An era has ended in Slippery Rock University football.

Jay Foster, co-defensive coordinator and defensive coordinator at SRU for the past 17 years, accepted the head coaching position at Clarion University Wednesday.

Foster, 46, replaces Malen Luke, who resigned after a 3-8 season last fall. Luke was 57-73 in 12 years at Clarion.

"It was a hard decision, leaving Slippery Rock," Foster said. "I've been there for generations. A lot of the coaches there have been.

"They watched my kids grow up. I watched their kids grow up. You don't spend 18 years coaching in one place without growing very, very close to people."

Foster was the first assistant coach hired by Rock head coach George Mihalik 18 years ago.

"I have a lot of professional respect for the coaches in this conference," Mihalik said. "With Jay, I'll be coaching against a dear, close friend.

"In this profession, there's always a possibility this kind of thing can happen. I wish him all the best."

During his 18 years at SRU, Foster had applied for only three other head coaching positions: at his alma mater, Plymouth State (N.H.), early in his career, at Kutztown and at Millersville after The Rock's four-year PSAC West championship run in 2000.

He was a finalist for the jobs at Kutztown and Millersville, but was not hired.

"I haven't been looking around because there aren't many situations better than Slippery Rock's," Foster said.

Foster and his wife, Dorry, have two sons and a daughter ages 17, 15 and 11, respectively.

Clarion received 75 applications nationwide for its football opening. Four of those candidates, including Foster, were interviewed.

"Jay's interview was fantastic," said Clarion athletic director Dave Katis. "And there were so many supporters on his behalf.

"We were looking for stability and a guy with a successful track record. We needed to re-establish our recruiting in Western Pennsylvania, too. Jay Foster gives us all of those things."

When he learned Foster had applied at Clarion, Mihalik said "I knew he had a 75 to 80 percent chance of getting the job.

"Clarion is very lucky to get him," Mihalik added.

While Foster admits his hiring is not coming at the ideal time, he is not overly concerned about being behind in recruiting.

"From a recruiting standpoint, the ideal time to be hired is the day after a season is over," he said. "Division II teams usually sign six or seven kids that first day, then others trickle through.

"We missed that first wave, but (assistant coach) Chris Weibel and the other coaches have done a good job of keeping student-athletes coming through, even without a head coach being on board."

Recruiting against Slippery Rock doesn't faze Foster, either.

"I've never been a negative recruiter," he said. "I sell our program and what we have to offer, not what another program doesn't."

The Golden Eagles are coming off three successive three-win seasons.

"We need to improve the football team's image on campus and off campus," Foster said. "And we have to teach these kids how to compete hard for 11 games again.

"When you go through three straight years of three wins, something has to be missing."

SRU is in the process of posting its opening for a new assistant coach. The defensive coordinator position likely will be filled internally.

Shawn Lutz, recruiting coordinator and defensive line coach, figures to be a prime candidate to replace Foster.

"The process will likely be filling Jay's spot internally and moving other guys up," Mihalik said. "Then we'll fill out the staff with a new hire."

SRU is 120-73-4 (61.9 percent), including three Division II playoff appearance and four PSAC West titles, since Foster joined Mihalik's staff in 1988.