Wallace Tapped as Braves Nickels Coach

Story from Alcorn Athletics:
LORMAN, Miss. — Alcorn State University and Braves football welcome D’Gary Wallace as the newest addition to the coaching staff. He will serve as the nickels coach. 

“We are very honored to have Coach Wallace as a part of the staff,” Head Coach Cedric Thomas said. “He brings a lot of familiarity and hard work to Alcorn.”

    Wallace joins the Alcorn coaching staff as a highly decorated and proven defensive specialist.  Entering his ninth season in the coaching ranks, he has already guided players to a total of 25 All-Conference and 2 All-American performances. He comes to Alcorn after a stint on Capital University’s coaching staff as the assistant head coach and defensive coordinator in 2023. That year, Wallace coached All-Ohio Athletic Conference selection Nick Fisanick and facilitated team camps.

    Before Capital, he served the Defiance College Yellow Jackets as the Assistant Head Coach/Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers Coach in 2022.   Coach Wallace has already been identified as a leader in the profession.  Most recently, he was named a “Rising Star” by FootballScoop.com and included on the “Minority Watch List”.  In the spring of 2022, he was chosen for the prestigious, NCAA/NFL Administrators Academy.  The NCAA also selected Coach Wallace as an “Emerging Leader”  2021.  The Dayton native served as the Recruiting Coordinator for the football program.

    Coach Wallace had brief stint at Wilmington College.  He served as the Quakers’ Special Teams Coordinator/Defensive Pass Game Coordinator and Defensive Backs Coach.  Off the field, he was heavily involved in the student-athlete development process and owned the title of Academic Coordinator.  Wallace spent the 2021 season at NCAA DI-FCS University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff.  As the Nickels Coach, he worked with a defense that finished in the top 10 in the country for defensive touchdowns and pass deflections.  They also tied the NCAA D1-FCS single game record for most passes broken up.  He was involved with each special team unit, including UAPB’s elite blocking teams.  They finished the season No. 5 in FCS with 17 blocked field goals and ranked No. 3 in the country for blocked punts.

    Wallace has successful experience at every level of college football, and as a position coach, he has produced results for each unit on defense.  His previous stints include: Capital University in 2021 where he coached the linebackers, Cincinnati Christian University, where he served as defensive backs coach and co-special teams coordinator from 2019-20, and his alma mater Urbana University where he served as defensive line coach in 2015 before transitioning to the linebackers coach and recruiting coordinator in 2016.  In addition to his collegiate experience, Wallace served two stints as the defensive coordinator for his alma mater Paul Laurence Dunbar High School in Dayton, Ohio for the 2017, 2018, and 2019 seasons.  These defenses also produced 7 All-State players in only 3 years. 

    As a college athlete, Wallace was decorated as one of the best players in the country.  The 2x All-American played linebacker for NCAA DII Urbana University.  He will go down as the all-time leader for Urbana in: career tackles, career-assisted tackles, total tackles in a single season, assisted tackles in a single season, and most tackles in a single game. In 2015, Wallace was named a finalist for the Cliff Harris Award for the best defensive player in Division II. Wallace was also a three-time All-Mountain East Conference First team honoree and still holds the conference record for most career tackles.

    Wallace graduated from Urbana with a degree in early childhood education in 2016.

    “This is an amazing opportunity to be a part of Coach Thomas’s staff here at Alcorn State University. This tradition-filled university has displayed a substantial amount of success on the gridiron, as well as in the classroom,” said Wallace. “To work for a great leader of men, educator/mentor, alongside a great staff is an opportunity I couldn’t pass up. I’m up for the challenge and grateful for the opportunity.”