Ameer Ismail joined the Kalamazoo College coaching staff as Defensive Coordinator and Recruiting Coordinator in August of 2021, returning home to join family in Portage, Mich. Ismail also coaches the Hornet linebackers.
Ismail's coaching experience includes NCAA Division I, III, NAIA as well as Professional Arena Football and Canadian Football League. Born in Lansing, Mich., Ismail was an All-State running back at West Ottawa High School. He went on to excel at Western Michigan University, culminating in All-American and MAC Defensive Player of the Year honors.
Coaching Experience
Most recently, Ismail served as Defensive Coordinator and Defensive Line coach at Wilkes University. Prior to that, he was the Defensive Coordinator, Safeties Coach, and Pro Liaison at Judson University. In the fall of 2020 Ismail was a Defensive Analyst and Assistant Linebackers Coach at Western Michigan University.
Ismail was a Head Coach in Professional Arena Football for three years, most recently with the Iowa Barnstormers 2020-2021. In 2018, Coach Ismail led his team to a league-best 11-5 record, which is also a league record for most regular season wins, earning him Head Coach of the Year honors. After the season, he had an assistant coaching opportunity with the Montreal Alouettes in the CFL under GM Kavis Reed and Head Coach Mike Sherman. Ismail was also a Defensive Coordinator and Strength and Conditioning Coach for six years (3 seasons in Professional Arena Football, 3 seasons at a Class A High School in Michigan), where his defenses ranked top-2 each year in all major categories. Ismail spent 2019 as the Outside Linebackers Coach at Albion College. He also coached two seasons at Western Michigan University, most recently in 2020 as Defensive Analyst and Assistant Linebackers Coach. At Western Michigan, he helped coach and mentor PFF All-Mac Selection AJ Thomas, who converted from safety and had 9 passing stops, which is 3 more than anyone else in the MAC. Thomas was also third in the MAC with 9 TFLs in 6 games. In addition, Ismail coached All-MAC selection and 2019 All-American Linebacker Treshaun Hayward. In his first stop at Western Michigan University in 2015-2016 as Defensive QC and Assistant Linebacker Coach, Ismail coached Robert Spillane (current Pittsburgh Steelers Linebacker), Asantay Brown (former Philadelphia Eagles linebacker), and Caleb Bailey (current Iowa Barnstormer and former CFL LB), and Jarrell McKinney (former Houston Texans Defensive End).
Playing Experience
Ismail was an All-State running back at West Ottawa High School, rushing for a school-record 1,544 yards and 25 touchdowns and graduating as the school's all-time leading rusher in yards and touchdowns. In addition, he achieved All-Conference status as a power forward in basketball and track and field, where he was a conference champion in the 110 Hurdles and the Shot Put and qualified for the MHSAA State Finals. The former OK-Red Conference athlete of the year was inducted into West Ottawa High School Hall of Fame in 2011.
Ismail was an NCAA D1 All-American student-athlete at Western Michigan University and NCAA leader in sacks with 17 and tackles for loss with 26. He holds the NCAA record with 6 sacks in one game against Ball State. He earned National Defensive Player of the Week honors for his efforts in that game with 13 tackles, six sacks, seven tackles for loss, and one interception returned for a touchdown. For his efforts, he premiered on ESPN and in USA Today. In addition, he earned MAC Defensive Player of the Year honors and still holds the MAC single-season record for sacks.
Ismail's senior season, the Western Michigan defense, led by coach Scott Shafer, was ranked a top 5 defense in the country, first in the NCAA in sacks (46) and interceptions (24), finished third in the nation forcing 34 turnovers, and ranked sixth in rush defense yielding only 2.6 yards per carry and 76 yards per game. WMU finished the season 8-4 and went to the International Bowl, its first bowl game in 18 years.
As a professional, he was a member of the Kansas City Chiefs camp after college as a linebacker. He had an opportunity in the CFL with the Hamilton Tiger Cats before playing professional Arena Football for three seasons, where he earned First Team IFL honors for two of those seasons. He was a Defensive Player of the Year while still holding the IFL record for tackles in a season with 167 in 12 games and the career record for tackles per game with 11. He also played one season in the AFL in China, where he led the league in tackles and was an All-Pro Linebacker.
Personal
Ismail earned his bachelor's degree in exercise science and physiology at Western Michigan University before returning to complete a master's degree in sports management and administration. In addition to his football playing and coaching career, Ismail played professional Slamball on Spike, VS, CBS, and Cartoon Network as well as performing stunts in several movies and television shows such as Dark Knight Rises, Red Dawn, One Tree Hill, Necessary Roughness, and a Ford commercial.