Faulkner University

Steve Cheatham, with extensive coaching experience at both the collegiate and high school levels, has been hired as Faulkner's defensive coordinator.

Cheatham's resume is impressive, having spent time on the staffs at Clemson and Ole Miss at the NCAA Division I level, and at Division III Birmingham Southern. He also spent a total of five years at East Central Community College in Decatur, Miss., where he spent four years as an assistant coach before taking the head coaching position in 2008.

"Coach Cheatham is a super hire for Faulkner University," said Duke head coach David Cutcliffe, who led the Ole Miss program when the new Eagles' defensive coordinator was there. "He will do a great job on the field, and he will have a great impact on the student-athletes off the field as well. He has great character and is a great football man."

A cancer survivor, Cheatham, 52, stepped away from coaching for a season to tend to his health before returning to the field as an assistant at Birmingham Southern in 2010. Last season he was an assistant at Newton County High School in Philadelphia, Miss.

After earning a bachelor's degree from Mississippi State University, Cheatham earned a reputation as one of the most highly thought of high school coaches in the state of Mississippi. He spent a total of 17 years at powerhouse Neshoba High School in Mississippi - 15 years as an assistant and two as the team's head coach. He later earned a master's degree from Clemson, where he served as a graduate assistant coach on the Tigers staff.

Cheatham and his wife Brenda have a daughter, Lindsey Burkes, and one grandchild with another on the way.