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Inside Linebackers Coach
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An outstanding coach whose career has included tenures at some of America's leading collegiate football programs, Mel Foels enters his fourth season at Wake Forest as an integral member of the Demon Deacon coaching staff.
Last season the Wake Forest defensive unit ranked in the top 35 nationally in every defensive statistical category. His work the last few seasons with former Deacon inside linebackers Kelvin Moses and Dustin Lyman helped to elevate both of those players to among the best at their position in the ACC. Under Foels' tutelage, Lyman earned First-Team All-ACC honors in 1999 and was selected in the third round of the 2000 NFL draft.
Foels was no newcomer to the ACC when he joined the Wake Forest coaching staff in 1997, a season that saw the Deacs limit their opponents to under 100 yards per game rushing. He had spent the previous six years as the linebackers coach at the University of Maryland, where he helped a Terrapin defense ranked last in the ACC improve to 29th nationally in 1996.
Earlier in his noteworthy career, Foels served as the defensive coordinator at Arizona State (1990-1991) and as the outside linebackers coach at both Tennessee (1984-1989) and North Carolina (1980-1983). At ASU, the Sun Devil defense ranked second in the Pac 10 to only national champion Washington. While with the Tar Heels, his most well-known pupil was All-American and future NFL star Lawrence Taylor.
Since 1980, Foels has taken part in 10 different bowl games, including the Demon Deacons' Aloha Bowl victory in 1999.
Foels was also a head coach at Iowa Wesleyan from 1967 to 1972, where he won four league titles and was a three-time Prairie Conference Coach of the Year selection. He later worked at Iowa, Eastern Kentucky and Tulsa as well.
In his playing days, Foels was a linebacker and offensive lineman at Bowling Green, where he earned both a bachelor's and master's degree. Foels and his wife, Dawn, have two daughters, Tracie and Shellie.
