Jeff Faris

Biography

Jeff Faris enters his second season as Austin Peay's head football coach after being named the 22nd head coach in program history on Dec. 9, 2023. A Knoxville, Tennessee native with over a dozen years of Division I experience at the FBS level, Faris spent two seasons as the tight ends coach for head coach Chip Kelly at UCLA. Before his time in Los Angeles, he was on head coach David Cutcliffe's coaching staff at Duke, where he was named the 2018 American Football Coaches Association's FBS Assistant Coach of the Year. By the end of his 10 seasons in Durham, North Carolina, Faris had become the Blue Devils' co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. Faris helped return the Blue Devils to national prominence as they reached six bowl games and won the 2015 Pinstripe Bowl, the 2017 Quick Lane Bowl, and the 2018 Independence Bowl. At UCLA, Faris helped guide the Bruins to the 2022 Sun Bowl and the 2023 LA Bowl. Faris is a three-time Duke graduate, earning his bachelor's degree in economics in 2011 before earning a master's degree in economics in 2012 and a second master's degree in Christian Studies in 2014.