Norm Eash
Head Football Coach/Department Chair, Physical Ed
Phone: (309) 556-3344
Email: neash@iwu.edu
In 23 seasons (1987 to 2009) as Illinois Wesleyan University head football coach, Norm Eash has built the Titans into one of the country's highly-regarded and respected NCAA Division III programs.
In the more than two decades he has coached seven College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin championship teams; three NCAA Division III playoff teams; eight first team Division III All-Americans; eight Academic All-Americans; and one winner of the Gagliardi Trophy honoring the nation's top Division III player (Lon Erickson in 1996).
Eash's career record at his alma mater is 142-79-1 (.642), making him second among IWU coaches in victories (Eash's college coach, Don Larson, had 168 wins from 1954-86). Prior to 2009, Eash ranked 53rd among all-time Division III coaches in victories (20th among active coaches in wins).
The "dean" of league coaches, Eash has been College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin "Coach of the Year" five times (2009, 2007, 2001, 1996 and 1992). His career CCIW mark is 104-61-1 (.619), making him fourth all-time in victories in the league and only one behind Carthage’s Art Keller in third place (105-53-3 from 1962 to 1982).
Also in 2009, Eash was named as the co-winner of the Division III Region 4 "Regional Coach of the Year" honor by the American Football Coaches Association.
Eash's 2009 team was 10-2, earned a share of the CCIW championship and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Division III playoffs before losing to eventual national champion Wisconsin-Whitewater.
The Illinois Wesleyan 1996 and 1992 teams were both 10-1, captured CCIW outright championships, and both advanced to the quarterfinal round of the Division III playoffs.
Eash's 1994, 2000, 2001 and 2007 teams shared the CCIW title.
Prior to 1992, only three other IWU teams (1965, 1951, and 1888) had gone through the regular season with a perfect record and the 1992 team was the first Titan team to claim an outright, undefeated CCIW championship since 1965.
In the decade of the 1990s, Eash's teams were 72-21-1 (.771) and were consistently rated in national publications among the top Division III teams.
A native of Chenoa, Ill., Eash captained his high school football and basketball teams and was a Little All-State football selection in 1970. A 1975 IWU graduate, Eash was a starting defensive lineman as a sophomore and a starting offensive tackle his last two seasons, playing on an 8-1 team in 1974 that tied for the CCIW title. Eash taught physical education and was an assistant coach in football, basketball, and track at Streator High School from 1975 to 1982, then was head football coach and athletic director at Dwight High School. His Dwight teams were 34-15, qualified for the Illinois High School playoffs three times, and reached the Class 2A quarterfinals in 1983, when Eash was Kankakee Area Coach of the Year.
Eash and his wife, Cheryl, have one son (Kyle) and four daughters (Kendra, Kelsey, Kaylyn and Karley).
In addition to his duties as football coach, Eash is an associate athletic director and chair of the physical education department at Illinois Wesleyan, and he has led Titan teams to victories in international exhibition games in Germany (1996), Italy (2001), France (2005) and Austria (2009).
Updated June 8, 2010
Return to Staff