Barry Clark, a passenger who tackled the suspect, said the boy had posed as a maintenance worker and became agitated when questioned by a flight attendant at the plane’s entrance. “I looked up ...

Barry Clark, a shearer from Echuca, told ABC Radio Melbourne he first noticed the young man when he realised a female flight attendant was questioning him.

By doing so, Clark elevated himself to assistant head coach at Memphis. He'll now move on from that role to join Barry Odom's Purdue football staff and coach the same position group.

Barry Clark was sitting in the front row of flight JQ 610 from Avalon to Sydney when a 17-year-old allegedly boarded the plane from the tarmac, armed with a shotgun and ammunition rounds.

Clark will head to West Lafayette, Indiana, to work under new Purdue coach Barry Odom. A former defensive coordinator at Memphis, Odom was hired by Purdue after two years as head coach at UNLV.