Former Charlotte 49ers football assistant takes head coach job at Charlotte Catholic

Former Charlotte 49ers assistant Keith Emery is the new head football coach at Charlotte Catholic.

Emery, the fourth head coach at the southeast Charlotte school in 50 years, replaces Matthew Reilly, who coached the Cougars for one season. Reilly, 32, resigned to take an assistant job at his alma mater, St. Xavier, in Ohio.

Emery brings a lot of experience to the new job, including most recently serving as offensive analyst and director of high school relations under Biff Poggi with the Charlotte 49ers. Emery has also been the defensive line coach at Presbyterian College, and was the head coach at Western New England University in Massachusetts for 13 years. He led Western New England, an NCAA Division III school, to three straight conference titles and the most wins in school history (86-49).

Emery was named coach of the year five times while there and was a two-time New England Football Writers D2/D3 coach of the year.

Emery was also an assistant at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore for seven years, and was as assistant at two high schools in Connecticut as well as at Providence Day and Myers Park.

“Coach Emery has an impressive record of competitive success at the high school and college levels, and I am confident that through his leadership Charlotte Catholic will continue a tradition of success,” Charlotte Catholic principal Kurt Telford said. “His commitment to motivating student-athletes and integrating a football program that aligns with the values of (Charlotte Catholic and) will allow him to build on the tremendous legacy of Cougar football.”

Emery will take over a program accustomed to winning.

Reilly’s only team was 9-4. Prior to Reilly, Mike Brodowicz led the Cougars to five state championships in nine years. The Charlotte Observer named Brodowicz as one of Charlotte’s top high school football coach of the past 40 years. And before Brodowicz, the late Jim Oddo led Catholic to six state championship games, winning three, from 1973-2014. Oddo ended his career with 358 wins and 14 straight winning seasons.

“I have a passion for teaching players how to achieve their goals in concert with others,” Emery said, “and feel my experience at both the high school and college levels will serve the student-athletes at Charlotte Catholic well.”