Ashley Ingram was named the VMI Keydets‘ next football head coach. Ingram spent the previous two seasons in charge of NCAA Division II Carson-Newman, going 16-6 overall.
Ingram played collegiately at North Alabama as an offensive lineman. In 1997, he was a graduate assistant at his alma mater. In 1998, he was a graduate assistant at Temple and the offensive line coach for North Cobb High School. In 1999, he became the offensive line coach for West Alabama.
Ingram moved on to NCAA Division I-AA, now called the FCS, beginning with the 2000 season. He was the offensive line coach at Rhode Island for six seasons through 2005, followed by two seasons as the offensive coordinator and OL coach at Bucknell. In 2008, he joined Navy as the school’s offensive line coach. He remained in that position with the Midshipmen through 2022 and added the assistant head coaching duties in 2023.
In 2024, Ingram was named head coach at Carson-Newman and led the Eagles to a South Atlantic Conference championship game appearance. The Eagles lost the title game to Wingate, but were selected for the NCAA D-II playoffs. The Eagles lost the first round matchup to Miles, 14-13. It was the school’s first playoff appearance since 2019. The 2025 season saw Carson-Newman finish 7-3 overall. Ingram went 16-6 overall and 12-4 in the SAC in his two seasons.
Ingram will take over for Danny Rocco, who went 7-28 overall in three seasons and departed for the Virginia Tech coaching staff. VMI has made only one FCS playoff appearance, which came during the 2020-21 COVID-impacted season. The Keydets are scheduled to start the 2026 season at Idaho State (Big Sky) on Saturday, August 29, followed by a game against former head coach Danny Rocco and Virginia Tech (ACC) on Saturday, September 5.
Photo Credit to Carson-Newman University Athletics
