Interim Head Coach/Defensive Line

Mark Ivey, a four-year football letterwinner at Appalachian State from 1992-95, was named interim head coach on Dec. 4, 2018.

Before the 2018 season, in helping the Mountaineers win the inaugural Sun Belt Championship Game and earn a bid to the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl, he was promoted to assistant head coach to go along with his duties as the defensive line coach.

He is in his seventh season as an assistant coach at his alma mater, as he coached outside linebackers for two seasons before becoming the defensive line coach.

In helping App State win the inaugural Sun Belt Championship Game and make a fourth straight bowl appearance in 2018, Ivey worked with a defensive line that included All-Sun Belt first-team pick MyQuon Stout. His talent development helped three walk-ons become regular contributors as part of a nine-man rotation along the team's three-man front. 

In 2017, App State's defense ranked 17th nationally with 38 sacks, including 9.5 in 10 games from Tee Sims. Ivey's coaching helped Caleb Fuller develop from a freshman walk-on to a senior All-Sun Belt honoree whose 3.0 tackles for loss in a bowl shutout of Toledo included 1.5 sacks, and defensive tackle MyQuon Stout enters 2018 as a preseason All-Sun Belt selection.

In his first three seasons as defensive line coach, Ivey's linemen combined for more than 52.5 sacks and 109 tackles for loss for a defense that has led the Sun Belt in Total Defense and Scoring Defense in back-to-back seasons following a dominant defensive season in 2016. App allowed the fewest points in conference play of any FBS team in '16, finishing in the Top 10 nationally in Scoring Defense, and the Top 20 in both Total Defense and Rushing Defense.  

In '16, Ivey replaced NFL-bound defensive end Ronald Blair by committee as Dezmin Reed and Tee Sims both earned second team All-Sun Belt honors combining for 13 sacks and 20.5 tackles for loss. Sophomore Myquon Stout was an unsung hero in the middle at nose guard, helping App hold opponents to 3.9 yards per carry and finishing as a Top 20 rushing defense.

In 2015, Ronald Blair flourished under Ivey's tutelage, ranking No. 1 in the Sun Belt for tackles-for-loss with 19 for 89 yards, and No. 2 in sacks (seven). The career-best season for Blair earned him the Sun Belt's Defensive Student-Athlete of the Year award. With the strong finish to his collegiate career, Blair was selected in the fifth round, with the 142nd pick in the NFL Draft, by the San Francisco 49ers.

In 2013, three of Ivey's outside linebackers ranked among Appalachian State's top eight in tackles last season. Despite not starting a game as a true freshman, Kennan Gilchrist ranked fourth on the team and among the Southern Conference's top 40 with 59 stops, en route to earning freshman all-conference honors.

As the Mountaineers' special-teams coordinator from 2012-13, Ivey oversaw a unit that easily led the SoCon with a gaudy 40.6-yard net punting average in 2013. Much of that success was due to Bentlee Critcher, who became only the second true freshman in school history to earn NCAA Division I FCS all-America recognition after ranking second among all FCS punters with a 45.9-yard punting average.

In 2012, App State ranked second in NCAA Division I FCS with a 40.8-yard net punting average on the strength of a 45.9 yards per punt by all-American and current Detroit Lion Sam Martin.

Ivey returned to Appalachian State in 2012 after 16 years as a high-school coach in Florida, including the last 10 seasons as head coach at Cypress Lake H.S. in Fort Myers (2002-06) and Barron Collier H.S. in Naples (2007-11). In five successful campaigns as the head coach at Barron Collier, he led the Cougars to a 36-19 overall record and state playoff appearances all five years. BCHS won three-straight district championships from 2007-09, doubling the number of district titles that the school had claimed in its first 29 years of existence.

In addition to his decade of experience as a head coach, Ivey also served as an assistant at Port Charlotte, Cape Coral and Gulf Coast high schools in western Florida from 1996-2001.

Ivey was a linebacker and defensive lineman at Appalachian State from 1991-95. After redshirting as a true freshman in ‘91, Ivey went on to record 166 tackles in 47 games for the Black and Gold from 1992-95. As a senior, he started 12-of-13 games and tallied 66 tackles, four sacks and eight tackles for loss to help lead the Mountaineers to a perfect 11-0 regular season and the 1995 Southern Conference championship. In all, he started 28 games at defensive tackle and was a part of four NCAA Division I-AA playoff teams during his collegiate career.

A native of Collinsville, Va., Ivey was an all-district and all-region gridiron performer at Martinsville H.S. He made 230 tackles over his final two prep seasons and was also a two-time district champion in wrestling and an all-district and all-region honoree in baseball.

Ivey graduated from Appalachian State in 1996 with a bachelor's degree in industrial technology (furniture production concentration). In addition to coaching, he also taught math, computer-aided drafting and materials and processing in his 16 years in high-school education.

Ivey and his wife, Rosa, have three daughters: Britini, Maggie and Gabriella.

IVEY AT A GLANCE
Coaching Experience
1996: Port Charlotte (Fla.) H.S. (assistant coach)
1997: Cape Coral (Fla.) H.S. (assistant coach)
1998-2001: Gulf Coast (Fla.) H.S. (assistant coach)
2002-06: Cypress Lakes (Fla.) H.S. (head coach)
2007-11: Barron Collier (Fla.) H.S. (head coach)
2012-13: Appalachian State (outside linebackers/special teams)
2014-17: Appalachian State (defensive line)
2018: Appalachian State (assistant head coach/defensive line)
2018 (Dec. 4): Appalachian State (interim head coach/defensive line)

Playing Experience
1991-95: Appalachian State (LB/DL)

Alma Mater: Appalachian State, 1996
Hometown: Collinsville, Va.
Birthdate: July 11, 1973
Wife: Rosa (Drawdy)
Daughters: Britini, Maggie and Gabriella
Twitter: @AppStateIvey90