By Staff
from school reports
August 2, 2003
OXFORD, Miss. East Central Community College assistant football coach Steve Cheatham has been named assistant athletic director for football operations at Ole Miss.
Cheatham, who is also a former head football coach at Philadelphia High School, replaces Gerry Dickey, who recently resigned to accept a similar position with the University of Tennessee after spending the last four years as a member of David Cutcliffe's Ole Miss staff.
Cheatham started his coaching career as the defensive coordinator and special teams coach at Neshoba Central High School, before moving on to serve as a graduate assistant with Clemson University in 1993. At Clemson he worked with the secondary under the supervision of the defensive coordinator.
After three years at Clemson, he moved west to Alabama in 1996, taking the head coaching position at Dothan High School for a season before moving back to Mississippi to become the head coach at Philadelphia High School. In his time at Philadelphia, Cheatham compiled a 36-11-1 record. In 2001 he jumped to the junior college ranks at East Central Community College as an assistant coach.
He has earned several awards throughout his career, including the 1998 Division 4-2A Coach of the Year and the 2000 Neshoba Democrat Area Coach of the Year. He has also coached in several All-Star games, including the 2000 Bernard Blackwell All-Star game, the 2001 Mississippi/Alabama All-Star game, and the 2002 Mississippi Community College All-Star game.
Cheatham, 46, is married to the former Brenda Munn of Philadelphia. They have a 20-year-old daughter, Lindsey, who will be attending the University of Mississippi Medical Center this fall, and is pursuing a degree in Dental Hygiene.