Marian University Ind.

BIO

Clay Emmrich enters his sixth season as a Marian football assistant coach in 2025, returning to the Knights in the spring of 2025 as the Defensive Coordinator.

Emmrich coached the Knights in his first stint from July of 2018 through July of 2023. In that span, Emmrich served as both the Knights' wide receivers coach and linebackers coach, serving both roles at different spans of his coaching career. Emmrich helped Marian reach the NAIA Playoffs in each of his five seasons with the program, reaching the quarterfinals in both 2021 and 2022. 

Emmrich helped contribute to Marian's defensive efforts that finished fifth in the NAIA in scoring defense in 2022, and eighth in the NAIA in rushing defense. In his five seasons, Emmrich coached and developed four of Marian's NAIA All-Americans, including Johnny William, Jalen Jennings, Ben Stevens, and Logan Blake. Coach Emmrich also played a role in the mentorship of 2023 NAIA All-American Nate Frey in his time with the Knights.

The veteran coach was a member of Marian's staff from the 2019 NAIA National Runner-Up team, with Emmrich contributing to the Knights' second-ranked scoring and pass defense, and top-rated total defense in the NAIA. 

In July of 2023, Emmrich left Marian to pursue the defensive coordinator position at NCAA DIII program Randolph-Macon College, where he played a role in the Yellow Jackets' 23-3 record over two seasons. In his first year, Emmrich led the Yellow Jackets to the NCAA DIII National Semifinals, guiding a defense that had a scoring defense of 15.2 points per game and under 70 yards rushing per game. Emmrich had 13 All-Conference performers in his two seasons at Randolph-Macon.

Prior to beginning his first tenure with the Knights, Emmrich spent three seasons as an assistant coach at Augustana College, serving as their linebackers coach. In his stint with Augustana, Emmrich was in charge of breaking down film, and worked as the team's academic coordinator. In addition to his time with Augustana, Emmrich spent two seasons as a running backs and defensive backs coach at Nashua-Plainfield High School in Nashua, Iowa, and also was an assistant strength and conditioning coach. Emmrich followed his high school coaching tenure in the spring of 2015, where he began his collegiate coaching run by working as an assistant for Saint Xavier University during the Cougars' 2015 spring season. 

Emmrich returned to the Knights coaching staff prior to the start of the 2025 spring practice window.