JONESBORO — Two words were thrown around at Gus Malzahn's introductory press conference as Arkansas State, "next level".
It's where Malzahn, fans and officials who packed the auditorium of the Convocation Center are hoping Malzahn will take the Red Wolves.
From the beginning of his press conference, Malzahn was clear about his goals while in Jonesboro.
"I'm here to win championships," Malzahn said. "This is a program on the rise, and when I look back and when I initially talked to Dean [and] his vision about how this thing could go, that's when I knew this was the place for me."
Malzahn, a former high school coach in the state and offensive coordinator at Arkansas, was introduced as the next head coach at Arkansas State on Wednesday afternoon to fans and boosters.
The 46-year-old Malzahn returns to his home state after spending the last three seasons as offensive coordinator at Auburn. He previously spent two seasons as offensive coordinator at Tulsa and one season in the same position at Arkansas in 2006. Malzahn spent 14 seasons as a high school coach at Hughes, Shiloh Christian and Springdale prior to his ascent to the college ranks.
Malzahn replaces Hugh Freeze, who left to take the head coaching position at Ole Miss earlier this month. Freeze leaves the Red Wolves after a 10-2 campaign their first-ever outright Sun Belt Conference title in program history.
The 20 minute press conference was filled with applause for a hire that many in the national media called a "home run."
Malzahn met with the team early Wednesday morning, many of which love that fact that his "Hurry Up, No Huddle" offense is almost a carbon-copy of the scheme run by Freeze.
"It's very humbling to know he'd come here," quarterback Ryan Aplin said. "This is home for him and he wanted to come back here. ... It's his decision, and this is what he feels is best. So it's awesome."
Arkansas State led the Sun Belt in total offense this season and 24th nationally in that category.
Malzahn was also introduced at halftime of the Arkansas State men's basketball game against Seattle, where he added that one of the goals he has for the Red Wolves is, while they'll may enter the Top 25 rankings soon, to stay there.
While he was excited to have his first head coaching job in college, the added incentive of coaching in his home state made the day even more special for Malzahn.
"I'm a high school football coach that happens to be coaching college," Malzahn said. "And I'm going to tell you this, I?m an Arkansas guy, and there's something to coming back home."
Read more on this story in tomorrow's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.