David Blackwell (American football)

David Blackwell (born May 4, 1971) is an American football coach who is currently the defensive tackles coach at the University of Missouri, a position he has held since 2023. He was previously the defensive coordinator at Old Dominion University and East Carolina University, serving as the interim head coach for the latter in 2018 after the termination of Scottie Montgomery^[1] and the defensive coordinator at Louisiana Tech University from 2020 to 2021.

David Blackwell

Current position
Title	Defensive Tackles Coach
Team	Missouri Tigers
Conference	SEC
Biographical details
Born	(1971-05-04) May 4, 1971 (age 54) Greenville, South Carolina, U.S.
Playing career
1990–1991	East Carolina
Position(s)	Offensive lineman
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1992–1995	East Carolina (SA)
1996–1997	Illinois State (DL/RC)
1998–1999	Illinois State (LB/RC)
2000–2002	Pittsburgh (LB)
2003–2006	Clemson (LB/RC)
2007–2008	Clemson (ILB)
2009	South Florida (co-DC/LB)
2012–2013	Fordham (DC/LB)
2014–2017	Jacksonville State (co-DC/ILB)
2018	East Carolina (DC/LB)
2018	East Carolina (interim HC)
2019	Old Dominion (DC/ILB)
2020	Louisiana Tech (DC)
2021	Louisiana Tech (DC/LB)
2023	Missouri (SDA)
2024–present	Missouri (DT)
Head coaching record
Overall	0–1

Coaching career

Blackwell started his coaching career at East Carolina as a student assistant after he suffered a neck-injury while playing offensive line for the Pirates.^[2] He also had coaching stints at Illinois State and Pittsburgh before joining the coaching staff at Clemson as the team's linebackers coach and later added recruiting coordinator duties a couple of months later after the departure of Rick Stockstill.^[3] He left after the 2008 season to join the coaching staff at South Florida as the Bulls linebackers coach and co-defensive coordinator.^[4] After being out of football for two seasons, Blackwell returned to college football as the defensive coordinator for Fordham from 2012 to 2013 before joining the Jacksonville State coaching staff in 2014 as a co-defensive coordinator and the inside linebackers coach.^[5]

East Carolina (second stint)

After finding success at Jacksonville State, Blackwell was hired to be the defensive coordinator at his alma mater East Carolina for the 2018 season.The ECU defense made dramatic improvements in almost every area finishing 3rd. nationally in TFLs and forced 3 and outs and top 20 nationally in sacks.^[6] He served as the interim head coach for the Pirates game against NC State after head coach Scottie Montgomery was fired on November 29, 2018.^[7]

Old Dominion

Blackwell was named the defensive coordinator at Old Dominion in 2019,^[8] In his lone season at Old Dominion, he guided the Monarchs to the top-50 defense in terms of yards allowed after ranking 118th the year before.^[9] Despite the drastic improvement of the defense, the Monarchs only won 1 game which led to Blackwell being terminated along with head coach Bobby Wilder.

Louisiana Tech

Blackwell was named the defensive coordinator at Louisiana Tech in January 2020.^[10]

Missouri

On March 23, 2023, Blackwell was named as a defensive consultant at Missouri.^[11]

On July 28, 2024, head coach Eliah Drinkwitz announced Blackwell will serve as Defensive Tackles Coach.^[12]

Head coaching record

Year	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Bowl/playoffs
East Carolina Pirates (American Athletic Conference) (2018)
2018	East Carolina	0–1[n 1]	0–0	6th (West)
East Carolina:		0–1	0–0
Total:		0–1

Notes

1. Blackwell served as interim head coach after Scottie Montgomery was fired on November 29, 2018.