Newberry Names Todd Knight As Head Football Coach

NEWBERRY, S.C. - Dr. Mitchell M. Zais, president of Newberry College, introduced Todd Knight as the College's 18th head football coach Friday.

Prior to his new position, Knight served for six seasons as defensive coordinator at Newberry. Under Knight's direction, Newberry has had one of the top defenses in the South Atlantic Conference in each of the last three seasons. Nine Newberry defensive players have been named First Team all-South Atlantic Conference and 17 defensive players have earned all-region honors.

"Coach Knight will do an outstanding job with the football program," said Zais. "The players look up to him and respect him. He will serve with integrity both on and off the field."

"I would like to thank Dr. Zais, Billy Walker and the Board of Trustees for the opportunity to serve as head football coach at Newberry College," Knight said. "I'd also like to thank the current coaching staff and the kids in the program for their vote of confidence.

"To the entire Newberry College family, we promise we will do our absolute best to continue our success and stay on top. We will produce a product we can all be proud of," Knight added

Before coming to Newberry, Knight served as assistant head coach and defensive coordinator at Charleston Southern University under head coach David Dowd. Under Knight's guidance, the 2001 Buccaneers' "Blue Collar" defense achieved a top 20 I-AA national ranking in total defense.

Knight served as defensive coordinator at Lees-McRae College and was the secondary coach at his alma mater, former South Atlantic Conference member Gardner-Webb University.

At Gardner-Webb, he received a Bachelor of Science in physical education in 1989 and earned a Master of Arts in physical education the following year as a graduate assistant coach.

He has a daughter, Anna, who is a junior at Newberry College. He is married to the former Tina Martin and the couple resides in Little Mountain with their sons Devin and Michael Cash.