Mark Ivey - Football Coach - University of Louisville Athletic

Mark Ivey

Title:
Linebackers
Email:
mark@GoCards.com

Mark Ivey begins his seventh season at the University of Louisville, and the third under head coach Jeff Brohm as the linebackers coach.

Under Ivey's guidance, the Cardinals were a pair of linebackers in 2024. T.J. Quinn and Stanquan Clark recorded 82 and 76 tackles, respectively, to pace the Cards. Quinn led the Cards in tackles for the second-straight year while Clark was second on the team with 76 in his first full playing season.

In his first year directing a new position group, Ivey oversaw the development of Quinn, who in his first season as a starter, led the team in tackles with 92. Quinn recorded four games of 10 or more tackles en route to earning all-league honors.

Before moving to linebackers coach in 2023, Ivey spent four seasons coaching the defensive line for the Cardinals. He mentored standout Ashton Gillotte to All-ACC honorable mention accolades in 2022.

The long-time assistant coach pushed Jared Goldwire to produce his two best seasons, earning him a free-agent contract with the Los Angeles Chargers. The 2020 campaign saw him record 35 tackles and a pair of sacks to earn him second team All-ACC accolades by the Associated Press.

Coaching the defensive line in 2019, the Cardinals increased their sack total from 11 in 2018 to 27 in that year, with defensive lineman G.G. Robinson leading the group with 4.0.

Before joining the Louisville staff, Ivey spent seven seasons with the Mountaineers, coaching the outside linebackers and the defensive line.
Ivey was promoted to interim head coach following Satterfield’s departure to Louisville, guiding the Mountaineers to a 45-13 win over Middle Tennessee in the 2018 R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl.

In guiding Appalachian State to a win in the first Sun Belt Championship Game and picking up a bowl win, Ivey worked with a defensive line that included All-Sun Belt first-team pick MyQuon Stout, who recorded 21 tackles. Ivey’s coaching development helped three walk-ons become regular contributors as part of a nine-man rotation.

Before the 2018 season, Ivey was promoted to assistant head coach to go along with his duties as the defensive line coach.
Assisting on the defensive side of the football, Appalachian State’s defense ranked 17th nationally in 2017 with 38 sacks.

In his first three seasons with the Mountaineers, Ivey’s linemen combined for more than 52.5 sacks and 109 tackles for loss for a defense that led the conference in total defense and scoring defense in consecutive campaigns. In 2016, Appalachian State allowed the fewest points in conference play of any FBS team, finishing in the Top 10 nationally in scoring defense, and the top 20 in both total defense and rushing defense.

Under Ivey’s guidance, Ronald Blair, who was named the Sun Belt’s Defensive Student-Athlete of the Year, ranked first in the Sun Belt for tackles for loss with 19 and second in sacks with seven. 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. 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.

Serving as the special-teams coordinator from 2012-14, Ivey oversaw a unit that led the SoCon with a gaudy 40.6-yard net punting average. Punter Bentlee Critcher 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.

The 2012 season saw the Mountaineers rank second in NCAA Division I FCS with a 40.8-yard net punting average on the strength of 45.9 yards per punt by all-American Sam Martin.

Before returning to Appalachian State in 2012, Ivey spent 16 years as a successful high school coach in Florida, including 10 seasons as head coach at Cypress Lake in Fort Myers (2002-06) and Barron Collier in Naples (2007-11). In five seasons 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.

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