William M. “Rocky” Rees begins his 21st season at the helm of the Red Raider football program in 2010 and currently ranks 11th among active Division II coaches with 154 career victories. His long and distinguished coaching career spans 38 years.
The all-time leader for coaching victories in Red Raider football history, Rees has totaled a 20-year record of 118-104-1 (.531) at Shippensburg. Overall, he owns a career mark of 154-119-2 (.564).
Rees ranks fourth in tenure among conference head coaches behind Denny Douds of East Stroudsburg (37th season), Danny Hale of Bloomsburg (23rd season) and Dr. George Mihalik of Slippery Rock (22nd season). Additionally, Rees ranks sixth in career games coached among his active Division II brethren.
In 2009, Rees guided the Red Raiders to the program’s first divisional title since 2004 and the team's first outright conference championship since 1981. The campaign marked the fourth time in Rees’ career that he was named a PSAC Coach of the Year (‘91, ‘01, ‘04, ‘09) and the third time that he received an AFCA Coach of the Year award (’86, ’04, ‘09).
The Red Raiders thrived offensively at an almost unprecedented level in 2009. Rees’ squad scored at least 21 points in all 12 games of their games, a feat never before achieved in 105 seasons of organized football at the university. The five-win turnaround was capped off with a 42-35 victory over California (Pa.) in the PSAC State Game.
Shippensburg has had 16 all-conference selections over the past two seasons in the PSAC Eastern Division. From 2004-2007, the Red Raiders boasted 44 All-PSAC Western Division selections, the second-most during that time behind California (Pa.)’s 46.
Rees began his SU tenure in 1990 by laying the foundation with offensive and defensive innovations while placing a renewed emphasis on conditioning. The following year, the Red Raiders went 10-3, including a mark of 9-2 in the regular season.
In just his second year at Shippensburg, Rees led the team to its second NCAA Division II Football Championship appearance after it had averaged just over five wins the previous eight seasons.
In 1991, Shippensburg posted five victories by overcoming or meeting fourth quarter challenges, highlighted by a 34-33 overtime win on the road at East Stroudsburg in the first round of the NCAA playoffs. Also that season, the Red Raiders overcame a 27-0 deficit at home against Kutztown on September 21 to win 44-35.
Shippensburg set numerous team records in 1999, including the marks for total offense (4,951) and yards passing (3,071), en route to an 8-3 record. The tandem of quarterback Chris Gicking (2,832 passing yards) and receiver Jamie Ware (1,334 receiving yards) helped SU average 38.2 points per game through the first 10 games of the season.
The 2001 campaign was one of the team’s most productive seasons in program history. Picked to finish sixth in the division, Shippensburg turned what was supposed to be a rebuilding season into an exciting 8-3 record by winning eight of its last nine games.
This led to four consecutive winning seasons from 2001-04 in which the Red Raiders had the highest win total for any four-year span in the history of the program with a record of 32-13.
From 2002-04, the Red Raiders tied the mark for the best three-year win total in school history with a record of 24-10 which included just the third 10-win season in team history.
In 2004, Rees guided Shippensburg to a 10-2 record and a share of the PSAC Western Division championship, the school’s first since 1988. It also marked the most wins in 13 years for the Red Raiders and the program’s first NCAA Division II Football Championship appearance since 1991.
The Red Raiders led the PSAC in five statistical categories in 2004 and were ranked first in the nation in kickoff returns, second in scoring defense, fifth in total defense and ninth in rushing offense. SU also set a new school record for rushing yards in a season with 3,112 while finishing second in points (392), touchdowns (52) and total offense (4,882).
Shippensburg had a total of 16 All-PSAC Western Division selections in 2004, including eight First Team and eight Second Team honorees. Nine of the team’s 11 starters on defense earned All-PSAC designations.
As a mark of the respect he engenders from his peers in the coaching fraternity, Rees was elected to the AFCA Board of Trustees in 1992 and from 1999-2000, served as AFCA President. In 2000, he was honored with a selection to be an assistant coach at the Hula Bowl All-Star Classic in Maui, Hawaii.
Chairman of the Public Relations Committee for the AFCA from 2000-06, Rees is a member of the organization’s Ethics and All-American Selection Committees while serving as the AFCA’s liaison to the NCAA football rules committee. He is also a member of the NCAA football rules committee.
A prominent contributor to the Association of Pennsylvania State College & University Faculties (APSCUF), Rees is a former member of the State Meet & Discuss Committee while currently serving as the representative for Shippensburg University, chair on the negotiations team and member of the state representative council.
Rees came to Shippensburg from Susquehanna University where his teams won three Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) titles in his five seasons as head coach, capturing conference championships in 1986, 1987 and 1989.
After the Crusaders posted a 3-7 record in Rees’ first season in 1985, the team turned in the greatest single-season turnaround in Division III history at the time with an 11-1 record in 1986.
Following an undefeated regular season, Susquehanna won the MAC championship and advanced to the NCAA Division III Football Championship for the first time in program history. Rees was MAC Coach of the Year and AFCA Regional Coach of the Year.
Rees won over 70-percent of his games with the Crusaders, totaling a 36-15-1 record in his five seasons in Selinsgrove.
In the fall of 1971, Rees began what has been a 38-year career as a football coach as a graduate assistant at West Chester. The following year, he joined the coaching staff at Newark High School in Newark, Delaware. After two seasons as an assistant, Rees was named head coach in 1974.
Under Rees, the Yellow Jackets compiled a 28-5-1 record, won two consecutive undefeated Blue Hen Conference Flight A titles and in 1976, had the top-ranked offense and defense in Delaware and won the school’s first state championship. Rees was named conference Coach of the Year twice in 1975 and 1976 and was honored with the selection as the head coach of the gold squad in the 1977 Delaware Blue-Gold game.
From 1977-83, Rees served as the offensive coordinator at Bucknell under head coach Bob Curtis. While there, Rees helped develop Ken Jenkins into one of the finest players in school history as he would set a school record with 1,270 rushing yards in 1980. Jenkins would later play for the Philadelphia Eagles, Detroit Lions and Washington Redskins.
Following his seven-year stint at Bucknell, Rees was an assistant coach at Colgate from 1983-84 under Fred Dunlap where he was in charge of the running backs and tight ends. In 1983, Colgate finished with an 8-4 record, advancing to the NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship first round and ending the year ranked seventh in the nation.
With the Red Raiders, Rees worked with Rich Erenberg and Kenny Gamble, two of the school’s top three career-leading rushers. As a senior in 1983, Erenberg led Division I-AA in rushing, all-purpose and scoring. Gamble led the team in rushing for four-straight seasons from 1984-87 and received the first-ever Walter Payton Award in 1987, presented to the outstanding Division I-AA Player of the Year.
Both Erenberg and Gamble led the nation in rushing, were named ECAC Division I-AA Player of the Year and played four seasons in the NFL. Erenberg played for the Pittsburgh Steelers from 1984-87 while Gamble was with the Kansas City Chiefs from 1988-91.
Rees played football at Bayley Ellard Regional High School in Madison, New Jersey where he twice named All-County and was selected as a team captain his senior season.
Following graduation in 1967, the Morristown, New Jersey native attended West Chester University where he earned All-PSAC Eastern Division honors as a running back in 1968 and 1970. He also earned All-PSAC Second Team honors in 1969 when the PSAC selected one All-conference team without separating it into divisions.
Rees led the Golden Rams in both rushing yards and touchdowns as a junior and senior, totaling 1,065 yards rushing in 1970. For his career, he totaled 2,240 yards and 28 touchdowns in four seasons and was selected to the Pennsylvania Dutch Bowl Team while earning Associated Press Little All-America Second Team honors.
After graduating from West Chester in 1971, Rees signed as a free agent with the New England Patriots. He would later earn his master’s degree in 1979 and in 1991, was inducted into the West Chester University Football Hall of Fame.
Rees currently lives in Shippensburg and has a daughter, Meghan. His wife Patricia passed away in 1998 and is annually remembered with the Patricia Rees Scholarship.
