SLIPPERY ROCK — For the fourth time in eight years, Slippery Rock University's football program is looking for an offensive coordinator.

North Allegheny graduate and former Tiger quarterback Adam Neugebauer is vacating The Rock's offensive coordinator post to accept the same position with East Tennessee State.

He served as SRU's OC for the past two seasons.

“They are arguably the two most productive offensive seasons we've had,” SRU coach Shawn Lutz said. “Adam is a good friend of mine and we'll miss him.

“But when you have a quality program with quality young coaches, often times you lose coaches to other programs.

“Some guys want to pursue Division 1 opportunities and you can't fault them for that,” Lutz added.

SRU was 22-4 over the past two years. Its offense ranked in the top 10 nationally both years, averaging 491 yards and 42.8 points over those 26 games. That included an average of 337 passing yards per game and 95 passing touchdowns.

Neugebauer becomes the fourth consecutive SRU offensive coordinator to leave the program for a Division 1 opportunity. Phil Longo left in 2014 and is now the OC at North Carolina. Zack Patterson left after the 2015 season and is OC at Hampton University.

Justin Roper left The Rock after the 2018 season and is now offensive coordinator at Holy Cross.

“We don't want to hire a less-qualified assistant coach because we figure he'll stay here for a long time,” Lutz emphasized. “We want to hire the best person we can find. We don't just want quality coaches. We want quality people.”

The Rock will have plenty of people to choose from.

Lutz said he's gotten 125 to 150 resumes' already with more expected.

“We've got people applying from all over the country .... California, Georgia, Florida ... some from Division 1 programs, because they want a chance to be a coordinator,” Lutz said. “(Associate head coach) Chris Conrad and I are going to be busy over the next couple of weeks.”

Lutz said his plan is to narrow the list of candidates down to six for “virtual interviews,” then bring two or three on campus for interviews.

“We don't want to waste time on this,” he said. “Our new coordinator could start Feb. 7 and we're hoping to have one in place by then.”