On this week’s episode of Inside the Headset we speak with Joshua Eargle, Offensive Coordinator and Offensive Line Coach for Austin Peay State University. We discuss his diverse coaching background, the importance of establishing a winning program culture, the turnaround at Austin Peay, and how he balances coaching and family.

Coach Eargle began his career as a graduate assistant at the University of Southern Mississippi (2003-2004) before getting his first full-time position at Ouachita Baptist as an offensive line coach and recruiting coordinator (2005). He returned to Southern Mississippi as an assistant offensive line coach (2006) before coaching the offensive line at Nicholls State (2007-2008) and Louisiana State (2009), and he was named the offensive coordinator at Arkansas-Monticello in 2010. Eargle crossed over to the other side of the ball when he accepted a defensive coordinator position at Hallsville HS (TX) in 2011 and served in the same position at Southeastern Oklahoma State in 2012. In 2013, he was named the head coach at East Texas Baptist and helped lead a turnaround that culminated with a conference championship in 2015. Eargle joined the staff at Austin Peay in 2016 as the offensive line coach and was promoted to offensive coordinator during the 2018 season.

• [1:24] Start of interview
• [1:36] Diverse coaching background
• [3:33] Advantages of being on both sides of the ball
• [6:55] Defensive success at Southeastern Oklahoma State
• [8:16] Establishing a winning culture
• [11:45] Confidence to hire Coach Scotty Walden
• [14:13] Snapping Austin Peay’s 29-game losing streak
• [18:31] The turnaround at APSU
• [21:29] Seniors’ roles in changing the culture of APSU
• [27:05] Happy wife, happy life

You can follow Joshua Eargle on Twitter. A GoFundMe page was started in August 2018 to help his family with medical bills for his daughter Landrey, and you can read more about her story on Kristen Eargle’s blog.

Have any questions, comments, or ideas for the show? Send us an email at [email protected].