CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (CLARKSVILLENOW) – The Governors will have a fresh, but familiar face at the helm in 2020 after Marquase Lovings was announced as the new Austin Peay interim head football coach in a press conference on Wednesday.
“First off all, I’d just like to say thank you to President White for blessing me and also bestowing upon me this opportunity I never thought I would have,” Lovings said. “I also look forward to working with President Whiteside in the very near future and getting to learn about her and what her vision is. To Gerald Harrison, thank you. You are a blessing. I can’t thank you enough for this opportunity. Until they put me six feet under, I will always remember this.”
Lovings served as associate head coach and defensive line coach a season ago for a Governors team that captured its first Ohio Valley Conference championship in over 40 years.
Austin Peay athletics director Gerald Harrison shared what it was in particular that he believed made Lovings the right man for the job.
“It was quiet confidence to be quite honest with you,” Harrison said. “He came in the room in the conversations that we had and was not afraid of the moment, but it wasn’t arrogance. My interactions with him as an assistant coach was that he was a strong leader whose players loved him. He’s very humble in the way that he goes about his business and at this time, I feel like that’s what we needed.”
Harrison gave Lovings an additional ringing endorsement, insinuating that the former Mississippi State grad assistant will remain head coach throughout the duration of the 2020 season.
Lovings let the people of Clarksville know what type of product they can expect to see on the field when the season gets underway.
“I want us to be a physical team,” Lovings said. “A team you know at the end of the day, is going to be hard to face. We want to play with relentless effort and discipline. When the time is right, we’ll be able to show that.”
Lovings believes that the players are comfortable with the sudden change and have responded well to the recent news.
“I think it’s been nothing but positive,” Lovings said. “I really do…All of our staff will continue to be here, so I think like having a two-parent household, it works out a little bit better.”
With the regular-season opener currently scheduled for August 29, that gives Lovings less than two months to make the transition quickly from assistant to head coach.
“Anytime you have change it’s going to be something that is worrisome, but it’s go time,” Lovings said. “I can’t sit there and worry about that. I just have to focus on what I can control which is everyday actions. Wake up in the morning and do the best job with what I got. If I do that, then I’ll be fine.”
From an x’s and o’s standpoint, Lovings noted that the offensive and defensive game plans will likely go unchanged with all of the coaching staff being retained.
“Coach Zetts (Tim) and Coach Powell (Mark) are still here,” Lovings said. “It will look similar because that’s the brand of football that they like to put on the field. I don’t want to interrupt that. Now obviously I’ll interject and we’ll do some things more to my liking, but for the most part, it will be their systems and what they want to run.”
According to both Lovings and Harrison, players are expected to return to campus Sunday, July 12 and begin walk-throughs July 20. Each athlete must test negative for COVID-19 beginning on Wednesday, undergo a four-day quarantine and then pass another test before being allowed back to practice.
“We are fighting an invisible enemy right now that is causing uncertainty, but the only think that is certain is how we’ll be there for our kids and provide stability,” Lovings said.