WACO, TEX. (WVLT-TV)—Carson-Newman quarterbacks coach David Needs has been named The American Football Coaches Association Division II Assistant Coach of the Year, the AFCA announced Wednesday morning. Needs and the Eagles are set to host West Alabama in the second round of the Division-II playoffs this saturday at Burke-Tarr Stadium in Jefferson City.

Needs is in his 14th season at Carson-Newman, and 17th season overall. He also played quarterback at C-N, and was a part of the 1988 and ’89 National Championships. He has been a part of 10 South Atlantic Conference titles and three national championship games while on Sparks’ staff. In addition to his football responsibilities, Needs serves as head men’s and women’s track coach at his alma mater. He joins Eagle offensive coordinator Mike Turner as the two Eagles coaches which have received the award. Turner earned the honor in 2003 after a half-decade of record-setting seasons.

“ I am blessed to work at a college like Carson-Newman these past 14 years and counting,” Needs said. “Carson-Newman is an institution that encourages you to impact not only the lives of those who attend, but make an impact in our community. Men like Ken Sparks, Mike Turner, and this entire coaching staff, are men that have trusted you, encouraged you, given you significant responsibility, and, most importantly, taught you to coach the outside and inside of a player first and foremost. They’ve created a contagious, positive atmosphere at C-N, and I’m blessed to be a part of it.”

Needs’ involvement off the field through the years has been equally successful and productive as Carson-Newman’s longstanding success on the field. He is heavily involved in the Carson-Newman and Jefferson City communities, working a free, week-long camp at Manley Baptist Church for school-age children, teaching them how to run and play football. He is also an advisor for Mortar Board Senior Honor Society at Carson-Newman, and has helped with many service projects such as teddy bears for sick children, visiting senior homes and shut-ins and reading to children at various elementary schools. Each fall, he leads and sponsors the “Cereal Bowl,” a charity flag football game between redshirt football players and faculty which has raised thousands of dollars and thousands of boxes of cereal for needy families.

“David is Carson-Newman through and through,” Carson-Newman athletics director David Barger said. “He is a tremendous football and track and field coach, and works tirelessly at both. He is also thoroughly committed to our campus and local communities. He is the type of person that makes Carson-Newman what it is.”

On the field, Needs’ quarterbacks have been pretty “Good” as well.

The Wilmington, Del. Native has mentored Eagle senior quarterback and South Atlantic Conference Player of the Year Alex Good for the last four seasons. Good has steered the Eagles to three-straight South Atlantic Conference titles and back-to-back NCAA Playoff appearances, including a first-round bye this season, their first since the format change in 2004. C-N has finished first or second nationally in each of the last three seasons in rushing offense, including first last season. This season, the Eagles are averaging 354.7 rushing yards per game, just .7 yards behind the highest per-game rushing total in the last 15 seasons at the D-II level.

In October, Good became the school’s all-time leader in total offense, surpassing 7,000 career yards, as well as setting the school record for TD passes, with 45. He is also the only C-N quarterback in the school’s top-ten list of career rushers. He has 2,848 career rushing yards and 37 rushing TDs.

“To work with Alex Good the past four years and see him mature and develop as a person, a player, and a leader on and off the football field I know I am blessed,” Needs said. “He continues to re-write record books at Carson-Newman, and does so with great humility. He cares more for team than any personal glory, that is why he is the conference player of the year and a strong candidate for the Harlon Hill Award.”

Again, Good and the Eagles begin their 2009 postseason on Saturday, when Carson-Newman hosts West Alabama in the second round of the NCAA Playoffs.