Miami QB coach Frank Ponce leaving to become Appalachian State offensive coordinator

Miami Hurricanes quarterbacks coach Frank Ponce is set to become the offensive coordinator at Appalachian State according to a report from Manny Navarro.

Ponce will be returning to Appalachian State for the third time in his career having a six-year stint with the Mountaineers from 2013-2018 as their co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, followed by two seasons as Louisville‘s quarterbacks coach before returning to Boone for the 2021 season as the offensive coordinator.

During the 2021 season, Ponce helped orchestrate an Appalachian State that averaged 34.5 points a game, which ranked second in the Sun Belt conference and 22nd amongst all FBS programs.

In his lone season with Miami, he helped lead a top-five passing attack in the ACC despite three different quarterbacks receiving snaps for the Hurricanes in the 2022 season.

More on Ponce

Ponce is a Miami native who attended Miami Senior high school and played quarterback, and was a finalist for the Miami Herald Hispanic Athlete of the Year Award. He continued his playing career at Arizona Western College where he was a two-year starter before beginning his coaching career.

He became one of the top high school coaches in south Florida, making coaching stops at Coral Gables, Miami Northwestern, and Miami Central before back-to-back head coaching jobs at Coral Reef Senior and his alma mater Miami Senior. He made his collegiate coaching debut at FlU under head coach Mario Cristobal, where he served as a wide receiver coach for six seasons and most notably coached three-time All-American and NFL standout T.Y. Hilton.

During his first tenure with Appalachian State, he helped orchestrate one of the Sun Belt Conference’s most consistent offensive attacks and coached quarterbacks like Taylor Lamb and Zac Thomas who both rank top three in school history in career and single-season touchdown passes.

He spent two more seasons under Scott Satterfield as Louisville’s quarterbacks coach, helping in the development of dual-threat star quarterback Malik Cunningham before his return to App State in 2021 as their offensive coordinator. In that season the Mountaineers went 10-4 and their offense led by Ponce boasted the conference’s top passer, two top-five rushers, two-top five receivers in the conference.

He reunited with Cristobal as the Hurricanes’ quarterbacks coach in 2022 for one season and is still a proven recruiting force in the south Florida area, inheriting the Sun Belt’s second-leading scoring offense from a season ago.