Eastern head football coach Bob Spoo has selected a man of biblical proportions to help the Panthers’ defensive secondary weather the floods at O’Brien Stadium.

Noah Joseph was announced as Eastern’s new defensive secondary coach Tuesday.

Joseph was a graduate assistant coach at Iowa State in 2002. He assisted with the secondary and organized scout team practice for the Cyclones, who climbed as high No. 9 in the national rankings and played Boise State in the Humanitarian Bowl this past season.

Joseph said he is enjoying his first days in Charleston.

“I’m real excited,” Joseph said. “I got a chance to watch some of the new recruits on tape and some of the freshmen and sophomores from last year, so I’m really excited.”

Joseph is no stranger to the Ohio Valley Conference; in 2001 he was a graduate assistant coach at Eastern Kentucky and assisted with the safeties.

Joseph has experience handling the defensive secondary duties. In 2000, he held the position at Drake University, where he graduated in 1999.

He earned academic All-Pioneer league honors and was team captain for the Bulldogs in 1998.

His experience at Drake also was a key in bringing him to Eastern. Joseph played and coached with Eastern defensive coordinator Roc Bellantoni at Drake.

“I worked with (Joseph) at Drake as a player and as their defensive backs coach,” Bellantoni said. “So I have a lot of experience with him.”

Joseph was expected to sign with the Panthers Monday, but was delayed while the athletic department conducted a routine background check.

Eastern’s coaching staff interviewed one other applicant for the job, but Spoo said he received much more interest.

“We had a bunch of people apply,” Spoo said. “We were deluged with applications and those that we brought in were the best candidates for our purposes.”

Joseph will inherit a defense that couldn’t crack the top 100 in the national rankings of Division I-AA football.

“We’re really excited to get a guy in the secondary that really knows what’s going on,” Bellantoni said. “You get worried about who your going to find; especially this late in the game.”

Spoo said the burden of improving the defense will also fall on the players and not just Joseph.

“We hope we have found players that can handle it back there,” Spoo said. “In our style of defense, there is a lot of pressure put on those guys.”

Spoo is optimistic about Joseph’s selection.

“We found a good coach and some good players we hope that can come in and do a good job for us,” Spoo said.

Eastern’s coaching staff and Joseph feel his experience in similar coaching systems like Iowa State will make the transition quick and easy.

“The big thing (from working with Iowa State) was I got to work with a lot of good people that knew football,” Joseph said. “The things we did at Iowa State is also some of the things that Roc (Bellantoni) is trying to do here, so hopefully I can learn from him and help him out too.”

After working with Eastern Kentucky’s legendary head coach Roy Kidd, Joseph is excited to work with another prolific OVC coach.

“Both (Kidd) and coach Spoo are the biggest name in I-AA college football right now,” Joseph said. “It’s was amazing how much of a feel (Kidd) had for football.”

Joseph thinks Eastern will be a good environment to work in.

“What makes a coaching experience is the staff your surrounded with and the players your surrounded with,” he said.