Three simple words: It was time.

The fastest coach in the history of United States high school football to reach 200 wins, not to mention the owner of 11 Tennessee Secondary Schools Athletic Association state championships, and unofficial title of mayor in the hamlet of Maryville is making a long-anticipated career move.

Veteran Maryville High School coach George Quarles has agreed to become the next offensive coordinator at his alma mater, Football Championship Subdivision program Furman University, and informed his Maryville team of his decision Tuesday morning.

An initial candidate for the head coaching vacancy at Chattanooga after Russ Huesman accepted the head post at Richmond, Quarles arguably had more college opportunities than at any time in his distinguished career, which has seen him lead Maryville to 15 state title berths in 18 seasons as head coach. Quarles also was offered an NCAA Division II head coaching post last month but declined the opportunity.

Now, Quarles has been tabbed to join the first-year staff of new Furman skipper Clay Hendrix, formally introduced on Monday after a distinguished career as a top assistant and associate head coach at the prestigious Air Force Academy.

Quarles posted what once was a nation’s-best 74-game winning streak from 2003-2008 at Maryville and also won four-straight state championships during the Rebels’ 60-0 sprint that spanned the 2003-07 seasons.

A former national champion wideout at Furman, Quarles took over a state championship Maryville program in the spring of 1999, endured his share of early lumps and then became a nationally known coach for his program’s nonstop success.

Quarles has been named a Tennessee Titans state coach of the year, assistant coach and head coach at the U.S. Army All-American Bowl and also been a national coach of the year finalist.

Since he began his career 10-7 overall as head coach, the former Jefferson County Patriots standout since has tabulated an eye-gouging 240-9 overall mark at the helm of the TSSAA Class 6A program.

Quarles discussed the move for several days with his family, wife, Leslie; sons Jack and Beau, before he ultimately decided the time was now for him to test his renowned offensive mind at the collegiate level.

In 18 years as head coach at Maryville, Quarles’ teams never failed to win at least 10 games and advanced at least to the semifinals in the playoffs of the program’s respective classification each of the past 17 years. Quarles’ inaugural team finished 10-3 and lost in the state’s quarterfinal round.

Though not a program that has produced abundant Football Bowls Subdivision talent, Maryville with Quarles at the helm has seen multiple players sign with the University of Tennessee, as well as had signees at Alabama, Auburn and most recently Stanford, where redshirt-freshman defensive lineman Dylan Jackson has developed into a starter for the Cardinal.

A high school coach making the jump to the collegiate ranks isn't uncommon. Auburn's Guz Malzahn did so, from Springdale (Arkansas) High School head to coach to Arkansas offensive coordinator in 2006, as did Art Briles, from Stephenville (Texas) High School to Texas Tech's running back coach in 2000, and SMU's Chad Morris, from Lake Travis (Texas) High School to Tulsa in 2010 as assistant head coach.