Appalachian State coach Shawn Clark sets out mouse traps in facility, warns players not to 'take the cheese'

Fri, Sep 16, 2022
NCAAF News (AP)

Few college football programs are riding higher than Appalachian State, which is coming off an upset of No. 6 Texas A&M and will be hosting "College GameDay" this weekend. With that much hype around his team, Mountaineers head coach Shawn Clark found a cheesy way of making sure his team does not lose focus.

Talking to Ian Fitzsimmons on ESPN Radio, Clark noted that Appalachian State has already experienced some drastic highs and lows through just two games. Clark gave the team credit for rebounding quickly after a brutal loss to North Carolina.

"We had two emotional weeks," Clark said. "Coming off a 63-61 defeat against North Carolina, and then going on the road to No. 6 A&M. It's no different than when we got beat by North Carolina. We were down, and we have a 24-hour rule. We came back on that Tuesday, had a tough Tuesday. Had a great week of practice."

Now, the Mountaineers have the opposite problem. They can't afford to get too high with Troy coming in for a conference game. To prevent his players from reading too many press clippings, Clark bought mousetraps and placed them throughout the facility in Boone.

"It's no different after a big win when everyone is patting you on the belly and telling you how good you are," Clark said. "We put that to bed. We laid out little mouse traps all throughout the building. Don't take the cheese. Don't forget what got you here. That's the way you practice and the way you do things off the field to be successful. I know our players are excited. We have a tough Troy team coming to Boone this weekend. Coach (Jon) Sumrall has done a fantastic job of putting his stamp on things. You can tell by the way they're playing now that they are playing at a different level than they were last year."

We'll find out if the mousetrap tactic worked when Appalachian State and Troy kick off from Kidd Brewer Stadium at 3:30 p.m. ET on Saturday.