FERRUM, Va. - Director of Athletics Abe Naff has announced the hiring of Joel Gordon as Offensive Coordinator with the Ferrum College football program. Gordon comes to Ferrum from Shepherd University, where he spent the past five years with the Ram football program.

Gordon coached quarterbacks and wide receivers at Shepherd, helping the program go 49-9 and earn an NCAA Division II national runner-up finish in 2015. Shepherd won Mountain East Conference championships and made NCAA Div. II playoff appearances in 2012, 2013 and 2015.

Prior to his work at Shepherd, Gordon was Offensive Coordinator at Emory & Henry College three seasons from 2008-10, helping lead the Wasps to an 18-12 record. He also spent three years from 2005-07 with Shepherd as an assistant coach, during which the Rams went 32-4, won three WVIAC titles and made the NCAA Div. II playoffs. He served a year as a graduate assistant coach at North Carolina Wesleyan College in 2004, and a year as a student assistant at Shepherd in 2003.

Gordon earned his bachelor's degree in Recreation and Leisure Studies in 2003 and his Master of Arts in Curriculum and Instruction in 2013, both from Shepherd. He was the starting quarterback four years from 1999-2002, setting eight school records and leading the Rams to a 27-9 record. Gordon helped the team win the WVIAC title and advance to the NCAA Div. playoffs in 1999.

After college, Gordon went on to play for the Richmond Speed and the Winterthur Warriors in Switzerland. He was inducted into the Shepherd University Sports Hall of Fame in 2013, and is also a member of the Waynesboro High School Hall of Fame.