometown: Charlotte, N.C.
Wife: Charla
Son: Carter
Twitter: @CoachDjSmith
Coaching Experience
2015: Vance H.S. (Defensive coordinator)
2016: App State (Director of recruiting relations)
2017: App State (Senior defensive analyst)
2018-19: App State (Outside linebackers)
2020-21: Missouri (Linebackers)
2022-24: Missouri (Co-Defensive coordinator/linebackers)
Playing Experience
2007-10: App State (LB)
2011-12: Green Bay Packers (LB)
2013: Houston Texans (LB)
2014: Carolina Panthers (LB)
Bowl/Postseason Experience
Coach
2016: Camellia (App State)
2017: Dollar General (App State)
2018: New Orleans (App State)
2019: New Orleans (App State) – did not coach in the game
2021: Armed Forces (Missouri)
2022: Gasparilla (Missouri)
2023: Cotton (Missouri)
2024: Music City (Missouri)
By David Rogers. BOONE, N.C. — It is almost a certainty that the App State women’s basketball team, on Dec. 29, convinced their Arkansas State counterparts that size matters. Taking advantage of a height advantage, the Mountaineers doubled up on the Red Wolves for points in the paint en route to a decisive, 77-62 win in both teams’ Sun Belt Conference season opener.
In front of paid attendance of 604 mostly App State fans and roughly 100 teddy bears, App State started slow but soon got things rolling. A 12-6 run in the final three minutes of the first quarter thrust the Mountaineers into the lead and they never relinquished it.
Zada Porter makes good on a second half fall away jumper for App State vs. Arkansas State on Dec. 29. Photographic image by David Rogers for High Country Sports
App State finished the opening stanza with a 22-16 lead and went to their locker room at halftime with a 35-29 advantage. They outscored Arkansas State 24-10 in the third period, which was enough to survive a 3-pointer barrage by the visitors from Jonesboro in the final quarter.
Led by the Mountaineer “bigs” Rylee Moffitt and Elena Pericic, as a team App State outscored the Red Wolves 48-24 in the paint and pulled down 41 rebounds to Arkansas State’s 27. Pericic crashed the boards for a game-high 9 rebound as well as finished the game in double figures scoring, with 10. Moffitt was also in double figures, scoring 9 of her 13 points on the night in the second half while adding 4 rebounds, a block and an assist in coming off the bench.
Eleyana Tafisi looks to drive the lane vs. Arkansas State on Dec. 29, in the 77-62 App State win. Photographic image by David Rogers for High Country Sports
In addition to the strong inside play, App State proved effective in transition, with 21 fastbreak points. Led by Moffitt, the Mountaineers exhibited greater roster depth, their bench outscoring the Red Wolves’ reserves, 41-34.
On 4-of-9 shooting from behind the arc, guard Mara Neira recorded a team-high 20 points. She also led App State’s disruptive defensive effort, with 4 steals on the night, tying for game-high honors in that department with Arkansas State’s Kyanna Morgan.
The Red Wolves’ starting guard, Kennedi Montue mustered a game-high 21 points but was the visitors’ only player in double figures.
Next up for the Mountaineers is a road trip to the Deep South, facing South Alabama in Mobile, Ala. on Jan. 2 and Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg, Miss. on Jan. 4. Both are scheduled for 3 p.m. Eastern Time tipoffs.
By David Rogers. BLOWING ROCK, N.C. — For a lot of people, golf is an adventure sport. Played in the great outdoors, traversing over hill and dale with occasional side trips into the woods, sand traps, creeks or lakes, there is a certain masochistic fun in accepting the challenge of striking a tiny, 1.68 inches in diameter orb with a stick, aiming to make it go into a 4.25-inch hole some 400 to 600 yards away.
The folks who are the original orchestrators of this fun? The golf course architect, of which on a global scale there are only about 300 of them.
It is not as simple as bulldozing a flat spot and cutting down a few trees.
High Country-based Ron Cutlip is one of the newest members of an exclusive club: the American Society of Golf Course Architects (ASGCA). He was inducted last month at the annual meeting in San Francisco. Tracking Cutlip’s career and his path to ASGCA membership provides interesting insights into the creative professionals who enable these on-course adventures.
American Society of Golf Course Architects gather in San Francisco for their annual meeting, with the High Country’s Ron Cutlip as one of the orgranization’s newest members inducted in 2024. Photo courtesy of ASGCA.
According to the ASGCA’s Director of Outreach, Jeff Brauer, who served as the association’s president in the 1995-96 fiscal year, gaining induction into the organization is not as simple as writing a check.
“You have to be an accomplished golf course architect. We go through an extensive vetting process,” said Brauer. “That process includes a review of a candidate’s work, citations by owners he or she might have worked for, then you have to be sponsored by at least three current ASGCA members. And that is all before the ASGCA Board of Governors votes you in.”
Brauer added that the minimum requirement for a new member’s body of work is to have designed at least 100 holes of new courses or in one or more renovations. He pointed out that the earlier requirement was to have designed at least five 18-hole courses, but in recent years the marketplace has changed.
Ron Cutlip and wife Cheryl take a moment in San Francisco where Cutlip was sporting his new Ross tartan plaid jacket as one of ASGCA’s newest inductees. Photo courtesy of ASGCA
“Especially in the last five years and since COVID-19, there has been significant growth in playing golf as people have wanted to be outdoors rather than in confined spaces,” said Brauer. “That led to not only a lot of new 18-hole courses, but a great many course renovations. There have also been many new 9-hole and 12-hole courses. So, moving to a 100-hole requirement just made sense with the new market dynamics.”
He added that the trend toward courses with fewer holes can perhaps be explained by modern-day shorter attention spans as well as the cost of acquiring property and rising construction costs.
Who are these guys?
Golf course architects take great delight in making our outdoor adventures memorable. The rules of the game may be the same on every course, but every 18-hole, 12-hole, or 9-hole journey is created on a different artistic “canvas”: a plot of land with its own unique terrain features. Whether designing a links course near the coast or an up-and-down masterpiece in the mountains, these Michelangelos of sporting adventure use inter-disciplinary skills to give us extra-sensory experiences.
It is not as simple as bulldozing a flat spot and cutting down a few trees. Understanding the game’s various elements is important, of course, but in golf course design other academic disciplines come into play ranging from civil engineering, agronomy, landscape architecture, environmental sciences, turf management, hydrology, physics, geometry, soil sciences, botany, and even psychology to name a few.
Then, of course, there is the business side of things: evaluating market demand, site selection, estimating costs, developing a budget, securing the necessary permits, understanding construction methodologies, master planning, and considering how long it will take for the course to “grow in” sufficiently to enable playing.
The South Shore Golf Club course’s signature hole is No. 9, the course designed by High Country golf course architect Ron Cutlip. Photo submitted
Understanding the challenges and opportunities of a site’s topography, the region’s climate, the soil composition, and what makes up the site’s natural vegetation helps the designer create a course that harmonizes with its surroundings and offer a unique playing experience.
When all is said and done, it is no wonder that golf course architecture has developed as a professional trade. According to Leading Courses (www.leadingcourses.com), there are 16,572 golf courses in the United States, which amounts to 43 percent of the world’s total number.
A good golf course creates an escape from a person’s normal day.
As one of the world’s premier trade associations for golf course architecture, membership in the ASGCA is by invitation only. According to Brauer, there are fewer than 200 current members in the American society, with other smaller organizations in Europe and Australia.
Cutlip’s latest completed course design is the South Shore Golf Club, a 9-hole course in South Kingstown, R.I., an integral part of the South Shore Village planned community. The course opened last spring to rave reviews and a growing reputation for excellence among serious players. It also now serves as one of the most frequented practice facilities for the University of Rhode Island men’s golf team.
Ron Cutlip, left, greets members of the University of Rhode Island men’s golf team at South Shore Golf Club. Photographic image by David Rogers for High Country Sports
A Donald Ross Connection
Rhode Island and golf have a special connection: legendary golf course architect Donald Ross, who ran a substantial portion of his practice from offices in Little Compton, R.I., his summertime home. Ross is regarded as the patron saint of American golf course architecture, having designed or redesigned 399 golf courses between 1900 and 1948, according to the Rhode Island Golf Association (RIGA). He was a charter member of the ASGCA. Of Ross, legendary PGA professional and golf course architect Jack Nicklaus is credited by RIGA as saying, “He seems to be the standard by which we are all measured today.”
For the ASGCA, those are not idle words since the organization’s trademark, red plaid jacket (worn by all members), known as the Ross tartan, was adopted in 1973 as a tribute to the group’s honorary first president, Donald Ross, a native of Dornoch, Scotland (Scottish clans are identified by their distinctive tartan patterns, to which anyone who has attended the Highland Games on Grandfather Mountain can attest!).
Ron Cutlip playing on the South Shore Golf Club he designed. Photographic image by David Rogers for High Country Sports
Cutlip is among the golf course designers following in the Ross tradition of courses with a “natural” feel to them, taking advantage of the natural lay of the land with little in the way of intense earth moving. For Cutlip, the mental aspect of why we play golf is as important as the physical experience.
“A good golf course design creates an escape from a person’s normal day,” Cutlip told High Country Sports, recently. “In my view, the player is presented with the game of golf as well as with the dramatic beauty of nature. Potentially, even a course’s historic setting comes into play during a round.
“For example, up at South Shore in Rhode Island, we developed a course that was on a farm with stone walls dating back to the 1600s. For me, it was important that we preserve those walls and integrate them into the course layout,” said Cutlip. “That’s appreciating history and it helps make a course special. We want the player to feel good about their experience and return to play again and again, whether they are a professional player or a weekend warrior.”
Cutlip integrated stone walls dating back to the 1600s into the golf course design at South Shore Golf Club in South Kingstown, R.I. Photographic image by David Rogers for High Country Sports
What’s It All About?
Talking with the three current members of the ASGCA who sponsored Cutlip for membership provided us with not only insights about Cutlip, as well as about the golf course architect’s role in one of America’s favorite pastimes.
“I’ve spent a lot of time with Ron, including site visits to projects and potential projects,” said Rick Robbins in a phone interview. “I feel he has the background and personality to make a good member of ASGCA.”
There are a lot of people involved in the design and construction of a new golf course.
Robbins has High Country connections as the son of Spencer Robbins, one of the region’s iconic figures in tourism and development. Along with brothers Grover, Jr. and Harry Robbins, Spencer had a hand in the creation of Tweetsie Railroad, the Land of Oz, Hound Ears Golf Club and the Elk River Club, among other developments.
Rick Robbins is a past president of the ASGCA, serving in that capacity in 2013-14. He is credited with designing or redesigning 125 courses around the world since 1991, under the banner of his firm, Robbins & Associates International. His U.S. portfolio includes courses in a variety of states, including North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Iowa, Wisconsin, Texas and Michigan, among others.
When asked if he had any favorite projects, Robbins hesitated because all of his projects have been special to him in one way or another.
South Shore Village Golf Club, South Kingston, R.I. Photo submitted
“Horseshoe Bay in Dore County, Wisconsin is one of the prettiest, nicest courses I have ever done,” he said before adding, “I’ve done four, full 18-hole designs in North Carolina, plus several renovations. A favorite is Mill Creek, in Mebane, N.C. It is on a beautiful piece of land with a lot of rolling hills, creeks and streams and wetlands.”
I love going into the 19th hole and listening to the good stuff of a golfer’s day.
What gets his juices flowing in golf course design?
“Really, it is the balance between field work and the joy of sitting at a table and drawing plans. I enjoy going out in the field and working with shapers on a tractor. Golf course design is very interdisciplinary. We are working with planners, engineers, agronomists, owners… There are a lot of people involved in the construction and design of a new golf course.”
In approaching a new project, Robbins said, “I think about different ways you can play a hole under different conditions. Is the wind behind you or in your face? Can I carry this particular hazard or should I lay up short of it? You really want to give the golfer choices. It is fun to see their reactions to the decisions that have to be made and what goes into their thinking. I love going into the 19th hole and listening to the good stuff of a golfer’s day.”
All in the Family
John Harvey was also a Cutlip sponsor. He started his golf industry career in 1988, when he joined the design office of two well-known golf course architects, Robert Trent Jones, Sr. and Roger Rulewich, after graduating from Michigan State University with high honors in landscape architecture.
In a phone interview with High Country Sports, Harvey described highlights of his career: working on the Robert Trent Jones Trail in Alabama and international projects in Wales and Ireland. In the U.S., his work covers the design or redesign of courses in New York, New Jersey, Virginia, South Carolina, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Florida, Indiana, North Carolina and Texas.
“I knew of Ron for a long time before actually meeting him,” said Harvey. “I was practicing and had my offices in New Jersey, so I knew of him because he was practicing in the New York-New Jersey metropolitan area for many years. A few years ago, we formally met at the wedding of my nephew and his niece. That brought us closer together. It gave me a chance to look Ron in the eye, shake his hand and talk shop, as well as about family.”
South Shore Village Golf Club in South Kingstown, R.I. Photo submitted
It turns out, getting to know Cutlip resulted in encouraging the new member of Harvey’s extended family to also pursue inclusion in ASGCA.
“We have a lot in common,” said Harvey, “both in the people we know as well as work experiences. I encouraged Ron to apply for membership a little over a year ago, so I hope I was the nudge that finally got him to apply. I certainly felt he had the depth and body of work and that he would be a great candidate and a great representative of what embodies the ASGCA.”
Asked why he thought ASGCA membership was so important, Harvey replied, “For golf course architecture, it is the foremost (trade association) in the world. There are other societies, such as the European and Australian, but for someone working in the U.S., membership in the ASGCA is reaching a milestone in your career. It is peer recognition, but it is also marketable in terms of clientele work. It is a feather in your cap, professionally.”
The ASGCA Director of Outreach, Brauer, described becoming a member as being akin to being named to play in the NFL Pro Bowl.
“Attending his first meeting in San Francisco, Ron got to be in the same room as giants in the industry, guys like the late Pete Dye, Jack Nicklaus and so many others. And they treat you like equals. It is a magical experience and I am happy that guys like Ron are accepted. It is a very elite group,” said Brauer.
As for what makes a golf course design special to him, Harvey said, “It is the journey with each course and the people involved, the contractor, the circumstances of the property… it is much more than just the property you are developing. All of my courses have been special, about 125 projects. A couple of special ones that come to mind are Grand Dunes in Myrtle Beach and Ballyowen in Hardyston, New Jersey. I worked on one of the last Robert Trent Jones, Sr. courses in New York, Anglebrook Golf Club in Stomers, N.Y., and Saratoga National in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.”
Harvey concluded the interview by saying how special it has been for him and Ron to have gotten closer in the last five years since their nephew and niece tied the knot.
“It is just so ironic that the world is so small that circles come together, in this case our families and our respective golf industry careers,” said Harvey.
Meeting the Golf Course Philosopher
Forrest Richardson, whose golf course architecture firm is based in Phoenix, Ariz., was Cutlip’s third, but by no means the least of his sponsors. Like Robbins, he is also a past president of ASGCA (2020-2021).
I love going onto a piece of land and creating something spectacular.
Visit his firm’s website (www.forrestrichardsongolf.com) and you quickly surmise that Richardson is a cerebral personality sitting behind the design and planning desk, based on some of his quotes about golf course design:
“Part of the fun (of golf) should be hitting different shots and not always slamming away in pursuit of length. Golf is a thoughtful game, and thinking should always be rewarded.”
“A golf course is a story to be unfolded. For the greatest enjoyment there should be anticipation, intrigue, the occasional chase scene and even a pinch of humor.”
“Golf is supposed to be fun. When you figure out the puzzle, you should score well — and scoring success is something I have always embraced in my work.
Like Harvey and Robbins, Richardson suggested that Cutlip was long overdue for membership in ASGCA.
“I have known Ron for 25 years or more. The golf course design industry is a fairly small world. We are fierce competitors, but we are always best of friends. It is a mantra we all live by. In my opinion, it was long overdue that Ron become a member of the ASGCA.”
Waxing philosophical, Richardson explained to High Country Sports that what you give back to the industry is as important — and maybe even more so — than what you gain through ASGCA membership.
Like the green jacket is trademark apparel for The Masters Tournament, the American Society of Golf Course Architects as the Ross tartan plaid jacket. That’s the High Country’s Ron Cutlip in the center of the first row. Photo submitted.
“Golf course architecture is a rare art form. Perhaps more than with any other art form, it is very important for people in our profession to share ideas,” said Richardson. “There are only about 300 of us worldwide. Over the years, I think we have proven that the sense of community works to the benefit of all. You are learning, but you are also sharing your wisdom. The main focus is not getting work but being part of a group of like-minded people, all involved in one of the most unusual art forms on earth. To appreciate our art, you either have to be playing the game or in an airplane looking down on a course. If you look back at some of the greatest art periods, such as the 1700s, 1800s, 1900s and even today, the art schools and art colonies of those times were important in the development of different artistic styles. I think that same concept applies to golf course design.”
Richardson primarily focuses his work in arid climate projects of the western United States. Look over a portfolio list and you find a lot of Arizona and California courses, as well as sashays into Utah, Oklahoma, Kansas, Montana, Wyoming, Texas, Nevada and Alaska, among other states. But international names crop up in the list, too, including Mexico, Sweden, India and Bulgaria.
Richardson and Cutlip both had contributions to The Hideout course, in Monticello, Utah. Richardson did the final design work. Cutlip did the original work on the project for the U.S. Department of Energy.
“The property previously was a uranium processing site, so this was a reclamation project. The Department of Energy hired me to do the original work for regrading it, which I did so it could be used as a future golf course. Later, Forrest came in and made it a golf course,” Cutlip recalled.
Cutlip’s thoughts on golf course design echoed many of the other professionals who sponsored him.
“I love going out onto a piece of land and creating something spectacular,” said Cutlip. “I want it to look like it has been there a hundred years, that the golf course fits into the flow of the land. I love working with the shapers. I have to have my plans submitted for approval by the land owners and any regulatory agencies, but the true creativity comes when you take those plans and go into the field and start making those adjustments.
South Shore Golf Club, designed by Ron Cutlip, in South Kingstown, Rhode Island. Photo submitted
“The onsite adjustments take the design to a higher level than anything you could ever achieve on a drafting table. I also love the interdisciplinary aspect, working with different types of engineers whether civil, environmental, soil, and others. I will frequently work with architects on the clubhouse facilities. As a golf course architect I am working in the planning and there are a lot of things to consider. Is it in a subdivision or a standalone course? You are working with soil, water, and earth moving.
“Ultimately, what I like to do is take what nature has given me on a property and accentuate it,” said Cutlip. “Like with those stone walls from the 1600s on the South Shore course, I really like taking something old and integrating it with my new course, making it look and feel like they have always been a part of each other.”
Some of the names in Cutlip’s portfolio include Top of the World Golf Club (Lake George, N.Y.), Azalea Sands (Myrtle Beach, S.C.), Mohican Hills (Jeromesville, Ohio), Ramsey Golf & Country Club (Ramsey, N.J.) Stonebridge Golf Links (Lexington, S.C.), Fire Ridge Golf Club (Millersburg, Ohio), Arcadian Shores (Myrtle Beach, S.C.), Pine Hills Country Club (Taylor, Pa.) and Riverdale Country Club (Riverdale, N.J.), Crytal Springs (Hopewell, Ohio) and High Mountain Golf Club (Franklin Lakes, N.J.) and Canyon Club (Armonk, N.Y.), among others.
By David Rogers. DENTON, Texas — After App State fell behind North Texas by 15 points early in the second half, senior guard Myles Tate scored 19 of his game-high 21 points after intermission to bring the Mountaineers to within two points of tying the Mean Green. It wasn’t quite enough, however, with North Texas holding off their visitors from Boone, 68-64.
The Mean Green win came in spite of four Mountaineers scoring in double figures, including forward C J Huntley recording his 1,000th career points. The Huntersville, N.C. native and alum of Davidson Day School is just the 37th Mountaineer to achieve that milestone.
In addition to Tate’s 21 points and Huntley’s 17 points for the game vs. North Texas, Alonzo Dodd and Jalil Beaubrun each scored 10 points on the night.
The Mean Green led by just five points at halftime, but scored the first four points of the second half to take a 9-point advantage, 37-28, following a fast break layup and two free throws from 6-1 senior guard Atin Wright, a native of Hawthorne, Calif. who started his college career playing at Cal State Northridge for three years before transferring to Drake University a year ago, then using the transfer portal again to arrive at North Texas. He played in 32 games at Drake in 2023-24, starting in all 32 of them.
Four App State turnovers in the first seven minutes of the second half allowed North Texas to jump out to a 15-point lead, a run that included five straight made free throws by the Lone Star State players, two by Rondel Walker and three by Brenen Lorient.
But the Mountaineers clawed back into the fray, led by Tate’s four buckets from long distance in the last 11 minutes along with scoring contributions from Dodd, Huntley and Beaubrun and a tightened App State defense.
With time running out (only 19 seconds remained when Tate hit on a 3-pointer to close the deficit to 64-62), App State was forced to foul. Unfortunately, the Mean Green’s Jasper Floyd was good on 4-of-4 from the charity stripe in the last 19 seconds, effectively thwarting the Mountaineers’ comeback rally.
App State (6-6 overall, 0-1 in Sun Belt) will take some time off for the holidays, returning to the court on Thursday, Jan. 2, to take on Troy in a Sun Belt Conference home opener at the Holmes Convocation Center. Tipoff is slated for 6:30 p.m.
North Texas (8-3 overall), a member of the American Athletic Conference, stays at home to host Houston Christian on Dec. 22 and University of Alabama-Birmingham (UAB) on Dec. 31, before opening the new year at Memphis on Jan. 5 in a first AAC contest for the season.
By Bret Stelow. BOONE, N.C. — On Dec. 19, App State Football head coach Dowell Loggains announced the hiring of Riley Watkins as an offensive assistant coach.
Watkins has worked on SEC staffs at Arkansas, Missouri and South Carolina during the last four seasons. He has spent the previous two seasons as an offensive graduate assistant working with quarterbacks and wide receivers at South Carolina, where Loggains was the offensive coordinator in 2023 and 2024.
“Riley has been a huge part of our offensive success at both South Carolina and Arkansas,” Loggains said. “We’re excited for him to join our staff and to welcome him and his wife, Kaylee, to App State.”
Loggains and Watkins also worked together at Arkansas in 2021, when Watkins was an offensive/recruiting undergraduate assistant. He was an offensive quality control coach at Missouri with former App State head coach Eliah Drinkwitz in 2022.
“I’m really excited to join the App State staff with Coach Loggains. He is a great man and a great offensive mind. I have so much respect for the history and tradition of the App State program. My wife, Kaylee, and I are excited to get here. I’m ready to get to work and compete for more championships here on the mountain.”
With Loggains and Watkins on the same offensive staff at South Carolina, wide receiver and future NFL first-round pick Xavier Legette teamed with future NFL quarterback Spencer Rattler in 2023 to form one of the most lethal pass-and-catch combinations in the country. Legette was a first-team All-SEC performer and third-team All-American during a season in which he caught 71 passes for 1,255 yards and seven touchdowns.
In 2024, 15th-ranked South Carolina ended the regular season with top-50 national rankings in scoring, yardage, first downs and completion percentage. LaNorris Sellers turned into one of college football’s most dangerous dual-threat quarterbacks, with 10 players having at least one receiving touchdown.
Missouri averaged 214.1 passing yards per game in 2022, with Brady Cook throwing to the likes of Dominic Lovett (846 receiving yards) and Luther Burden (six receiving touchdowns).
Arkansas finished the 2021 season with final rankings of No. 20 in the AFCA Coaches Poll and No. 21 in the AP Top 25 thanks to a 9-4 record that included an Outback Bowl win against Penn State.
A native of Republic, Missouri, Watkins was an all-region performer at Republic High School before spending time as a quarterback, running back and tight end at Pittsburg State in Kansas. He graduated from Pittsburg State in 2022 and has a wife, Kaylee.
By David Rogers. BOONE, N.C. — Deep Watauga High School Swimming rosters responded to a mid-holiday test on Dec. 18 with several key performances, in a four-way meet involving South Caldwell, Draughn and Avery County as well as the host Pioneers.
“Tonight was a really good test for our teams. South Caldwell is always well coached and, years ago, we swam against Draughn in some tough meets,” said Watauga head coach David Gragg. “I personally have a connection to their current coaches. Stephanie (Idol) Mull was a former teammate of mine at Watauga, and Bret Watson was the former director and my boss at the Swim Complex (old pool in Boone before the WCRC).”
Gragg had special praise for the work of the Pioneer swimmers.
“I was pleased with the way we performed,” he said. “A lot of the year-round swimmers had a big meet this past weekend which took something out of them but it will help toward the end of the season. I see them training every day with the Watauga Swim Team before our high school practice. I enjoy seeing that hard work pay off at these meets.
“We are about five weeks away from the conference meet,” Gragg added. “We have some things to work on to be prepared but the next few weeks will help us get there.”
TEAM SCORES – MEN
South Caldwell 89, Watauga 71
Watauga 83, Draughn 47
South Caldwell 106, Draughn 47
Watauga 95, Avery County 13
South Caldwell 123, Avery County 13
Draughn 78, Avery County 12
TEAM SCORES – WOMEN
Watauga 111, South Caldwell 58
Watauga 118, Draughn 48
South Caldwell 98.5, Draughn 67.5
Watauga 133, Avery County 5
South Caldwell 132, Avery County 7
Draughn 114, Avery County 6
KEY INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCES – MEN
200 Medley Relay
South Caldwell: No. 1 (Owen Griffith, Mason Hubbard, Max Clark, Nathan Hall)
By David Rogers. LAFAYETTE, La. — A red hot Louisiana men’s basketball team showed few signs of their early 2024 season struggles on Dec. 18, jumping out to as much as an 18-point first half lead over a cold-shooting Appalachian State squad. Despite an 8-minute scoring drought midway through the second half, the Ragin’ Cajuns survived the Mountaineers’ late rally to hold on to a 68-62 win in the Sun Belt Conference opener for both teams.
In most years, outside observers would expect more from the Mountaineers in defending their regular season Sun Belt championship from a year ago — but this is 2024-25 with the transfer portal having a clear impact on all things college athletics. App State only returned two of its 12 primary rotation players from a year ago so has rebuilt almost the entire roster. Louisiana lost some players to graduation and added a couple through the portal, too, but at first glance there was a little more roster consistency coming into this season.
In App State’s first game at Lafayette’s Cajundome since March 3, 2019 (when the Mountaineers pulled off a 90-80 road win), the High Country hoopsters could hardly buy a bucket. Thanks to some late first half production in the paint, App State managed 30.4 percent in shooting from the field (7-of-23), but hit nothing in the opening stanza from behind the arc (0-for-7) and hit only 7-of-13 shots from the charity stripe (53.8 percent).
By intermission, the hot-shooting Ragin’ Cajuns held a dominant, 14-point lead, 35-21, thanks in large part to a solid defensive effort by the home team.
Where App State seemed to gain ground was after shifting to a 1-3-1 zone defense that appeared to disrupt Louisiana’s rhythm. That seemed to be the case late in the first half as well as in the second half.
Cajun starting guard Mostapha El Moutaouakkil, a junior from Morocco, missed his last five shots on the night but still tied App State’s Dior Conners for game-high scoring honors, with 15. Along with guard Kentre Garnett, the Moroccan native was good on critical free throws down the stretch to keep the Mountaineers at bay. Garnett was 4-for-4 on the night from behind the free thrown line, Moutaouakkil was 7-of-9. The latter was also second on the team in rebounding, with eight boards.
Louisiana was led in the rebounding department by Kyren Ratliff, with 10 rebounds to go with 10 points, the night’s only double-double on either team.
The Mountaineers did finish with three players in double figures, scoring. Conners recorded 15, while Myles Tate added 10 and C J Huntley contributed 11 points.
Now 6-5 overall, 0-1 in Sun Belt play, App State travels to North Texas for a Dec. 20 non-conference tilt, then does not play again until Jan. 2, when the Mountaineers host Troy in their Sun Belt home opener and the first of a 4-game home stand. They host Texas State on Jan. 4, Coastal Carolina on Jan. 8, and James Madison on Jan. 11.
The win improves Louisiana’s record to 3-9 overall, 1-0 in Sun Belt. Next time out, the Ragin’ Cajuns host McNeese State (non-conference) on Dec. 22, then travel to Coastal Carolina for their next Sun Belt game on Jan. 2.
By David Rogers. WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Including a trio of No. 1 relay finishes for the Watauga women’s indoor track team at the North Stokes Indoor Classic hosted by JDL Fast Track, the Pioneers recorded strong early season finishes on Dec. 16. The women’s performances also featured three of the top four finishes in the triple jump.
On the Men’s side, Pioneer senior Sam Rex peeked under five minutes in the 1600 Meters Run, pushing to a No. 4 finish in 4:54.83. The Men’s team picked up a pair of No. 2 relay finishes in the 4×400 and 4×800.
By David Rogers. BOONE, N.C. — With a dominant team performance by the Watauga women’s swimmers and an impressive showing by the Pioneer men in a 7-team meet at the Watauga Community Recreation Center, the local natators continued improving on their 2024-25 high school varsity season.
The Pioneer women’s team defeated all comers while the men’s only blemish was being edged by Bishop McGuinness.
Photographic image by David Rogers for High Country Sports
By David Rogers. BOONE, N.C. — While the Watauga vs. North Wilkes women’s game on Dec. 7 was a nail biter, the varsity men’s finale was anything but. The Pioneers led from start to finish, in dominating fashion before pulling off an 89-48 non-conference victory at Lentz Eggers Gym.
The Pioneer starters got quite a bit of rest, especially in the second half, but it hardly mattered who was on the court for Watauga. All 14 rostered varsity Pioneers tested their Air Jordans on the hardwoods and 13 of them scored.
Pioneer guard Josiah Railey comes up with a ‘finisher’ vs. North Wilkes on Dec. 7. Photographic by David Rogers for High Country Sports
Junior guard Cade Keller picked up right where he left off the night before when he scored 30 points against the Avery County Vikings. Against the North Wilkes Vikings, he tallied 15 of his game-high 17 points in just the first quarter, including three 3-pointers during the opening stanza. With the Pioneers leading 47-20 by intermission, Keller did not play in the second half.
Eli Bishop came off the bench to replace Keller’s firepower in the second half, recording nine points in the third quarter and finishing the game with 11.
Pioneer head coach Bryson Payne apparently found three more bench players, all big forwards, capable of hitting from long distance. Rarely used J T Cook brought down the house in the closing quarter with three successful “makes” from beyond the arc, while Paul Taylor added two 3-pointers and Landon Smith another “trey.”
Now 3-0 to start the young 2024-25 campaign, the Pioneers will put that undefeated recorded at risk when they travel to West Caldwell (3-1) on Dec. 10, then to Maiden on Dec. 14.
