Mike Ketchum
Assistant Coach (Defensive Line)
Sixth Season at WSSU
Alma Mater - Guilford College '78

Mike Ketchum, a man who spent 17 years coaching football at nearby Guilford College in Greensboro, N.C., the last 14 of those years as the head coach, is entering into his sixth season as a member of the Rams' football coaching staff.

After five seasons as the Rams' defensive coordinator, Ketchum has been retained by new head football coach Connell Maynor and will focus his efforts with the coaching of the defensive line.

Ketchum resigned as football coach at Guilford in December of 2004 and became an Assistant Director of Athletics there before accepting the defensive coordinator position at Winston-Salem State where he has completely transformed the WSSU defensive corps into one of the most feared offense-stoppers.

In only five short years as the Rams' Defensive Coordinator Ketchum was responsible for turning around a Ram defensive unit that ranked near the bottom of the conference in five statistical categories in the final year before his arrival in Winston-Salem, N.C.

Ketchum's first season as the Rams' Defensive Coordinator in 2005 was one in which he instituted sweeping changes, improving the Rams from dead last in pass defense to fifth in the conference in the same category by season's end.

In 2006 the changes continued as Ketchum signed a stellar recruiting class and saw immediate success in his decision to switch from a traditional 4-3 defense to a 3-5 formation.

The 2007 season was witness to a defense that recorded 418 total tackles, generated 21 opponent turnovers, an average of nearly two forced turnovers per game, and surrendered only 203 points on the season.

Ketchum's defense held opponents to 10 points or less three times in 2007 and never surrendered 30 points in any of the Rams' 11 games en route to helping WSSU record the first winning season in the program's Division I history.

The 2008 season saw another great improvement for Ketchum's defense as they surrendered only 22.7 points per game despite the Rams' relative youth on the defensive side of the ball. Ketchum has continued to recruit and develop talent and the youthful defensive front continues to be the cornerstone of the WSSU program.

A stickler for fundamentals, Ketchum's tireless attention to detail has been instrumental in the development of countless WSSU football student-athletes. Ketchum's ever-present teaching and fundamentals development was put on display in the spring of 2008 when defensive end William Hayes was selected in the fourth round, 103rd overall, by the Tennessee Titans in the 2008 National Football League draft.

In 2009 Ketchum's defense yielded only 22.2 points per game and gave up only 183 first downs en route to recording 67 tackles for loss, 18 sacks and 22 takeaways. Under his tutelage the young WSSU defense saw nine players record 40 or more tackles with sophomore defensive lineman Akeem Ward earning 70 total tackles.

Since Ketchum's arrival on the campus of Winston-Salem State University the Rams have made vast improvements in every defensive statistical category, were witness to the drafting of William Hayes and have seen an additional pair of WSSU defensive alumnus' earn tryouts with National Football League clubs.

No stranger to collegiate coaching, Ketchum, a 1978 graduate of Guilford College, turned in a 53-85 record as the Quakers' head coach. He is second in Guilford history in wins and was the ODAC Coach of the Year recipient in 1991 and 1997 when the Quakers won league titles. In 1994 Ketchum led Guilford College to an 8-2 record, a mark which helped them to crack into the NCAA Division III South Region rankings for the first time in the program's history.

Ketchum got his start in football as a standout defensive lineman at Guilford College in Greensboro, N.C. During a stellar playing career at Guilford College Ketchum was named the team's Defensive MVP during his senior season (1978). Following his impressive playing career Ketchum moved on to his first collegiate coaching job as a graduate assistant at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Fla. While at UF Ketchum completed coursework to earn a M.A. in Education Administration in 1984 while serving a pair of seasons on the nationally-ranked Gator's football coaching staff.

The 54 year-old Ketchum is married to his wife of 33 years, the former Belinda Rowan. The couple has two children, a son Matt (23), and a daughter Lilly (19). They reside in Greensboro, N.C.

Maynor on Ketchum: "It is an honor to have such a coach of his stature on our staff. To have 15 years of head coaching experience and having spent the last five years as the Defensive Coordinator here at Winston-Salem State where he assembled a top-quality defense it is an invaluable asset to have him continue to be a part of this program. Before the interview was over with, I knew that without a doubt, he was someone that we needed to keep on this staff."