Matt Moriarty, who has spent majority of his coaching career on the defensive side, joined the Drake football coaching staff as the new Assistant Defensive Line Coach in July, 2021.
Moriarty came to Drake after being on the coaching staff at Samford University for the 2021 spring season. At Samford, Moriarty helped mentor a defensive front that ranked third in the SoCon in sacks (seven) as well as have two All-SoCon selections in Armond Lloyd (1st Team) & Nelson Jordan (2nd Team).
Prior to his time at Samford, Moriarty spent the 2019 and 2020 season at Northern Illinois University as a special teams quality control assistant. In 2020, Freshman All-American Trayvon Rudolph, ranked first in the MAC and second in the country in return yards (725). Moriarty also mentored NIU’s all-time leading and All-MAC punter, Matt Ference, who averaged a career-best 43.0 yards on 65 punts.
In 2018, Moriarty was a defensive line graduate assistant at Central Michigan University. CMU’s defense that season ranked in the top 30 in the nation in 4th down defense (27th) and red zone defense (28th). CMU ranked 36th in total defense as well. Moriarty helped mentor a defensive front that consisted of All-MAC selection, Nathan Brison-Fast and Mike Danna. Danna was drafted in the fifth round of the 2020 NFL Draft by the Kansas City Chiefs.
Prior to CMU, Moriarty spent time at the junior college level as the defensive line coach at College of DuPage. He later was the defensive tackles coach at Division III Louisiana College.
Moriarty played collegiately at Harper Junior College located in Palatine, Ill. as an offensive and defensive lineman. He was a member of the 2008 NJCAA national championship team. Harper he finished his collegiate playing career at Elmhurst College.
A native of Naperville, Ill., Moriarty graduated from Elmhurst College in 2014 with a degree in communications.
