March 19, 2010

Cullowhee, N.C. - Western Carolina head football coach Dennis Wagner has named Mark Rhea as the defensive line coach. Rhea, who played and coached at the University of Toledo, joins the Catamount coaching staff from Division II-member, Tiffin University.

Rhea joins the WCU staff to fill the vacancy created when former Associate Head Coach Brad Sherrod left to pursue a position at the University of Delaware in late February. Wagner has restructured part of his defensive coaching staff. Justin Roberts, who joined the Catamount staff prior to last season as the defensive line coach, moves to coach the linebackers, a position vacated by Sherrod, to make room for Rhea.

"It was a great opportunity for Coach (Brad) Sherrod to go and become a co-coordinator at Delaware where he will be responsible for the front seven along their defensive front," said Wagner on his former assistant. "He did a great job here in helping us get our academics back on track. We hated to lose him, but it was a career step for him."

Under Sherrod's guidance as the academic liaison, the WCU football team raised its cumulative grade point average from a 2.4 to a 2.7.

A four-year starter at the Univ. of Toledo from 1988-91, Rhea got his start on the Rockets' staff serving as an administrative assistant and graduate assistant from 1992-94. He has served as a defensive line coach at four different institutions and most recently was the defensive coordinator last season at Tiffin University in Ohio.

"Mark Rhea brings years of experience in coaching defensive linemen," said Wagner about his most recent coaching staff addition. "Some friends of our coaching staff and I that are at the Division II level talked about how Tiffin had improved last season under Rhea's guidance. And we wanted to find a guy like that to fill our staff. So, Mark brings in experience not only as a defensive line coach, but also as a coordinator that has experience coaching other areas on the defense."

Rhea coached for six seasons at Idaho State before returning to his alma mater. During his tenure at Idaho State, he coached a defensive line that had all four linemen earn All-Big Sky honors four years in a row and earned a combined 22 all-conference honors, including eight First Team All-Big Sky picks and seven Academic All-Big Sky selections.

Prior to his stint at Idaho State, Rhea was on the staff at Austin Peay and before that he coached at the United State Coast Guard Academy in Connecticut.

In his career, Rhea has mentored three players who have gone on to the professional ranks. In 2006, he coached J.P. Bekasiak, who later became a first-round pick of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the Canadian Football League. Rhea also coached two players at Idaho State who went on to the NFL in Jared Allen with the Minnesota Vikings and Jeff Charleston who played for the Super Bowl Champion New Orleans Saints last season.

Allen, a two-time All-American and winner of the Buck Buchanan Award as the I-AA Defensive Player of the Year in 2003, was drafted in the fourth round by the NFL's Kansas City Chiefs in 2004. Charleston had 19 tackles for loss and was the Defensive Newcomer of the Year in the Big Sky in 2005. He signed as a free agent out of college with Houston in 2006.

After earning his bachelor's degree in athletic administration from Toledo in 1992, Rhea assisted the Rockets' coaching staff before working two seasons as a graduate assistant at Michigan State. The Beavercreek, Ohio, native had a standout playing career at Toledo that saw him named the team's outstanding defensive lineman as a senior and play a pivotal role on the Rockets' 1990 MAC co-championship team. Western Carolina will open its annual spring drills on Tuesday, April 6 on-campus in Cullowhee, culminating with the Spring Game on Saturday, May 1.

Rhea and his wife Stacey have a daughter, Madeline.

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Mark Rhea
Age: 42 (born July, 7 1968)
Hometown: Beavercreek, Ohio
Alma Mater: Toledo (`92)
Coaching Experience:
2008-09 Tiffin, Defensive Coordinator
2006-08 Toledo, Defensive Line
2000-05 Idaho State, Defensive Line
1998-99 Austin Peay, Linebackers
1997 Austin Peay, Defensive Line
1996 U.S. Coast Guard, Defensive Line
1994-95 Michigan State, Graduate Assistant
1993 Toledo, Graduate Assistant
Playing Experience: Toledo (1988-91)