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From playing QB to walking a sideline: 5 questions with Akron football coach Joe Moorhead
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- From playing QB to walking a sideline: 5 questions with Akron football coach Joe Moorhead
Joe Moorhead will begin his fourth season as the University of Akron football coach when the Zips host Wyoming at 7 p.m. Aug. 28.
Moorhead has been busy getting the Zips prepared for the 2025 season.
Moorhead , 51, was a standout quarterback at Pittsburgh Central Catholic High School and Fordham University before getting into coaching.
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His resume includes being the head coach at Mississippi State (2018-19) and Fordham (2012-15), in addition to stints as an assistant at Pittsburgh (1998-99), Georgetown (2000-03), Akron (2004-08), Connecticut (2009-11), Penn State (2016-17) and Oregon (2020-21). He has been the offensive play-caller for five programs that have won a conference championship.
Away from football, Moorhead and his wife, Jennifer, enjoy spending time with their children, daughter Kyra and sons Mason and Donovan.
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Kyra and her husband, John Alex, live in Akron with their son, Miles. Kyra graduated from Mississippi State and is a program director in the Greater Akron and Cleveland areas with i9 sports, a youth sports program.
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Mason graduated from Grove City College after playing offensive line on the football team and is a Cooling Components Engineer with Phoenix Technical Solutions in Erie, Pennsylvania.
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Donovan is a senior quarterback at Hawken High School and has committed to play football at Jacksonville State.
University of Akron football coach Joe Moorhead takes in the scene with five seconds left on the clock in a Zips victory over Kent State on Nov. 1, 2023.
Joe Moorhead answered five questions on a variety of topics from the Akron Beacon Journal on Aug. 21.
Who are your favorite musical artists?
"Favorite musical artists. I am going to go give you genres. Nineties, and early 2000s, R&B and hip hop. Then I would go with Motown, then I would go with country and then I would go across any other genre, just good historical songs. … If we are going with the top genre, I'd say Jay-Z would be 1, Notorious B.I.G. would be 2, Nas would be 3 and 4 and 5 are kind of a toss up."
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What are your favorite movies?
""Shawshank Redemption," I watch every time it's on. "Carlito's Way," I watch every time it's on. "The Departed," I watch every single time it's on. Then kind of like music, I start dipping into genres. There are a bunch of different kinds that my family and I will watch. Just really any good movie."
Akron Zips football coach Joe Moorhead talks to his players during the final timeout in a game against Kent State on Wednesday, November 1, 2023.
What are your hobbies away from the football field?
"It is not really a hobby. I have three kids, my wife, my grandson. My oldest boy graduated and played at Grove City and watched him play. My youngest one is a senior this year heading into Hawken, so watching him play. Being around my daughter, my son-in-law, my grandson. Really, we're homebodies. We like to go out to eat, watch shows on streaming and watch movies on streaming."
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What do you like most about your job as a college football head coach?
"I love the idea of being part of a team sport that requires a tremendous amount of discipline, accountability, work ethic, team work and sacrifice. Maybe you have a group of 150 people together in a room that wouldn't be together otherwise from different backgrounds, different races, different religions and find a way to all pull together, and ultimately win football games. The other side of that is just helping young men achieve their goals and become the best person, student and players they can be."
Joe Moorhead, the new Akron Zips football coach, poses for a photo with UA President Gary Miller, left, and Director of Athletics Charles Guthrie, right, during a news conference Dec 9, 2021, in Akron.
If you weren't a college football head coach, what do you think you would be doing?
"I would wish to be a professional quarterback or baseball pitcher, but outside of that, at this stage of my life, I'd probably say something in media or podcasting. I don't know. The two things I talk about with my wife if I ever shut it down and retire, I want to be the greeter at Costco or I want to be an airport shuttle bus driver. Those two people, wherever you run into them, they seem to be the happiest people on the planet. They do — Costco greeter, airport shuttle bus driver."
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Michael Beaven can be reached by email at mbeaven@thebeaconjournal.com and is on Twitter at @MBeavenABJ .
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Five questions with Akron Zips football coach Joe Moorhead
