Georgia Southern University Athletics

Doug Ruse is in his second stint on the coaching staff at Georgia Southern and will coach the quarterbacks while directing the offense for head coach Chad Lunsford. Ruse, who has over 30 years as a college coach, including 25 as an offensive coordinator, was most recently at Arkansas Tech and Tulane.

In 2020, Ruse began the season coaching the tight ends, but was elevated to the interim coordinator and quarterbacks coach late in the season. He called the final three games of the season, including the 38-3 win over Louisiana Tech in the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl. 

In those three games, the Eagles averaged 271.7 rushing yards per game, 385.3 yards of offense per game and 28.0 points per game. Ruse was named the full-time coordinator in the off-season.

In 2019, Ruse was the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Arkansas Tech. Under his tutelage, receiver Drew Wade earned all-conference honors after hauling in 46 passes for 623 yards and four scores. At Tulane, he was the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for three seasons, helping guide the Green Wave to a bowl game in 2018. 

Ruse came to Statesboro in 2014 after serving for the previous two seasons at Sam Houston State as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, the same position he filled at Georgia Southern.

In two years in Statesboro, Ruse’s offense averaged 37.7 points per game and led the FBS in rushing both seasons. In his debut season with the Eagles, Georgia Southern won the Sun Belt title with an 8-0 record and the Eagles won their first bowl game in 2015, the GoDaddy Bowl. 

In 2014, Ruse had three first-team All-Sun Belt Conference honorees in Matt Breida (RB), Manrey Saint-Amour (OL) and Garrett Frye (OL), along with second-team honoree Kevin Ellison (QB). In 2015, Breida was again named first-team all-conference after leading the nation yards in yards per carry, as was offensive lineman Darien Foreman.

In Ruse’s first of two seasons at Sam Houston State, the Bearkats ranked among the top 10 in the 2012 FCS national rankings in four major offensive statistics and Ruse was a finalist for FCS Coordinator of the Year Award. Sam Houston State was the only NCAA FCS team to average more than 40 points a game in both of the those years and became in 2012 only the third team in NCAA FCS history to score 600 points in a single season. 

Over his two seasons at SHSU, the Bearkats racked up 50 or more points in a game on 11 occasions, showcasing an offense that dominated opponents. Ruse’s offense in 2012 also produced school records with 6,878 yards of total offense yards and an average of 268.3 rushing yards per game en route to a Southland Conference title, an 11-4 record and NCAA FCS finals appearance.

Seven Bearkats on offense earned 2012 All-Southland honors, five selected to the first team and two to the second team. Sam Houston State was represented by five student-athletes, including four-time honoree Tim Flanders, on 2013 All-Southland Conference teams. The 2012 Southland Conference Offensive Player of the Year, Flanders earned national recognition as he his name was listed on several All-America squads.

Prior to joining the Bearkat staff, Ruse worked as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Western Illinois. He worked closely with quarterback Matt Barr, the runner-up for the Walter Payton Award in 2010 as he broke numerous single-season and single-game records.

Prior to his arrival at WIU, Ruse spent eight years at Arkansas State as offensive coordinator and mentor to the Red Wolves quarterbacks. Among his students was 2007 Davey O’Brien semifinalist Corey Leonard who tallied 252.9 yards per game of total offense and was responsible for 21 touchdowns that season. 

Several Arkansas State program records were rewritten when Ruse commanded the offense, including new single-game standards for passing yards, yards of total offense, yards per carry, and touchdowns, to name just a few. The 2008 season’s 4,786 yards of total offense broke a 57-year old record with the marks for the 2002, 2005 and 2007 seasons all ranking in the top 10 in that statistical category. 

Ruse spent eight years at Northwestern State before moving to Arkansas State with Steve Roberts in 2002. Hired as the quarterbacks coach in 1994 by the program’s winningest coach Sam Goodwin, he was promoted to offensive coordinator in 1997, helping the Demons to back-to-back Southland Conference titles and NCAA FCS playoff appearances. 

In addition to single-game, season and career passing and scoring records falling, the 1998 team tied the school record for most wins with 11 and finished with a number-three ranking after advancing to the NCAA semifinals.

A double alum of Northwest Missouri State, earning both his undergraduate (1986) and graduate (1988) degrees in Maryville, Missouri, Ruse first served as a graduate assistant coach for the NWMS Bearcats. He joined the full-time staff with responsibilities for coaching the quarterbacks and in 1990 was named offensive coordinator.

Ruse and his wife, the former Sandy Gallagher, are the parents of three children: Adam, Megan and Whitney.

THE RUSE FILE
Personal
Hometown: Independence, Mo.
Born: Oct. 19, 1952 in Kansas City, Mo.
College: Northwest Missouri State (1986; 1988)
Family: wife, Sandy; son, Adam; daughters, Megan, Whitney

Playing Experience
Northwest Missouri State (1981-1985)

Coaching Experience
2021- Georgia Southern (offensive coordinator/quarterbacks)
2020 Georgia Southern (tight ends; interim offensive coordinator/quarterbacks last three games)
2019 Arkansas Tech (offensive coordinator/quarterbacks)
2016-18 Tulane (offensive coordinator/quarterbacks)
2014-15 Georgia Southern (offensive coordinator/quarterbacks)
2012-13 Sam Houston State (offensive coordinator/quarterbacks)
2010-11 Western Illinois (offensive coordinator/quarterbacks)
2002-09 Arkansas State (offensive coordinator/quarterbacks)
1994-01 Northwestern State (offensive coordinator/quarterbacks)
1990-93 Northwest Missouri State (offensive coordinator)
1988-89 Northwest Missouri State (quarterbacks)

College Bowl/Postseason Experience
2020 New Orleans (GS vs. Louisiana Tech) 
2015 GoDaddy (GS vs. Bowling Green)
2013 NCAA FCS Quarterfinals (SHSU)
2012 NCAA FCS Finalist (SHSU)
2010 NCAA FCS Round-16 (WIU)
2005 New Orleans (A-State vs. Louisiana Tech)
2001 NCAA FCS Round-16 (Northwestern St.)
1998 NCAA FCS Semifinals (Northwestern St.)
1997 NCAA FCS Round-16 (Northwestern St.)

Prominent Pupils
Matt Breida (RB): Miami Dolphins
Corey Leonard (QB): BC Lions