Former National Football League (NFL) player and University of Michigan All-Big Ten player David Arnold enters his fifth season as the defensive coordinator in 2021.
Under Arnold's tutelage in 2018, the Bethany defense led the PAC as one of the best defensive teams. The Bison defensive held opponents to just over 17 points per game and under 270 total yards of offense. The green and white ranked first in multiple categories and featured 14 All-PAC selections. Senior lineman Daniel Gibson earned All-PAC 1st Team honors, ECAC Honors, and D3Football.com All-South Region Team honors.
In 2017, the Bethany defense ranked third in the PAC with 11 interceptions and featured five all-conference selections. Linebackers Joseph Fiasco and Will Gatling ranked first and fifth in the PAC in tackles per game, while Khallid Pierce ranked second in sacks and collected all-conference laurels from both the PAC and ECAC.
Arnold arrived at Bethany after spending one season at Division II Kentucky Wesleyan in 2016 as the school’s offensive passing game coordinator, where he helped tutor All-American Keelan Cole. Cole ranked second in Division II in all-purpose yards and signed as an undrafted free agent with the Jacksonville Jaguars, where he scored three touchdowns as a rookie in 2017.
Prior to his most recent tenure at Kentucky Wesleyan, Arnold spent five seasons at Division II Mercyhurst, coaching on both sides of the ball from 2010-14. Arnold served as the defensive backs coach in his first two seasons at Mercyhurst and then made the switch to offense to coach the wide receiving corps. The Lakers won the 2010 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Championship and finished with more than seven wins in three of his four seasons with the team.
Arnold spent four seasons from 2006-09 as the defensive coordinator and secondary coach at Kentucky Wesleyan in his first stint at the college. He also served as the defensive backs and special teams coach at Gannon University from 2004-06 and began his collegiate coaching career at Central Connecticut State, spending three years at the Division I Football Championship Division (FCS) institution guiding the defensive backs, linebacker and special teams unit.
Before entering the collegiate ranks, Arnold started his coaching career at his alma mater, Warren G. Harding High School in Warren, Ohio, serving as the team’s defensive backs coach.
Arnold enrolled at the University of Michigan in 1985 and played college football as a defensive back for Head Coach Bo Schembechler's Michigan Wolverines football teams from 1985 to 1988. He was a two-time All-Big Ten selection, including a first-team nod in 1988, and helped the Wolverines to two Big Ten Championships in 1986 and 1988. Arnold played in four bowl games, including the 1989 Rose Bowl when Michigan posted a 22-14 win over USC.
Arnold was selected by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the fifth round (118th overall pick) of the 1989 NFL Draft. He appeared in 15 games for the Steelers during the 1989 NFL season and played two more seasons in the NFL for the Houston Oilers in 1990-91. He also played for the Hamilton Tigers-Cats of the Canadian Football League from 1992 to 1994 and concluded his playing career with the Scottish Claymores in the World Football League (later renamed NFL Europe) by winning the World Bowl in 1996.
Arnold earned his bachelor's degree in sports management and communications from the University of Michigan in 1989.
